The 56th Northeast Delta Dental Mount Washington Auto Road Race highlighted the Fathers’ Day weekend for runners all over the nation and even the world. With high temps of 80 at the base and mid 50s at the summit with a light breeze, Mother Nature couldn’t have delivered much better conditions for both spectators and racers. Some of the top mountain runners toed the line and did not disappoint the crowd.
Breaking the race open early and never letting up for the third straight time was Joe Gray (Team Colorado). Joe climbed the rockpile in 58 minutes, 17 seconds – an incredible 7’41 per mile average over the 7.6 mile uphill course. Not to mention the air gets thinner the higher up you go! The runner-up for the men was former winner Eric Blake (La Sportiva), who’s 59’49 finish bettered his new course PR. Blake’s performance was nothing short of stellar as he sat out last year’s race due to injury. Taking the 3rd and 4th positions were Italian duo Tomasso Vaccine and Francesco Puppi. Vaccine won the 2015 World Long Distance Mountain Championships while Puppi placed 3rd in said race. This was their first trip up the rock pile and they weren’t far off the top American’s who race Mt. Washington year after year. Rounding out the podium was CMS/SIX03 double teamer Jim Johnson. Being the first to cross the finish line from the state of New Hampshire, JJ was awarded the coveted Crossan Cup award.
The women’s end featured some similar domination up front. Kim Dobson (Eagle, CO) captured her 2nd straight Mt. Washington Title with a time of 69 minutes, 34 seconds – her 2nd fastest jaunt up the rockpile. She opened up the gap on 2nd place steadily and finished as the top woman by over four minutes. She also placed 9th overall, putting most of the men in the field to shame! An impressive feat for this race. Following up with the silver medal was Kim Nedeau (acidotic Racing). Kim continued her stellar year of racing with a 73’51 run up the mountain. 3rd across the finish for the women was Shannon Payne (Team Colorado), who traversed the rockpile in 76 minutes, 10 seconds. Rounding out the top five females was pro triathlete Amber Ferriera (acidotic Racing) and GMAA’s Kasie Enman. Ferriera was the top finisher from NH and thus the recipient of the Crossan Cup award.
The team side of things saw lots of domination by the Central Mass Striders as they captured the Men’s Open, Men’s Masters, and Men’s Seniors titles. The Upper Valley Running Club won the Men’s Veterans title. Team Colorado garnered the victory for the Open Women by a fairly significant margin over runner up Central Mass Striders. Western Mass Distance Project, Cambridge Sports Union, and Team Gloucester captured the team titles for the Female Masters, Seniors, and Veteran divisions respectively.
Check out some photo albums of the race: Joe Viger Mike Giberti The Auto Road
Legion rep Giberti was on board the media van and captured some video footage from up front. See Joe Gray dominate the field!
Official results courtesy of Mt. Washington Hall of Famer Bob Teschek
