Running News Daily

99-year-old George Etzweiler did not finish the Mount Washington Road Race this year but is already planning to do it next year

George Etzweiler of State College, Penn., who is 99 years old, did not finish the Northeast Delta Dental Mount Washington Road Race this year, but he’s okay with that and says he’s coming back next year.

“George participated but did not finish,” he wrote, referring to Saturday’s race in New Hampshire. “He and his team decided to call it quits at about the 6.5-mile mark… I think it was a combination of the wind and also time he was at, which was around four hours and 10 minutes at that point.”

“He did seem in great spirits afterwards and said he’s coming back next year.”

It was the 14th time Etzweiler, a retired engineer who took up running at age 49, has run this race, a 12K road ascent of Mount Washington, the highest peak in the northeastern United States.

This year’s race produced a first-ever tie, between Brittni Hutton and Heidi Caldwell, who broke the tape together in 1:16:17. Kim Nedeau took third place, in 1:16:49. In the men’s race, Eric Blake was the winner, in 1:02:52, followed by Francis Kamiri in second place (1:03:51) and Lee Berube in third (1:05:44).

(06/20/2019) Views: 2,676 ⚡AMP
by Anne Francis

Ethiopian and record holder Shewarge Amare will be running Mount Washington Road Race after 8 years

Shewarge Amare of Ethiopia, who in 2010 smashed the women’s course record in her first, and until now only appearance in the race, plans to return to the historic Race this month to try to repeat her performance of eight years ago, Meanwhile, Joseph Gray, who has won the men’s race each of the past four years, will miss Mt. Washington this year, as he is preparing to compete instead as part of the U.S. team at the 15th WMRA Long Distance Mountain Running Championships on June 24, in Karpacz, Poland.   After an eight-year absence, Amare’s appearance turns what would have been a likely duel between defending champion Shannon Payne and four-time winner Kim Dobson into a three-way battle in this race to the summit of the highest peak in the northeastern U.S. Dobson of Eagle, Colo., holds the second-fastest time ever recorded in the women’s race — one hour, 9 minutes, 25 seconds — and is the only woman to break 1:10 twice on the extremely steep 7.6-mile course. Payne of Franktown, Colo., won Mt. Washington in 2014, in 1:10:12. Absent in 2015 and 2016, she returned last year and won in 1:11:21. (06/13/2018) Views: 2,028 ⚡AMP