Men’s Race
Joseph Gray was again crowned king of the mountain, finishing the Pikes Peak Ascent in 2 hours, 12 minutes and 7 seconds. Gray reached a cold and blustery summit more than 14 minutes before any other runner.
“I don’t go to any start line thinking that I’m going to lose. I come in knowing that I put in the work, but I do know it’s highly likely that you could lose, right? Things could go wrong,” Gray said as he added layers over his sleeveless racing top and running shorts inside the new summit house. “I come in and respect my competitors as well, but at the end of the day, I know I put in the work. I know I’ve done what it takes to win. So you just got to put it all together on race day. Nothing’s a given.”
The 37-year-old Colorado Springs resident has won each of the last four Ascents he’s entered, also winning in 2016, 2017 and 2019. There was no race last year due to the pandemic, and Gray did not participate in the 2018 Ascent, which included bad weather that forced runners to turn around at Barr Camp, because he was competing in Europe. With Gray winning again, Saturday’s event seemed like a bit of a return to normalcy.
“It was a cold day, so definitely frozen by the end of that race, but, you know, all in all, just happy to finally get back out here after the pandemic,” Gray said.
Read the full story at the Colorado Springs Gazette
Women’s Race
Ashley Brasovan and Allie McLaughlin have been close for more than a decade, and that trend continued at Saturday’s Pikes Peak Ascent.
“We qualified for a worlds team together (in) both our senior years of high school and then kept in touch,” said Brasovan, who went to high school in Florida and now resides in Golden. “When I first moved out here six years ago, Allie welcomed me with open arms. She’s always been super sweet. It’s been great to be close to her.”
There was hardly any separating them Saturday. McLaughlin won the race in 2 hours, 49 minutes, 39 seconds, just one second ahead of her old friend.
“That was awesome,” McLaughlin said of the finish. “She kept me going that last mile.”
The results could very well have been flipped as neither runner was quite sure where the actual finish line was located. With winds gusting at the summit, there was no banner overhead or tape to break, just a couple of pads on the ground that marked the end of the 13.1-mile trek.
Read the full story at the Colorado Springs Gazette