Article by Marcus Hill | Colorado Springs Gazette
This moment never gets old for Joseph Gray.
The Colorado Springs native clocked in at 2 hours, 11 minutes and 13 seconds to win the Pikes Peak Ascent on Saturday. There were 1,996 runners competing. This marks Gray’s third Ascent victory since 2019.
“I wanted to come out, put together a good effort and represent my city,” Gray said. “I got the job done.”
Gray’s victory continued his streak of dominance as he also won the Barr Trail Mountain Race in July.
During that race, Gray had Jonathan Aziz nearby to help him keep the pace. About an hour into the Ascent, which is a 13.3-mile run up Pikes Peak, Gray noticed the distance between him and the pack.
Gray arrived at Barr Camp, which is nearly eight miles into the Ascent, at 8:04 a.m. Meanwhile, Seth DeMoor, who finished second and tailed Gray the majority of the race, arrived at 8:07.
“I got to Barr Camp and saw I was kind of alone, so I knew I just had to be consistent from there,” Gray said. “The hope was to win and I didn’t care what my time was.”
Although DeMoor closed the gap toward the race’s finale, Gray said running unopposed most of the way presented a unique challenge.
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