Posted: June 20, 2004

Athletics: Wyatt Smashes Mt. Washington Record

From David Monti

(c) 2004 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

Jonathan Wyatt, the reigning world mounting running champion, stormed to the top of Mt. Washington today, covering the 7.6 mile uphill run in an astonishing 56 minutes and 41 seconds, taking down the course record by one minute and forty seconds.

"I knew I had to go out quickly," said the 31-year-old New Zealander, who earlier in the week had run the course for practice, "and at halfway I thought I had (the record). I had looked at the winning times from previous years, and I thought I could do it."

Second place finisher Paul Low of the United States summed Wyatt's abilities up best: "Jonathan is the best uphill runner in the solar system. Probably in several solar systems."

Anna Pichrtova of the Czech Republic won the women's race for the fourth consecutive time, becoming the only four-time winner in the history of the race. She easily outdistanced Erica Larson of the United states, 1:12:19 to 1:14:17.

Wyatt won $6000, including a $5000 bonus for the course record, while Pichrtova win $1000.