Maude Mathys Shatters Pikes Peak Marathon Course Record by 13 Minutes – runnersworld.com
Maude Mathys Shatters Pikes Peak Marathon Course Record by 13 Minutes runnersworld.com
Kilian Jornet took first in the men’s race, but fell short of his goal of breaking its mark, which has stood since 1993.
Tim Bergsten/PikesPeakSports.us
- Swiss trail running champion Maude Mathys broke the women’s course record at the grueling Pikes Peak Marathon on Sunday morning, winning the race with an unofficial time of 4:02:41.
- On the men’s side, Kilian Jornet won the race with a time of 3:27:29, but fell short of breaking its course record, which has stood since 1993.
- Just two weeks ago, both Mathys and Jornet won the Sierre-Zinal mountain race, setting course records in the process.
Trail running champion Maude Mathys shattered the women’s course record at the 64th annual Pikes Peak Marathon on August 25 when she tackled one of the toughest 26.2-mile races on the circuit.
With an unofficial winning time of 4:02:41, Mathys broke the previous mark by roughly 13 minutes on Sunday morning in Manitous Springs, Colorado.
Leading from the gun, the Swiss athlete improved upon the Pikes Peak Marathon course record that was broken last year by Megan Kimmel who ran 4:15:04 to lower the previous time of 4:15:18 set by Lynn Bjorkland in 1981.
Mathys, 35, didn’t waste any time establishing her position as the leader with the intent to break the record. Just before the five-mile mark, she was about five minutes ahead of her competition. By the 7.6-mile point, she was on pace to break the course record by six minutes.
Mathys continued to build momentum with each climb on the ascent. The second-place female, Yngvild Kaspersen trailed behind by more than 17 minutes just after the 10-mile split. At the summit turnaround point, which hits 14,115 feet of altitude at 13.3-miles, Mathys held a sizeable lead when she climbed the ascent in 2:29:15, according to iRunFar.
With the ascent behind her, Mathys flew down the mountain. According to The Colorado Springs Gazette, Mathys suffered from a tumble about a mile into her descent, but the fall didn’t stop her from dominating the race. At the 21.7-mile mark, she was on pace to break the course record by 16 minutes.
Mathys nearly broke the four-hour barrier when she reached the finish line in 4:02:45. Kaspersen finished second in 4:27:31.
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Sunday’s performance followed another record-setting day for Mathys, who won the Sierre-Zinal 31K trail race in a course record time of 2:49:20 on August 11. Last year, Mathys showed impressive range on the roads when she won the Zurich Marathon in 2:31.
The elusive men’s course record at Pikes Peak stood for another year, as Kilian Jornet fell short of the mark with a winning time of 3:27:28. Runner-up Sage Canaday followed Jornet in 3:39:02.
The long-standing men’s course record is held by Matt Carpenter, who ran 3:16:39 in 1993. It’s a mark that no runner has come close to beating.
Tim Bergsten/PikesPeakSports.us
“Nothing is unbreakable, but Matt’s performance that day is one of the most incredible in mountain running. Conditions should be perfect, a race with fight with very talented runners,” Jornet, 31, told Pikes Peak Sports prior to Sunday’s race.
The Catalan trail running standout also won his respective race at Sierre-Zinal with a course record time of 2:25:35.
With 7,815 feet of elevation gain from the start in Manitou Springs, Colorado, to the summit of Pikes Peak (14,115 feet) and back, the Pikes Peak Marathon is one of the most challenging trail races in the world. It is the fifth race in the Salomon Golden Trail World Series, which includes seven of the world’s premier mountain races. Of the races in the series, Pikes Peak is the only competition in the U.S.
Taylor Dutch is a freelance writer living in Austin, Texas.