What started as a challenge over breakfast in February 2002, was finalized
at the top of Mt. Washinton, on the bright
sunny day of May 21, 2003. The three club members involved were Jill Pederson,
Candi Schermerhorn and Janet
Olden. While listening to myself and others talk about getting into the Mt.
Washington Road Race that year and
completing the triple crown of mountains (Prospect, Whiteface, and Mt. Washington),
one of them said "We could
do that", and another one "I will if you will" and the third
said "Ok lets do it". Little did they know how long it would take
before they could accomplish the goal. Those who remember last years article
entitled "Three Miles from Glory", will
recall that everything was set to complete this feat last June 15, but weather
took a toll and the final leg of the triple
crown was shortened leaving the hardest of the mountains unfinished. This
was extremely disappointing for the hours they'd spent getting ready for the
celebration of this task. Undaunted they committed early in Dec. of 2002 to
making the goal a reality in 2003.
While training started slower this year (with Jill preparing for her 1st
Boston Marathon) and the rest happy to wait until
she was ready to hit the hills, once daylight savings time arrived they could
be seen doing the weekly Wednesday night
run up over our little mountain loop and the talk started their motivation.
Before long they began running up and over and back to get more hills. Prospect
Mt. and Whiteface came along and were completed without much complaint knowing
that the big one was yet to come.
The morning of Mt. Washington was a pure delight for runners who knew the
top would be about 50 degrees with no
wind. What a contrast to last year. With the 6288 ft elevation summit waiting
they ran, walked, and clawed thier way up
to the top and joined those of us who have done it in etching their names
into the record books of finishers. I might add
that they also finished as the 3rd place Female Seniors team. Others of those
who ran the race are listed in Jill Pederson's article "The Funny Cide
of Racing the Triple Crown", but a big round of applause for our "Princesses
of the Mountains" go
out to those three. So until they confirm their attempt at a ThreePeat, you
ladies deserve a great deal of praise for sticking
to your goal. Below is a chart showing their combined mountain info. and also
includes a couple of us guys who tagged
along for the journey.
|
Prospect
|
Whiteface
|
Mt. Washington
|
Total
|
Name
|
| 1:01:49 | 1:47:02 | 2:14:26 | 5:03:17 | Jill Pederson |
| 1:05:56 | 1:53:10 | 2:17:17 | 5:16:18 | Janet Olden |
| 1:10:06 | 1:56:50 | 2:22:45 | 5:29:41 | Candi Schermerhorn |
| 0:49:26 | 1:23:20 | 1:44:37 | 3:57:01 | Brian Teague |
| 0:48:24 | 1:26:09 | 1:48:09 | 4:02:42 | Dan Olden |
| Questions or comments contact director@lmglaw.com |