The 55th Mount Washington Road Race steps off at 9 a.m. Saturday, sending 1,300 runners up the 7.6-mile auto road to the summit of the 6,288-foot mountain.
Over the route - teasingly celebrated for having "only one hill" - runners will climb an average grade of 12 percent and gain 4,650 feet in elevation from the start at the Pinkham Notch base in New Hampshire.
Jonathan Wyatt of Wellington, New Zealand, is the men's record holder, covering the distance in 56 minutes, 41 seconds in 2004. Ethiopian Shewarge Amare set the women's mark of 1:08:20.4 in 2010.
The men's and women's winner each earn $1,500; setting a record pays another $5,000.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
