Saturday’s Pikes Peak Ascent, the fifth Skyrunner World Series race, was won by 29 year-old Mexican Mario Macias and Kim Dobson, both from Colorado.  The five international skyrunners competing in the Series all made the top twenty.  
 
The men’s winning time, 2h08’57”was  the fifth fastest time to date.  It was another Mexican however who came closer to beating Matt Carpenter’s 1993 course record:  Ricardo Mejia,  in 1995 with 2h05’04”.

Macia, a strong road runner, has dominated in mountain events before, but nothing like the 4,299m that towered above him Saturday.  He started out as he meant to go on – in the lead, and powered to the summit seven minutes ahead of Tommy Manning , second in 2h15ì43” and forty-five year-old Simon Gutierrez,,a three-time Ascent winner, third in 2h10’15”.

Kim Dobson’s superlative winning time of 2h34’07” was only 36 seconds off the thirty-year-old  women’s record by Lynn Bjorklund, finishing  14 minutes ahead of Cynthia Arnold,  followed by Lisa Goldsmith, third.

World Series competitors, Italian Jean Pellissier, who flew in just in time for the race, was eighth and Spaniards, Laia Andreu 9th, Oscar Roig, 11th and Xavier Martinez 15th.  The two brothers from Andorra, Oscar and Marc Casal Mir - who always run together - finished 14th and 19th respectively.

The Marathon du Montcalm in France, a World Series Trial held the same day, will also affect the general ranking.  The race, representing the French Skyrunning Championships, was won by Michel Rabat and Stephanie Jimenez who consequently move up in the ranking.

With one more trial to go, the Series concludes  in Italy with the gruelling Sentiero delle Grigne on September 18 where all competitors gain an extra 20% on their points and, finally, the men’s and women’s world champions, still open,  will be crowned.

Pikes Peak Ascent results
Marathon du Montcalm results
Skyrunner® World Series current ranking