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August 20, 2000

By Luke DeCock/The Gazette

After days of rain and cold, sun finally graced the summit of Pikes Peak on Saturday. While a cold wind whipped around for the early finishers in the Pikes Peak Ascent, later arrivals were greeted with calm and basked in the warm sun.

Weather isn't as much of a problem in today's Pikes Peak Marathon, because the top is only a turnaround point. For what it's worth, the weather is supposed to be just as good.

That could lead to some fast times, perhaps faster than last year. Both winning times last year were more than a half-hour off record pace. Compared to the field, though, they were pretty impressive.

The men's defending champion is Stephen Smalzel of Salida. He finished in 3 hours, 49 minutes, 9 seconds - a second short of 10 minutes ahead of ahead of Senovio Torres.

On the women's side, Erica Larson and Petra Pirc were far and away the best. Larson won with a time of 4:46:01 and Pirc wasn't too far behind in 4:51:36. But they were way ahead of anyone else. Almost 19 minutes ahead.

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