2012 Trail Runner Uphill Challenge
August 6, 2012 by Bryon Powell · 20 Comments
Every year at the Outdoor Retail Summer Market, a trade show for the outdoor industry, Trail Runner magazine hosts an Uphill Challenge. In each heat of the Uphill Challenge, two participants square off next to one another treadmills set to a 15% grade on which they run as far as they can in 15 minutes by controlling the speed. Not only do participants try to win their heat, but they also try to be named King or Queen of the Mountain by running further than any other competitor of their gender. Typically, the last two pairings feature showdowns between two top women and, then, two top men. This year was no different with Brandy Erholtz racing Anna Frost in the women’s finale before Philipp Reiter took on Max King in the day’s final race. In the end, Erholtz and King were the Queen and King of the Mountain.
Check out videos of the final two races below. (Sorry for the video quality… I didn’t have time to grab the camcorder from the car.)
Women’s Results
- Brandy Erholtz (New Balance) – 1.32
- Anna Frost (Salomon) – 1.29
- Megan Kimmel (Asics) – 1.26
Men’s Results
- Max King (Montrail) – 1.64
- Luke Nelson (Patagonia) – 1.51
- Anton Krupicka (New Balance) – 1.50
2012 Women’s Trail Runner Uphill Challenge Finale – Brandy Erholtz vs. Anna Frost
[Click here if you can't see the video above.]
2012 Men’s Trail Runner Uphill Challenge Finale – Philipp Reiter vs. Max King
[Click here if you can't see the video above.]
Related articles:
- Uphill Challenge 2008 – Erik vs. Kyle Skaggs Check out the finish of the final match of the 2008 Trail Runner Magazine Uphill Challenge. It’s Erik Skaggs up against Kyle Skaggs. See who wins the Bros. Skaggs Showdown....
- 2012 Speedgoat 50k Results Results from the 2012 Speedgoat 50k....
- Anna Frost, 2010 TNF EC Champion, Interview Anna Frost interviewed following her victory at the 2010 The North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Mile Championships....
Filed under Races ·
Bryon Powell is the Editor-in-Chief of iRunFar.com, which he founded five years ago. Also the author of Relentless Forward Progress: A Guide to Running Ultramarathons and a contributing editor at Trail Runner magazine, he's quickly approaching 10 years as an ultrarunner and 20 years as a trail runner. These days he calls Park City, Utah and its trails home.
All posts by Bryon Powell
Awesome!!!
sage Canaday did 1.99 miles in a youtube video… anyone ever seen anything more then that? Just wondering
I think I remember hearing that Simon Gutierrez ran 2+. Somewhere between 2-2.25, barley over but he broke 2..I think? Can’t prove it might be online somewhere. I would venture to say Matt Carpenter could crack 2 easy, and probably could do it at like 10K feet?!
I have no doubt Carpenter could pull a 2.50 with ease. 1.64 would be a warm-up for him
Its not 15%, its 15 degrees.
Thanks… I don’t spend much time on treadmills. :-)
Are we going to see a pre-Leadville report from Bryon?
Yes… but not until next week.
At the 7:16 mark of the Philip/Max video, Ashley says they’re competing for 15 minutes at a 15% incline.
I think it’s 15%. 15 degress is about a 27% grade, and the results are similar to last year, when it was 15%.
it’s 15%, grades are measured with %…. 15 degrees is nothing – closer to flat than steep for sure …. rise over run times 100 equals the grade. on a treadmill i think they use a mile for the run …..
nevermind, they use the treadmills specs to calculate
it is 15% or just below 800 feet of climb per mile.
Thanks for the videos. Is it possible to see the full results somewhere?
Working on it… forgot to snap a pic of or otherwise record the full table of results.
Slow time for men’s winner compared to year’s past
what have they done in year’s past? Just curious as I’d really like to compete in this someday. btw I don’t think it’s humanly possible to do 2.5 miles!
It seems I recall 1.8 to 1.9 in year’s past though I may be wrong on that. Skaggs brothers maybe? Matt Carpenter is half alien and was miles ahead in the mountain running world for years. Think about that 2:01 Pikes Peak Ascent he did in 1993 and 2.5 miles sounds a lot more do-able :-)
Btw, I’ll be running the Ascent next week, hope to bump into you
Skaggs brothers were actually 1.63 (Erik) and 1.58 (Kyle) in the 2009 challenge
I did 1.66 let me know when I can participate in the next challenge