Cranmore Hill Climb

The 2012 Cranmore Hill Climb, presented by Northeast Delta Dental

Host of the 2011 & 2013 USA Mountain Running Championships

Thanks to our sponsors:

Northeast Delta Dental

Inov-8

USATF New England

Hammer Nutrition Products

Julbo.

RunReg Online Registration.

Sunday June 24th at 9:00 AM
Starts near Skimobile Station Building (main Entrance).

Cranmore Mountain Resort

1 Skimobile Road

North Conway, New Hampshire 03860

Click for Directions

Note: Registration location this year will be at the Arlberg Children’s Center (formerly North Base Lodge, for you old-timers) building at Cranmore: 7:30-8:30 AM. If you are looking at the mountain, Arlberg is way down to the left past the maintenance garage and snowmaking pond. It’s where the old pre-2005 Cranmore Hill Climb used to start.

The whole resort is now open in the summer too. For those of you who haven’t visited Cranmore yet since 2011, you won’t recognize the place. Lots of new summer rides and all of the buildings are being remodeled. Check out the Cranmore website for complete details on the new summer attractions and local lodging info too.

Course Information

The 2012 Cranmore Hill Climb will consist of two completely different laps up and down the mountain. The course is primarily grass ski slope and double-wide cat track with some small sections of single track. We are still finalizing the second loop of the course with the mountain so stay tuned for more info.

Each lap will gain 206 meters and descend 206 meters.

There will be water & Heed Sports Drink available at the bottom and the top of the mountain.

Is this a change from the 2011 Course?

Why, yes it is. The course has had some change to it every year since 2004. That’s what makes it fun!

Registration Information

The race is $22 before June 21. Online registration will close on the 20th and there will be $25 race day registration. The $22 already includes the registration fee. There’s an option to register online and pay by check too.

Prizes/Awards

091 — Kasie Enman, 2011 USA Mountain Running Champion, crossing the finishing line

Awards to first place in the men’s and women’s 19 & under, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70 & over divisions. Awards provided by Inov-8, Fuel Belt, Hammer Nutrition Products & Julbo.

Race Videos, Race History & Results

The 2010 edition of the race was the the 23rd Annual Cranmore Hill Climb. Originally starting as a “pick your own way to the summit” ascent-only race in the 80s, the race evolved to a 3 mile uphill-only race up the mountain service road.

In 2005 the course was changed to an up-down format so that it could serve as a qualifying race for the US Mountain Running Team. Since then, the race has continued to be an up-down race, becoming part of the Inov-8 USATF-New England Mountain Running Circuit in 2005 as well. Tradition since then has been that the course has changed each year since then, exploring new sections of the mountain and giving local mountain runners something new to talk about each year.

The 2007 race served as the USA Mountain Running Champs and had the most challenging course of the race history. With the goal of mimicing the steep downhill at that year’s World Mountain Running Trophy, the course descended at a 20% grade down the face of the mountain, receiving the label as “toughest race ever” by self-proclaimed New England Mountain Running Historian, Dave Dunham.

The 2008 race saw a less difficult course than 2007 but had the added challenge of a strong rain and thunderstorm at the beginning of the race.

Running Raw racer Tim VanOrden made videos of the 2007 and 2008 Cranmore races. See below to watch the videos:

Running Raw: Cranmore Hill Climb – 6/29/08

Running Raw: US Mtn. Running Championships 6/24/07

2007 Race Results | 2007 Race Report & Photos

2008 Race Results | 2008 Race Report & Photos

If you have a race report you’d like to share, email the link to pkirsch at roadrunner.com

2009 Photos
Scott Mason (1) Scott Mason (2)
Mike Brown-Dowling
Richard Bolt
Ken Skier