The Pikes Peak Marathon is one of the classic mountain races in Colorado and perhaps even the world. Its premise is simple: run from the town of Manitou Springs, up to the summit of nearby Pikes Peak, and back down to Manitou Springs. It just so happens that they’re able to make a perfect marathon-length route between those points, starting at 6,300 feet altitude, summiting at 14,115 feet, and ending back in town at 6,345 feet.
The race takes place almost entirely on the 13-mile-long Barr Trail originally created in the 1800s as a mining trail and developed fully starting in 1914 by Fred Barr. Today, the Barr Trail is designated as a National Recreation Trail to honor both its history and the modern access it provides for recreation on and around Pikes Peak.
The Pikes Peak Marathon course records are held by Megan Kimmel at 4:15:04, which she set last year, in doing so breaking the 4:15:18 record which had previously been held by Lynn Bjorkland since 1981. Matt Carpenter has held the men’s record at 3:16:22 since 1993, what is considered one of the stoutest course records in U.S. trail running.
Over the years, Pikes Peak Marathon has been part of various international series and championships, and this year it’s part of the Golden Trail Series for the second-consecutive year.
The race takes place on Sunday, August 25th at 7:00 a.m. U.S. Mountain Daylight Time. We’ll be livecasting the event on iRunFar’s Twitter feed. We’ve also gathered various news sources together in the Twitter list below. To be clear, iRunFar’s live, race-day coverage is text- and photo-based updates to the Twitter platform, all of which will appear on this page. Our goals are to provide timely and robust access to the race action while simultaneously impacting the race and environment through which it runs as little as we can. We hope you have fun following our coverage!
Here are a couple resources to help you follow and learn about the race:
- iRunFar’s in-depth women’s and men’s previews;
- iRunFar’s pre-race interviews with Rémi Bonnet, Tim Freriks, Eli Gordón, Kilian Jornet, Yngvild Kaspersen, and Meg Mackenzie;
- An article on Matt Carpenter’s legendary men’s Pikes Peak Marathon record;
- The race website, with course information including a map, profile, aid stations, and more;
- The full entrants list; and
- Race-day live-ish splits from the race organization.
Thanks to Salomon for making our coverage of this year’s Pikes Peak Marathon possible! You, the iRunFar reader, can join them in supporting our race coverage by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon or making a one-time donation.
iRunFar’s Live Coverage of the 2019 Pikes Peak Marathon
Here we collect a number of Twitter resources, including our Twitter feed, which will supply lots of information before, during, and after the race.
The Race Organization’s Live Video Feed of the 2019 Pikes Peak Marathon
This video feed is managed by the race organization, and is scheduled to go live 30 minutes before the race start, at 6:30 a.m. U.S. Mountain Daylight Time on Sunday, August 25th.
