Will Beast of the East be tamed Saturday?

A thousand runners ready for 43rd annual Mount Washington Road Race

A full field is expected to toe the starting line Saturday morning for the 43rd annual Mount Washington Road Race. Many of the 1,000 runners know exactly what they're getting into while the newcomers to "the Beast of the East" could be in for a rude awakening: harsh weather, steep unforgiving terrain -- in essence 7.6 miles of memorable foot racing. The race is slated for 10 a.m. at the base of Mount Washington Auto Road. Specatators are welcome."The best way is to ride a van or show up at the race as a volunteer to drive your car up the auto road and bring three runners back down with you," John Stifler, race liaison, said Friday afternoon. "You need to be here between 7:30 and 8 a.m. and be driving a car with no one else in it. You drive up, hang out, maybe read the paper, and wait for your runners to arrive."A talented list of runners from across the globe will be looking to break the course records. The most interesting attempt may be in the men's masters division. Record holder Craig Fram is in top form, but he'll have to hold off a stiff challenge from a 43-year-old Kenyan. "Andrew Masai is probably the biggest unknown variable in the race," Stifler said. "We have no idea how good he can be. I don't think there's any question that Craig Fram or Andrew Masai will be the first master. If there is a course record set, this is the division it will happen in (Saturday)."Stifler said Masai and Fram will likely be in the hunt for the overall crown as well. The favorite going in though is defending champion Simon Gutierrez of Albuquerque, N.M. He returns to "The Climb to the Clouds" in the midst of what appears to be another outstanding season for him. Two weeks ago he won the Vail Spring Run-off in Colorado, qualifying for the U.S. Mountain Running Team that will compete in this year's world mountain championships in Alaska in September. Perhaps Gutierrez's stiffest competition, Jared Segera of Kenya, withdrew from the race Thursday.On the women's side, Anna Pichrtova now has a chance to do what no woman has done before: win this race three years in a row. Pichrtova, a native of the Czech Republic who lives and trains in Virginia, "is very excited to be coming back," calling Mount Washington "a little hill."Pichrtova defended her title last year when severe weather forced the race to be shortened to a safe finish below tree line. She'll be out to top her time of 1:13:48 set in 2003.Another member of this year's U.S. mountain racing team, Kelli Lusk of Colorado, will be making her first attempt at Mount Washington and she'd like nothing more than to spoil the three-peat bid of Pichrtova."Kelli Lusk is a serious threat," Stifler said. "People have a history of never running here and then doing very well in their first run. She fits the profile of someone who can run and win in their first time."On June 7, Lusk, who is the current women's U.S. National Snowshoe Champion, won the New England Mountain Running Championship, an 8.3-mile race on the roller-coaster hills of Northfield Mountain in Massachusetts that was an automatic qualifier for the U.S. National Mountain Running Team.In that race she had to beat at least two women who will have another crack at her on Mount Washington, Nikki Kimball of Elizabethtown, N.Y., and Julie Bryan of Jackson, Wyo. Bryan finished fifth at Mount Washington last year, Kimball sixth.Last year's third-place woman, JulieAnne White of Vista, Calif., returns this year with her eyes on the $2,000 masters record bonus. White, 41, recently defended her title as top woman overall in the Big Sur Marathon. The existing Mount Washington women's masters record is 1:16:02.7, set in 1997 by Olympic marathon gold-medalist Joan Samuelson. Stifler said Samuelson probably won't run Saturday since she is attending a wedding, but has a "standing invitation" every year to run.The race ascends 4,650 vertical feet in 7.6 miles, at an average grade of 11.5 percent. The summit, 6,288 feet above sea level, is often beset by the windiest and most unpredictable weather in the world.The men's course record is 58:20.5, set in 1996 by Daniel Kihara of Kenya.The women's record is 1:10:09, set in 1998 by Swedish runner Magdalena Thorsell, who is Gutierrez's wife.