The Mt. Evans Ascent has an amazing history dating back to the 1970's. We are currently working on gathering details on the races of the past. If you happen to have any old newspaper accounts of the race, results earlier than 1999, or photos from the early days, please let us know!. We would like to thank Roger Gerard, Doug Laufer, Nancy Hobbs, David Kelble, and Michael Chalpa for their contributions.

Recent History of the Race

The Blue Sky Ascent (formerly Mt. Evans Ascent) has an amazing history, attracting some of the top runners in the country for more than 50 years, however the fastest times ever have been run in recent years.

2008 was a year for the history books, as Matt Carpenter and Naoko Takahashi both broke decades-old course records! Matt ran the uphill 14.5 mile course in 1:37:01 to eclipse the 31 year old course record (1:41:35) set by John Bramley in 1977. His pace was an amazing 6:42 per mile. Naoko, the 2000 Olympic gold medalist in the marathon and former marathon world record holder (2:19:46) finished in 2:06:22 - nearly a minute faster than the previous record set by J'ne Day Lucore in 1990.

2010 was another stellar year, with Kim Dobson decimating Takahashi's course record by nearly 5 minutes to win in 2:01:39 and Glenn Randall recording the second fastest men's winning time ever in 1:41:21.

2012: The women's course record goes down once again, with Stevie Kremer taking the women's record under the 2 hour mark, a full 10 minutes under Lucore's 1990 course record that stood until 2008.

2016: Kim Dobson re-takes the women's course record with a time of 1:55:38, becoming the second women to dip under the 2 hour mark.

2018 was a heart-breaker as 2017 champion Nathanael Williams set out on a solo mission to break Carpenter's course record. When he came into sight of the finish line with a quarter mile to go, it looked as if the 10 year old course record would fall, but Williams' legs tied up on the final switchback and he missed the record by seconds, clocking a gun time of 1:37:16.

2021 Early Post-COVID: The world was still in a COVID panic, but events were allowed with restrictions. The Mt. Evans Ascent had a strict limit on the number of runners we could fit in each finisher shuttle. The limit would not cover the expenses of the event, so we added a round-trip option with an earlier start time. The Round-Trip was really fun, so we kept it going!

2023 Same Race, New Name: It has been a long time coming, but on September 15, 2023, Mt. Evans was renamed Mount Blue Sky. For details on the background behind the name change, Click this link.

2024: Joseph Gray shoots for the record: With a World Mountaoin Running Championship and 17 US National Titles under his belt, it appeared the course record was in jeopardy. Running solo from the gun, and finishing nearly 11 minutes ahead of 2nd place, he put in a valiant effort finishing just a minute and change shy of the course record.

Momentos from the past

The original runners in the Mt. Evans Ascent (aka Mt. Evans Trophy Run) pose before the race in this 1971 photo. Click Here for a larger image

In the 70's and 80's, it was a tradition to award a Trophy Rock to men who finished under 2 hours 40 minutes, and women under 3 hours. We revived that tradition in 2012 - bring you're A-Game!!!

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