The 7.6-mile Mount Washington Road Race had the first tie in its 59-year history Saturday, as Brittni Hutton and Heidi Caldwell broke the tape in 1 hour, 16 minutes, 17 seconds.
Eric Blake, 40, of West Hartford, Connecticut, won the men’s top prize. Blake reached the 6,288-foot summit in 1:02:52, a minute ahead of Francis Kamiri, of Kenya.
Hutton, 29, of Lubbock, Texas, raced the Mount Washington Auto Road for the first time. Taking the lead at the start, she ran alone for most of the race and was leading Caldwell, of Craftsbury Common, Vermont, by half a minute with the mountain’s summit in her sights. Caldwell, however, a two-time Ivy League 5,000-meter champion at Brown University, used her speed to catch Hutton at the foot of the 22 percent grade in the final 50 yards.
“I had no idea she was that close until she was right there behind me,” said Hutton, a former all-American at Oakland University in Michigan. “I saw her, and it was like lightning struck. I told myself I could do it.”
The computer chip reading showed both women finished in the same time, and a review of photos confirmed the tie. Kim Nedeau, 39, of Leverett, who had run much of the way with Caldwell, hung on for third in 1:16:49.
Liam Cregan, 26, of Amherst, was 28th overall in 1:16:55. Immanuel Wineman, 41, of Northampton, was 29th in 1:17:01. Wineman was third in the 40-49 age group.
Jake Dissinger, 37, of Leeds, was 47th in 1:21:19, while Ivan Cordero, 32, of Northampton, was 51st (1:22:33).
Three other local runners broke the top 100. Richard Larsen, 67, of Shelburne Falls, was 77th overall but first in the 60-69 age group in 1:26:58.
Mark Staples, 49, of Holyoke, was 88th (1:28:29), and Andy MacDonald, 59, of Amherst, was 100th in 1:30:22.
There were 1,017 participants.