75-Year-Old Manitou Resident Celebrates Ascent Record by Cheering on Marathoners

By Travis Duncan

Kay Martin, 75, from Manitou Springs celebrated running her 6^th Pikes Peak Ascent at the finish line of Sunday’s Pikes Peak Marathon, cheering on the runners with her husband, Lyle Langlois. Martin set the record in the Pikes Peak Ascent for women runners 75 and up on Saturday with a time of 5:55:19. She smashed the previous record of 6:17.

“I just wanted to be under 6 hours,” she said. “That’s what I strived for.”

Martin said she’d set her best time when she was 69, with a time of 4:49:13.

“I wear the paper with a list of the record times when I run, but I don’t need it anymore,” she said. “I have them all in my head.”

Martin said she knew she could beat the previous best time when “I was 14 minutes ahead of the record at A-frame.”