Pikes Peak Marathon course record-holder Matt Carpenter vividly remembers the first time Scott Elliot beat him up Barr Trail. 

“That first race, I didn’t know who Scott was,” Carpenter, 61, said. “He won his first of six. The next year, I tried again to get better. I remember wearing pink shorts, and he told me later he could see my shorts and focused on them, so I never made that mistake again. I wore dark clothes after that.”

“He caught me at Cirque, and it’s a really rocky section, and he danced through those rocks like he knew every single one, and it dawned on me he does. So I wanted to learn, and I would go up there and learn, and then I’d catch Scott and raise the bar a little more.”

Thus was born a Pikes Peak rivalry that is still talked about today, including at the Pioneers of Pikes Peak panel on Friday afternoon, where they sat side by side.  

“That’s what sport is. Sport is competition,” Carpenter told the Gazette. “To have people like Scott and Ricardo [Mejia] and others pushing you to do your best is awesome.” 

The two have a long history of racing together, with Elliot having won the Ascent eight times, while Carpenter has won the Ascent six times in addition to his 12 Marathon wins. 

“Like he said, I was beating him early, and then it was close, and then he stepped it up,” Elliiot, 61, said. “He raced across not just the country, but the world. He is a legend. He put the race on the map in terms of people talking about it and wanting to come here from other countries and really make it a world-famous race.”

Elliot ran for both Colorado College and the University of Colorado-Boulder, and fell in love with the mountains to become a trail runner. The Boulder resident holds the record for the Pikes Peak Ascent for the longest gap between wins of 17 years (first in 1987 and last in 2004). 

Sitting on the panel with fellow legends was a surreal moment for Carpenter, despite being one of the most well-known names. 

To have [J’Ne Day-Lucore] and Elliot there, you’re looking at the 80s right there, and it’s like a time machine,” Carpenter said. “Pretty much everyone there has made some mark on the mountain.”

“It’s nice to mingle with the legends, just hear the stories and pay tribute to all those people who participated and contributed,” Elliot added. “It’s what makes this race, this whole weekend, special: the people.”

Both Carpenter and Eliot have raced up and down mountains all over but Pikes Peak remains their favorite. 

“I put in so much time living and training on that mountain and thinking about the race and doing the race and then analyzing and deciding how I’m going to do the next year, and then there’s this guy (points at Carpenter) who was kind of my arch rival,” Elliot said. “ It was all fun.”

Carpenter loves racing Pikes Peak because it’s like a chess match. 

“I love the mental aspect of it,” Carpenter said, “It’s not too hard in the W’s and then you go downhill where you have to be fast and you have to be trained for that. And then you get into that higher altitude, and you have to be trained for that. And then you get into the rocks, and you have to be trained for that. And then you turn around and go downhill.”

A Manitou Springs resident, one may catch Carpenter running or hiking up Barr Trail, but he won’t be racing Pikes Peak again. 

“I won 18 times, not sure if there’s such a thing as too many wins, but I believe there is such a thing as enough,” Carpenter told the Gazette. “I won it six years in a row, I was 47 competing with kids in their 20s, and I was still winning, but the life balance wasn’t there. I was taking four-hour naps and just training so hard, and I was like, it’s time to let another generation take over.”

While he came out to join the 70-anniversary festivities, Carpenter won’t be at the start line this weekend. Again, he wants the spotlight on the next generation. 

“Maybe,” Elliot said when asked if he would run the Ascent again. “Like a fair amount of the other panelists were saying, you have to have a different mindset now. It’s more about being here and enjoying it.”

“I’m sure there are people my age and even older, but I don’t know if I want to be competitive anymore. I think I’d rather just say I did it.” 

Pikes Peak Marathon course record-holder Matt Carpenter vividly remembers the first time Scott Elliot beat him up Barr Trail.

“That first race, I didn’t know who Scott was,” Carpenter, 61, said. “He won his first of six. The next year, I tried again to get better. I remember wearing pink shorts, and he told me later he could see my shorts and focused on them, so I never made that mistake again. I wore dark clothes after that.”

“He caught me at Cirque, and it’s a really rocky section, and he danced through those rocks like he knew every single one, and it dawned on me he does. So I wanted to learn, and I would go up there and learn, and then I’d catch Scott and raise the bar a little more.”

Thus was born a Pikes Peak rivalry that is still talked about today, including at the Pioneers of Pikes Peak panel on Friday afternoon, where they sat side by side.

“That’s what sport is. Sport is competition,” Carpenter told the Gazette. “To have people like Scott and Ricardo [Mejia] and others pushing you to do your best is awesome.”

The two have a long history of racing together, with Elliot having won the Ascent eight times, while Carpenter has won the Ascent six times in addition to his 12 Marathon wins.

“Like he said, I was beating him early, and then it was close, and then he stepped it up,” Elliiot, 61, said. “He raced across not just the country, but the world. He is a legend. He put the race on the map in terms of people talking about it and wanting to come here from other countries and really make it a world-famous race.”

Elliot ran for both Colorado College and the University of Colorado-Boulder, and fell in love with the mountains to become a trail runner. The Boulder resident holds the record for the Pikes Peak Ascent for the longest gap between wins of 17 years (first in 1987 and last in 2004).

Sitting on the panel with fellow legends was a surreal moment for Carpenter, despite being one of the most well-known names.

To have [J’Ne Day-Lucore] and Elliot there, you’re looking at the 80s right there, and it’s like a time machine,” Carpenter said. “Pretty much everyone there has made some mark on the mountain.”

“It’s nice to mingle with the legends, just hear the stories and pay tribute to all those people who participated and contributed,” Elliot added. “It’s what makes this race, this whole weekend, special: the people.”

Both Carpenter and Eliot have raced up and down mountains all over but Pikes Peak remains their favorite.

“I put in so much time living and training on that mountain and thinking about the race and doing the race and then analyzing and deciding how I’m going to do the next year, and then there’s this guy (points at Carpenter) who was kind of my arch rival,” Elliot said. “ It was all fun.”

Carpenter loves racing Pikes Peak because it’s like a chess match.

“I love the mental aspect of it,” Carpenter said, “It’s not too hard in the W’s and then you go downhill where you have to be fast and you have to be trained for that. And then you get into that higher altitude, and you have to be trained for that. And then you get into the rocks, and you have to be trained for that. And then you turn around and go downhill.”

A Manitou Springs resident, one may catch Carpenter running or hiking up Barr Trail, but he won’t be racing Pikes Peak again.

“I won 18 times, not sure if there’s such a thing as too many wins, but I believe there is such a thing as enough,” Carpenter told the Gazette. “I won it six years in a row, I was 47 competing with kids in their 20s, and I was still winning, but the life balance wasn’t there. I was taking four-hour naps and just training so hard, and I was like, it’s time to let another generation take over.”

While he came out to join the 70-anniversary festivities, Carpenter won’t be at the start line this weekend. Again, he wants the spotlight on the next generation.

“Maybe,” Elliot said when asked if he would run the Ascent again. “Like a fair amount of the other panelists were saying, you have to have a different mindset now. It’s more about being here and enjoying it.”

“I’m sure there are people my age and even older, but I don’t know if I want to be competitive anymore. I think I’d rather just say I did it.”