MOUNT WASHINGTON, N.H. (AP) – Battling high winds, low visibility and a steep climb, Jonathan Wyatt of New Zealand shattered a course record on Saturday and Anna Pichrtova of the Czech Republic became the first woman to win the Mount Washington Road Race four times in a row.

Wyatt, 31, of Wellington, finished in 56 minutes and 41 seconds, nearly two minutes faster than the mountain record of 58:21.

“The clouds were really thick,” he said. “I couldn’t see where the next corner was and I really had to concentrate.”

Wyatt will run the marathon in the summer Olympics.

Pichrtova, also 31, finished the 7.6-mile race up the Northeast’s highest peak in 1 hour, 12 minutes and 19 seconds.

“The wind was blowing me from side-to-side,” she said. “I couldn’t run against the wind. I was jogging.”

Gusts were measured at 40 to 56 mph along the route – and stronger at the summit – with showers and very low visibility in the clouds. The course along the Mount Washington Auto Road gains 4,700 feet in altitude on the way to the 6,288-foot summit. It is the steepest all-uphill road race in America.

About 1,000 runners took part in the 44th annual Climb to the Clouds.

Paul Low, 30, of Amherst, Mass, was the second man to finish, and the first American, at 1:03:12.

He, and everyone else, were awe-struck by Wyatt’s performance.

“He is the best uphill runner in the solar system or possibly in several solar systems,” Low said.

Defending champion Simon Gutierrez, 38, of Taos, N.M., finished third, at 1:04:17.

In the women’s race, Erica Larson, 32, of Los Alamos, N.M., finished second at 1:14:17.

The third woman was Laura Haefeli, 36, of Del Norte, Colo., at 1:17:42.