Colorado Springs school teacher Tommy Manning raced to second place in the Mount Washington Road Race in New Hampshire on Saturday, while Peter Maksimow of Colorado Springs placed sixth.

Manning covered the 7.6-mile climb in 1 hour, 1 minute and 42 seconds, only 10 seconds off the winning time of Ricky Gates of Woody Creek, Colo.

(Manning is pictured at right in a photo taken at Mount Washington last year.)

It was a big day for Colorado mountain runners who captured five of the top six places in the men's race and swept the top two places in the women's competition.

Matthew Byrne of Pennsylvania was third, followed by some of the top runners in the Rocky Mountain Region. Glen Randall, 24 of Mesa, Colo., the 2010 Pikes Peak Ascent Champion, finished fourth (1:03:36), followed by Simon Gutierrez (45, Alamosa, 1:04:33.)

In the women's race, Pikes Peak Ascent competitors Kim Dobson and Brandy Erholtz (photo below)  finished 1-2. Dobson, 27, of Denver, won with a time of 1:12:11. Erholtz, 33, of Evergreen crossed the line in 1:12:44. In 2010, Erholtz won the Pikes Peak Ascent while Dobson finished second.

Maksimow, (left) who won the Run to the Shrine 10K and the Greenland Trail 50K this spring, hit the finish line in 1:04:45.

Manning and Maksimow will compete in the Cranmore Hill Climb on Sunday, June 26. The top six finishers in that race - which serves as the U.S. Mountain Running national champisonhip - will earn spots on the U.S. national team that will compete at the world championships later this year.

A year ago, Manning finished sixth at the U.S. Championships (Mount Washington) and narrowly qualified for the U.S. Mountain Running Team. But he had one of the best races of his career at the world championships in Slovenia, where he was the third U.S. team finisher (18th overall) and helped the Americans capture the silver medal in the team competition.

Read about Tommy Manning's race at the world championships here.