Joseph Gray was one of the favorites to win Saturday’s Pikes Peak Ascent, but when the race began, he wasn’t even at the starting line.

It didn’t matter.

Fueled by an intense desire to win the prestigious race on America’s mountain, Gray overcame his faux pas and easily outdistanced a quality field of world-class mountain runners. His winning time of 2:05:28 was slower than he’d hoped for, but in the end, that didn’t matter, either.

“My goal was to win. That’s what I wanted most,” said Gray, who looked fresh enough to go a few more miles just a few minutes after crossing the finish line. “It really mattered a lot to me. A lot of people thought I couldn’t run sub-2:07.”

Gray’s teammate on the United States Mountain Running team, Andy Wacker, was a distant second in 2:13:59. Wacker had beaten Gray the only other time they each raced on Pikes Peak, in the 2014 World Long Distance Challenge.

“I beat Joe here two years ago, and he got me today,” Wacker said. “He ran a great race.”

At the start, Gray’s absence had some officials wondering if he was a no-show. Turns out, he was nearby.

“I made a real rookie mistake,” Gray said. “I missed the start because I’d put my bag down and when I went back to put my jacket in it, there were a pile of bags and I couldn’t find mine, so I just threw my jacket on top of everything. I had to sprint through the crowd for the first mile-and-a-half and that really got my heart rate up. I only lost about 30 seconds, but I didn’t want to work that hard at the start of the race. It hurts your ability to close.”

It didn’t take him long to join the leaders, and surpass them.

“I finally caught the field near the Ws and I was ahead coming out of the Ws,” Gray said. “Andy wouldn't give up, and I knew I had to keep pushing, because he's got wheels and he can climb.”

Gray, 32, ran collegiately for the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Wacker, 27 was a two-time cross country All-American for the Colorado Buffaloes. Wacker still lives in Boulder while Gray resides in Colorado Springs.

“I’m proud that someone from Colorado Springs won this race,” Gray said. “Someone local hadn’t won it in a while.”

He hoped to approach Matt Carpenter's Pikes Peak Ascent record of 2:01:06, set in 1993, but that mark seems almost unbreakable. Carpenter, a Manitou Springs resident, amazingly set the ascent record in the same race he set the Pikes Peak Marathon record of 3:16:39.

“I thought I could get 2:02 or 2:03, but it wasn't the day for it,” Gray said. “There was too much mud to even get close to the record. It was soft in the middle of the course.”

Gray and Wacker will compete at the World Mountain Running Championships in Bulgaria Sept. 11.

Wacker was third in the ascent in 2014, and second in 2015.  Saturday he finished ahead of 2013 champion Eric Blake, who was third in 2:15:04.

"I told Eric I've got to run it again now,” Wacker said. “I say that jokingly, because I'm not going to quit. Unfortunately, this race is addicting. I wouldn't say it's fun, but the beauty and the difficulty make coming back masochistically gratifying."

Blake, 37, noted with a smile that Gray and Wacker didn’t run when he won the ascent three years ago.

“They’re two of the best mountain runners in the country,” Blake said. “So I’m happy making the podium.”

Azerya Weldemariam, 37, of Englewood, Colo., was fourth in 2:15:39, followed by 2015 champion Touru Miyahara, 37, of Gotemba, Japan, in 2:18:02. Peter Maksimow, 37, of Manitou Springs, was sixth in 2:23:09; he’ll also run Sunday’smarathon, and was the first doubler to finish the ascent.