Matt Carpenter

Matthew Edwin Carpenter (born July 20, 1964) is an American Ultramarathoner as a trail runner and in high altitude marathons.

Early life Carpenter was born in North Carolina, before moving to Kentucky and then Mississippi while in high school. He took up running while living there, because he had "nothing else to do". This, and his rigorous training regime—he claims to have run daily for over five years between 1997 and his daughter's birth in 2002 After signing with Fila Skyrunners in 1993, he won either thirteen or fifteen Later in his career he moved to ultrarunning, and sustained his previous success, setting course records in the San Juan Solstice 50-mile race in Lake City, Colorado in 2004, and breaking the record for the Leadville Trail 100 race in 2005 by over an hour and a half.

Carpenter has won the Pikes Peak Marathon on twelve occasions, the Vail Hill Climb eight times, the Imogene Pass Run six times, the Barr Trail Mountain Race, Everest SkyMarathon Tibet, and Aspen SkyMarathon five times each, and holds the course record for all of these events. He is also the record holder for running the fastest flat marathons run at altitude at both 14,000 and 17,000 feet. His success in the sport has been so extensive and dominant that he has been compared to Lance Armstrong, and described as "one of the greatest mountain runners of all time".

Carpenter's greatest dominance has been on Pikes Peak. He has won eighteen races; six ascents and twelve marathons, including an unprecedented double, winning both on consecutive days in 2001. On the ascent he holds the age group record for both 40- to 44-year-olds, and 25- to 29-year-olds, and held the overall fastest Ascent record for 30 years with a time of 2:01:06 during the first half of the 1993 marathon. His overall ascent record was bested by 46 seconds at the 2023 Pikes Peak Ascent by Rémi Bonnet, who summited in 2:00:20. In the marathon itself, he holds the record for the 20- to 24-, 25- to 29-, 35- to 39- and 40- to 44-year-old age groups, as well as the outright fastest time of 3:16:39, also in 1993.

In October 2013, Carpenter was the first distance runner inducted into the Colorado Springs Sports Hall of Fame.

Later life He currently lives with his Brazilian-born wife Yvonne and their daughter Kyla, born in 2002.

Carpenter served on the Manitou Springs City Council 2010-2013. From 2012 to 2023, Carpenter and his wife owned and operated the Colorado Custard Company, a small shop in Manitou Springs, Colorado. He sold the shop in 2024.

Carpenter states he’s never had alcohol, cigarettes, or recreational or performance enhancing drugs and that he’s never consumed caffeine in training or competition.