Just about everything was different about the 39th annual Garden of the Gods 10-Mile Run compared to the 38th race in 2014.

The weather was hotter and the times were faster. The race even had a different name.

The results, however, were a mirror image of the 2014 race.

Under a scorching early morning Manitou Springs sun, Santa Fe, N.M., runners Macdonard Ondara, 30, and Aliphine Tuliamuk-Bolton, 26, won the men’s and women’s overall races, respectively, in the newly named Tom Berg Memorial Race.

For the second year in a row, Ondara finished first with a time of 50 minutes and 48 seconds, beating his 2014 time of 51:18, while Tuliamuk-Bolton broke her course record, set in 2014, by eight seconds in 55:47.

Before Sunday’s race, Emily Hellmer, daughter of Berg, the race’s founder, addressed the large crowd of runners and spectators near the start line. Berg passed away earlier in the year, and the race was renamed in his honor.

The race start was delayed about 10 minutes due to a backlog in the packet pickup line, but once it started, Ondara and Tuliamak-Bolton utilized their course knowledge acquired last year to emerge victorious in one of the most difficult 10-mile races in the country.

“I knew the course,” Tuliamak-Bolton said. “The first part of the race, I closed the five-mile mark faster than last year. I ran the first part really fast last year, and this morning, I didn’t realize I was running that fast and I was thinking about the course record.”

Both runners train regularly in Santa Fe, and both said New Mexico’s rolling hills and comparable altitude made it easier to adjust to the race’s strenuous conditions. Additionally, Ondara said, the heat was a personal advantage.

“I enjoyed the hills, that was where I was pushing,” he said. “I also like the warmth. When it is cold, my muscles are slower.”

In the 5K race, last year’s men’s winner and Colorado Springs native Adam Rich, 34, repeated as this year’s victor, clocking a time of 16:44. Colorado Springs’ Kaylen Adragna, 24, the only winner who didn’t also win in 2014, set a course record with a 20:26, beating the previous record by nearly a minute.

The race, which began in 1979, has grown to include 1,545 runners in this year’s race. Its course is one of the most challenging in the country, featuring an elevation range from about 6,210 to about 6,530 feet.

For Tuliamak-Bolton, however, the race is an opportunity to run in what she calls one of the most beautiful places to compete. She added that she noticed the hills significantly less than in her 2014 race.

“I realized we were coming down at the end and I thought ‘Oh, I thought there were more hills,'” she said. “The course is beautiful, and the record is really exciting as a runner because it’s always good to realize you’re improving every time.”