Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship, in partnership with Vermont Public
BROWNSVILLE — Athletes gathered in Brownsville one Saturday morning last month for the first-ever Mount Ascutney Vertical Backyard ultra endurance event.
An “ultra,” or ultramarathon, refers to any race or endurance competition longer than a traditional 26.2-mile marathon. Common formats include 50k and 100k events, 100-mile races, and multi-day timed loops known as “backyard” races.
At the Mount Ascutney Vertical Backyard, participants ran a loop up and down Mount Ascutney as many times as they could. The last person standing was named the winner.
“Every hour you climb 1,209 feet, and you just keep on going until no one’s left,” said race director Eli Burakian. “The whole loop is only 2.25 miles, but the idea is that if you hit 24 hours, you’ll have climbed and descended the full height of Mount Everest.”
Burakian is a photographer, writer, and ultrarunner in Brownsville. He said he’s had the idea for an event like this for a while.
“I live at Mount Ascutney,” he said. “I look at the mountain out my window, and it’s a really special mountain. And I’ve always thought it would be cool to have a last-person-standing race where the limiting factor is not how far you can go, but how much you can climb.”
Burakian has been involved with the ultrarunning scene since 2015. A longtime hiker and backpacker, he said he came to ultrarunning as a way to stay in shape and test his limits.
“I was doing a long-distance backpacking trip in the High Sierra, and decided I wanted to maintain that fitness when I got home,” Burakian said.
His first ultra event was the Vermont 50k Ultra Run, and despite the difficulty, he was hooked. He began running 100-mile races in 2016.
“We all say, ‘No more, no more!’ And then we turn around and sign up for our next race,” he said.
The Mount Ascutney Vertical Backyard followed the typical backyard ultra format: runners completed a loop every hour, using any remaining time to rest and refuel before the next start.
The event drew 74 participants, which was more than Burakian expected.
“Just about a month and a half ago, word really started to spread, and within a couple of weeks, we went from having 20 participants to being full,” Burakian said.
The participants ranged in age from 11 to 70.
Some participants aimed to run for 24 hours to complete the equivalent of an Everest climb, while others were just looking forward to challenging themselves and enjoying the event.
“I feel like if I set a goal I will want to stop around that time, so no goals! I will just play it by ear and see how it’s going,” said 34-year-old Amber Constant of Woodsville, New Hampshire, at the start of the event.
By the end of the first 24 hours, 20 people were still running, having climbed the equivalent of Mount Everest — about 29,000 feet.
By 37 hours, all but four competitors had ended their races.
One of the final four was Amber Constant, who ended up finishing in third place after completing 77,376 feet of climbing.
After four days of competition, only two runners remained.
Sixty-three-year-old Bill Tidd of Alton Bay, New Hampshire, who Burakian called “one of the greatest endurance athletes of all time,” finished in second place, having climbed 107,601 feet.
The winner of the inaugural event was 24-year-old Conor Brown of Manchester, New Hampshire. He climbed 108,810 feet over 202.5 miles in 90 hours with almost no sleep — an extraordinary feat.
Still, Burakian said, you don’t have to be a world-class athlete to participate in ultra events.
“Ultrarunning is such an approachable sport,” he said. If you can walk, really anybody of any fitness level can do it. There’s a spot for everyone in this sport.”