It seems that any time Justin Kousky steps to a starting line a course record may soon fall.

Kousky has repeatedly toppled course records at trail ultramarathons during the past few years at everything from 50Ks to 100-milers and time-based events, not to mention the many FKTs he has set on trails throughout New England.

Kousky’s latest target was the Berkshire Ultra Running Community for Service’s (BURCS) Jug End Loop Ultra 6-hour race on Saturday, July 29, at Jug End State Reservation in Egremont, Mass. The event had a 4.2-mile loop course with around 850 feet of gain per loop. Runners tackled that loop for the first five hours before pivoting to a .88-mile loop known as the “mini jug” for the final hour.

The course record of 41.52 miles set by Jason Mintz stood since the inaugural Jug End race in 2016. Tim Goric came close in 2021 with 41.1 miles, and Nick Curelop logged 40.64 miles in 2018, but the initial record stood tall until Kousky arrived.

Kousky, 43, of Westport, Conn., dashed away from the field quickly and dominated the race, ultimately outdistancing everyone else by a half marathon. He raced up the steep, sometimes technical climb and sprinted back down, over and over, quickly piling up the miles. By the time Kousky was finished, he’d toppled the previous record with a winning tally of 43.8 miles.

Runner-up David Catarius, 54, of Shrewsbury, Mass., was a distant second with 30.45 miles. It was Catarius’s first race since finishing third at the Chesterfield Gorge 100-miler in June. Finishing third overall and first in the women’s field was 26-year-old Hannah Green of Boston, Mass., with 29.7 miles. Matching Green’s distance but placing fourth and fifth overall were Bernie Gee, 53, of Brookfield, Conn., and Laura Stephen, 59, of Brooklyn, N.Y. Gee placed third in the men’s field while Stephen was the women’s runner-up. Laura Becker, 38, of Manchester, Conn., rounded out the women’s podium with 28.2 miles. 

Twelve of the 38 runners in the 6-hour race surpassed the marathon. Others who did so included Eric Dziedzinski, 37, of Bondsville, Mass., and Dave Champoux, 58, of Florence, Mass., with 28.95 miles apiece; Luna Hsieh, 30, of Danbury, Conn., Michael Jones, 47, of Oswego, N.Y., and Rafael Russi-Catalan, 36, of Housatonic, Mass., with 27.45 miles apiece; and Jeremy Shafer, 46, of New Hartford, Conn., with 26.7 miles.

Whitehead Blazes to Win in 4.2-Mile Race

A small field of a dozen runners took on the one-loop race through the course for 4.2 miles, amassing around 830 feet of gain in the first half before racing back downhill to the finish. Dan Whitehead of Great Barrington, Mass., deftly conquered the steep uphill and speedy downhill, taking the overall win in 41:10. He was joined on the men’s podium by Florent Guyot of Urschenheim, France, in 52:49, followed by Mike Goff of Blandford, Mass., in 54:51.

In the women’s field, Stephanie Bond of Sudbury, Mass., led the way in 52:54. Marie Gryszowka of Leicester, Mass., was the runner-up in 1:01:31, and Alex Bancroft of Pawcatuck, Conn., rounded out the podium in 1:12:11.