For the first four years of its decade-long existence, the Berkshire Ultra Running Community for Service’s largest event – the multi-day, multi-distance Notchview Ultra – was a low-key, no-frills fatass-style event. It began as a simple 6-hour event in 2015, but by 2017 had expanded to include 12- and 24-hour offerings. In 2019, it exploded into a three-day endurance festival under its current name.

In celebration of the event’s 10th anniversary – and as a means of celebrating long-time Notchview participants and BURCS volunteers – Race Director Benn Griffin organized the inaugural Notchview Invitational as a supplement to the Notchview Ultra that took place in July. The invitation-only event welcomed those who have participated in five or more Notchview Ultras or been runners or volunteers in each in-person BURCS event this year. The Notchview Invitational, held Sept. 27-28 at Notchview Reservation in Windsor, Mass., invited those runners to run a 50K, a 50-miler or a 24-hour event on the venue’s signature 1.9-mile loop course.

By reviving the fatass format at Notchview, Griffin revived a few traditions of the past, including honor system timekeeping with runners tracking their laps on posterboards mounted under a tent.

Forty runners toed the starting line for the three race offerings, with most in the 24-hour run.

Eleven runners surpassed the 50-mile mark in the 24-hour race, but nobody had a bigger weekend than Notchview regulars Jessie Makela and Markus Pointer. Makela, 41, of Stafford Springs, Conn., and Pointer, 48, of Peabody, Mass., completed 74.1 miles apiece to earn top honors as the female and male champions. Makela finished the distance first for the overall win. Taylor Verville, 35, of Tiverton, R.I., and Claire Robinson-White, 46, of Milton, Vt., were third and fourth overall with 66.5 miles apiece on a course where both women have logged hundreds of miles in recent years. Jeremy Shafer, 48, of Tolland, Mass., was fifth overall with 62.7 miles just 2 1/2 months removed from a first-place, 153.9-mile performance in the Notchview Ultra 48-hour race. Another Notchview regular, 66-year-old George Alexion of Waterboro, Maine, also posted 62.7 miles.

Sue Walters, 55, of Pittsfield, Mass., and Alex Bancroft, 51, of Pawcatuck, Conn., finished 55.1 miles apiece. Lain Coryell, 62, of Roslindale, Mass., finished 53.2 miles, and Karen Giroux, 59, of Salem, Mass., and Dar Walters, 53, of Pittsfield, Mass., finished 51.3 miles apiece.

Four runners completed the 50-miler, led by 47-year-old Scott Johnson-Yasufuku of Hampden, Mass., in 11:41:00. Bill Odendahl, 60, and Christina Odendahl, 22, both of Trumbull, Conn., ran together and finished together in 13:21:54. Tek Ung, 43, of Cranston, R.I., completed her 50-mile run in 13:33:00.

An additional six runners finished the 50-miler, led by 49-year-old Daria Cunningham of Lunenburg, Mass., in 6:33:37. Cunningham was the female champion of the 48-hour race at this year’s Notchview Ultra, with a 119.7-mile effort. Ann Alessandrini, 65, of Johnsonville, N.Y., was second in the 50K in 7:25:00. Alessandrini became the first runner to surpass 1,000 lifetime miles at the Notchview Ultra this year. Dietmar Bago, 57, of Andover, Mass., was third in the 50K in 7:41:07, followed by 51-year-old Heidi Mendoza of Watertown, Mass., in 8:12:46. One of the BURCS founders, 53-year-old Ana Wolf of Lenox, Mass., was fifth in 8:39:00, while Adriana Bago, 58, of Andover, Mass., rounded out the field in 9:35:00.