WINDSOR, Mass. – In recent years, runners at the Notchview Ultra have had to endure wet conditions at some point during the multi-day event with at least one round of rain soaking the course and turning parts of the trail slippery. Most notably, the 2023 edition concluded with 24 consecutive hours of downpour when monsoon-like conditions brought flooding and extensive damage to parts of western Massachusetts and nearby Vermont.
Runners enjoyed a reprieve from the rain at this year’s event, and they capitalized on some of the finest weather in Notchview Ultra history by unleashing a different type of storm–a monsoon of mileage–during the 11th edition of the event on July 10-13 at Notchview Reservation in Windsor, Mass.
The Berkshire Ultra Running Community for Service (BURCS) played host to the 11th edition of the Notchview Ultra on July 10-13, 2026, at Notchview Reservation in Windsor, Mass. Runners took on a distance-specific 100-mile race or time-based 72-hour, 48-hour 24-hour, 12-hour daytime, 12-hour overnight, and 6-hour ultras on a 1.9-mile cross country ski loop course.
When Jeff Uzzel ran the inaugural Tails & Trails State Forest Run 50K in 2025, he dominated from the start and won by more than an hour. The defending champion returned for the second annual event on Saturday, May 16, in Pittsfield, Mass., and found himself under pressure throughout before finishing in a familiar position.
The Berkshire Ultra Running Community for Service (BURCS) played host to the second annual Tails & Trails State Forest Run on Saturday, May 16, 2026, at Pittsfield State Forest in Pittsfield, Mass. The event offered 50K, 25K and 5-mile trail races on rolling singletrack trails. Proceeds from the event benefitted three area nonprofit animal rescue organizations.
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.
The Berkshire Ultra Running Community for Service (BURCS) played host to the inaugural Notchview Invitational on Sept. 27-28 at Notchview Reservation in Windsor, Mass. The invitation-only fatass-style event included BURCS members who completed at least five Notchview Ultras or volunteered at a variety of BURCS Race Series events. Runners chose from 24-hour, 50-mile and 50K options.
The last time Justin Kousky took on the Jug End loop was in 2023. He dazzled that day with a record-setting 43.8-mile performance, toppling a record that had stood since 2016. Two years later, Kousky returned to do more damage at the Berkshire Ultra Running Community for Service’s (BURCS) 10th annual Jug End Loop Ultra on Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025 at Jug End Reservation in Egremont, Mass.
The Berkshire Ultra Running Community for Service (BURCS) played host to the 10th annual Jug End Loop Ultra on Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025 at Jug End Reservation in Egremont, Mass. Runners took on the traditional 4.2-mile loop course for 6 hours, using an abbreviated mini-loop for the final hour. A single-loop, 4.2-mile race also was offered.
Jason Kaplan is an ambitious runner, and Wally Watermelon is an ambitious … well … watermelon. Both had big goals for the Berkshire Ultra Running Community for Service’s (BURCS) Sweltering Summer 8-Hour Ultra on Saturday, Aug. 9, at Clapp Park in Pittsfield, and both delivered.
For the first two years of its existence, the Notchview Ultra was a 6-hour fatass-style event where the top mileage tallies were in the mid-30s. When the event added 12- and 24-hour options for 2017 and 2018, Dietmar Bago was the standard setter with 91.2 miles each time in the event’s longest offering.
In 2019, the Notchview Ultra entered new territory as race director Benn Griffin expanded the format into a multi-day distance fest that included a 72-hour race. In doing so, Griffin dared runners to dream of the endurance possibilities and discover what was possible on the 1.9-mile cross country ski loop at Notchview Reservation in Windsor, Mass. Ann Alessandrini was the first to set her sights on 200 miles, and she blasted through the distance barrier in the final hour to close out a 201.4-mile effort. It was the first time a runner would surpass 200 miles at Notchview, but not the last.
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