Tag Archives: BURCS

Results: BURCS Jug End Loop Ultra

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.

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Ambitious Efforts Stand Out at BURCS’ Sweltering Summer

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.

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Alessandrini Makes More Notchview History with 1,000th Mile

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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Results: BURCS Notchview Ultra

The Berkshire Ultra Running Community for Service (BURCS) played host to the 10th edition of the Notchview Ultra on July 11-14, 2025, at Notchview Reservation in Windsor, Mass. Runners took on a distance-specific 100.7-mile race or time-based 72-hour, 48-hour, 24-hour, 12-hour and 6-hour ultras on a 1.9-mile cross-country ski loop course.

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Claiborne Golden Again at Pittsfield State Forest, Wins Free to Run 50K

When Katie Claiborne earned her first ultramarathon victory at the Berkshire Ultra Running Community for Service’s (BURCS) 2024 Vegan Power 50K, she already was a force to be reckoned with in the Northeast. Since making her ultra debut in 2021, she has had at least 13 ultra finishes to her credit and several podium finishes.

In addition to topping the female field and finishing second overall at Vegan Power, Claiborne capped a stellar 2024 with a top-10 finish at the Vermont 100.

Claiborne opened her 2025 season in February with a trip to Arizona for the highly competitive Black Canyon Ultras 100K. Of the 1,002 starters, 776 finished within the 20-hour time limit. Claiborne was 167th overall and 49th in the female field that saw some of the biggest names in the sport do battle. After taking on a massive field at Black Canyon, Claiborne returned to more intimate racing for her next event: the BURCS Free to Run Trail Races.

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Results: BURCS Free to Run Trail Races

The Berkshire Ultra Running Community for Service (BURCS) played host to the 10th edition of the Free to Run Trail Races on Saturday, June 21, 2025, at Pittsfield State Forest in Pittsfield, Mass. This year’s event shifted from September to June, and it featured 50K, 25K and 15K distance opportunities on challenging singletrack trails.

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Uzzel Cruises to Victory at Inaugural Tails & Trails State Forest Run

For most of the past 11 years, the Berkshire Ultra Running Community for Service has kicked off its BURCS Trail Series with the Vegan Power Trail Races at Pittsfield State Forest. For 2025, the BURCS decided to shake things up. They shelved Vegan Power, but maintained the event’s beneficiary and added a few more for a brand new event at Pittsfield State Forest: the Tails & Trails State Forest Run.

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Results: BURCS Tails & Trails State Forest Run

The Berkshire Ultra Running Community for Service played host to the inaugural Tails & Trails State Forest Run on Saturday, May 17, 2025, at Pittsfield State Forest. The event replaced Vegan Power in the BURCS Badass Trail Series, but it kept the same venue and offered 50K, 25K and 5-mile trail races.

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200 is the New 100: Gonzalez-Kreisberg Redefines Ultra Endurance By Volunteering

Two hundred wasn’t the number Rebecca Gonzalez-Kreisberg had in mind for the 2024 ultrarunning season. Her heart was set on 152 – the precise number of miles she planned to run at the Notchview Ultra.

It was an ambitious milestone, but after earning her first 100-mile finish at the 72-hour event in 2023 she dared to dream even bigger. Unfortunately for her, the combination of a toe injury and upheaval at work halted her running ambitions before the season even began.

“Things were kind of falling apart,” Gonzalez-Kreisberg admitted. “That’s where the goal of 152 had to be put aside, because suddenly I was in no capacity between what was going on at work and what was going on with my physical body to be training. I spent a lot of that winter barely surviving in a lot of ways.”

“Luckily,” she added, “I’m totally on the other side now.”

How she dealt with the disappointment and weathered storm involved an extraordinary feat of a different type of endurance, one that called to mind the popular ultrarunning phrase “200 is the new 100” while also redefining it.

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