Burchfield completes grueling Mont Blanc trail – Uvalde Leader-News
Burchfield completes grueling Mont Blanc trail Uvalde Leader-News
Jennifer Fry
Staff writer
As if being fluent in Mandarin Chinese and living in a foreign country were not adventurous enough, former Uvaldean Ann Burchfield, 32, can now add trail-running famed Mont Blanc to her list of adventures.
Burchfield, who now resides in Melbourne, Australia, was among the 2,543 runners to participate in the 105-mile Ultra- Trail du Mont Blanc ultra-marathon loop Aug. 31 to Sept. 2, 2019. Along with 1,555 others, she proudly finished the course.
As many as 40 percent of runners never finish the race. This year, 61 percent of participants crossed the finish line.
A race is considered an “ultra-marathon” if its distance reaches further than the typical 26.2 miles of marathon length.
With a race time of 44 hours and 20 minutes, Burchfield placed 1,213 of the 1,556 finishers overall, and 41st among women runners. The fastest time to finish, from Paul Capell of Spain, was clocked at 20 hours and 19 minutes.
The fastest woman, Courtney Dauwalter of the USA, ran the course in 24 hours and 34 minutes and finished 21st overall.
“It’s a long time to be out there, but it’s a lot of fun,” Burchfield said. She braved rain, hail, fog, humidity and two nights without sleep in order to achieve her accomplishment, though Burchfield considers it a good weather year.
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