STOYAN NENOV, of Reuters, reports on how Bulgarian ultramarathon runner Victor Asenov completed one of the toughest challenges of its kind…
Vitosha Mountain, Bulgaria
Reuters
Blind Bulgarian ultramarathon runner Victor Asenov defied sleeplessness and exhaustion to repeatedly scale Vitosha mountain near Sofia non-stop for nearly two days last week, climbing the equivalent of the height of Mount Everest in one of the toughest challenges of its kind in the world.
Victor Asenov, a visually impaired ultramarathon runner, is guided by pacers Pavlin Beev and Veradina Nacheva as he attempts to cover the same elevation as Mount Everest, an activity known as ‘Everesting’, by running up and down the Black Peak summit of the Vitosha Mountain, to raise awareness of a guide dog school, near Sofia, Bulgaria, on 21st March, 2025. PICTURE: Reuters/Spasiyana Sergieva
With his guide dog Taddy, Asenov, one of a handful of blind ultramarathon runners in Europe, set off from a mountain hut for the Black Peak summit of Vitosha, some 2,290 metres above the capital, at 0932am on Friday to raise awareness about the training of guide dogs.
“The requirement is not to sleep, so you can’t do it by climbing once and then [continue] the next day. You have to do it 19 times in a row.”
– Victor Asenov
Going without sleep for 46 hours and stopping only for food, he climbed 8,848 metres in total – the height of Mount Everest – by running up and down to the peak 19 times, before finishing at 0740 am (0540 GMT) on Sunday.
“The requirement is not to sleep, so you can’t do it by climbing once and then [continue] the next day. You have to do it 19 times in a row,” Asenov said before his endurance challenge raising funds for a guide dog school at the Eyes on Four Paws Foundation in Sofia, the only school of its kind in the Balkans region.
Asenov says Taddy was trained for the city but he has taught her how to help him navigate treacherous trails in the mountains. “I have already shown her how she can guide me when I am not running, when I am purely hiking in the mountains.”
Victor Asenov, a visually impaired ultramarathon runner, walks next to his guide dog Taddy as he attempts to cover the same elevation as Mount Everest, an activity known as ‘Everesting’, by running up and down the Black Peak summit of the Vitosha mountain, to raise awareness of a guide dog school, near Sofia, Bulgaria, on 21st March, 2025. PICTURE: Reuters/Spasiyana Sergieva.
Pacers escorted Asenov throughout the challenge, and their encouragement helped him to fight off the physical and mental fatigue and make it to the finish line, he says.
“Sometimes I even have these moment of weakness, I want to give up and just at that moment I need the person who is with me and who is running, who is my pacer – to give me some support, to tell me: Vicky, come on, you can do it.”
