Blind Bulgarian runner defies sleep and exhaustion in ‘Everesting’ climbing challenge

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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.

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 0932 am (0732 GMT) on Friday to raise awareness about the training of guide dogs.

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.”

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.”

(Reporting by Stoyan Nenov, Writing by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Hugh Lawson)