Boyers - the Last Race of the Decade

The 14th edition of the Boyer's Furnace 40 miler, held on Saturday December 28, 2019, featured gorgeous weather, sunny skies, amazing volunteers, hard-core ultra runners, and a finish line feast with bonfire.  57 starters toed the line at 7:30 am in the Camp Roosevelt "horse lot" (out of the 103 entrants), and 49 made their way back around the course to the finish.  

Paul Jacobs blew away the previous course record by over 1/2 hour.  He finished in 6:16, besting the previous record that was set by Aaron Schwartzbard (6:47) in 2007.  Adam Watkins led for the first 17 miles, the most treacherous stretch of the course, before giving up the lead and finishing second in 7:04.  Michael Wardian took third in 7:14.

Mikala Shremshock was the first female (8:42).  Kristen Gray, a newcomer, ran neck-and-neck with Mikala through the Edinburg aid station.  Kristen came in 2nd (9:09).  Emily Clay rounded out the women’s podium (9:13).  Kelly MacDonald still holds the course record (7:56), set in 2018.

We got lucky again with the weather this year.  With total sunshine and highs in the low 60s, layers were flying off right and left after the first mile's climb up to Edith Gap. The Boyer’s Furnace 40 miler lived up to its reputation of being an incredibly difficult course, with leaf-covered rocks providing obstacles on the two lengthy Massanutten Trail sections included in the race course.   

This race would not have been such a success without the support of the Virginia Happy Trails Running Club, and another stellar turnout of rock star volunteers. This year’s volunteers were Sheila Veibert (Veach Captain), Cara Foley, Josh Howe (who was on-site from the start to finish), Charlene Howard, Erin Altemos (now firmaly established as the Boyer's sweep extraodinaire), Stephen Wancowicz; Tony Escobar (Woodstock captain),  Tracey and Larry Thibodeau, Erik Kuhlmann and Mike Zinn (Edinburg captains), Tom Simonds, Justin Faul, Arif Khazi and Nelline (finish line chef/captains, creator of amazing tortellini soup and haute cuisine quesadillas, and provider of the finish-line sound system), Levi Mason (course marking), and Quatro Hubbard (logistics). 

The 15th annual Boyer’s Furnace 40-miler will take place on Saturday, December 26, 2020.  Entry will open on Monday November 16, 2020. Mark your calendars now!

2019 Results