High Country ultra-runner Annette Bednosky pictured winning her first Mount Mitchell Challenge in 2004. She successfully defended her title last weekend and became the first woman to break the six-hour mark in the grueling 40-mile trail race. Photo submitted Annette Bednosky Wins Mount Mitchell Challenge Ultra-Runner Breaks 6-Hour Mark in 40-Mile Trail Race By Jeff Eason Ashe County High School guidance counselor Annette Bednosky knows what she’s talking about when advises teenagers on the virtue of perseverance. Over the past couple of years she has become one of the driving forces in the competitive sport of ultrarunning, taking on distances that make a marathon look like a quick jog around the park. Last Saturday, Bednosky defended her title at the prestigious Mountain Mitchell Challenge, a 40-mile race over the highest US mountain peak east of the Mississippi River. Against a talented field featuring multiple National Championship winner Anne Riddle Lundblat, Bednosky won the grueling race over an icy and muddy course with a time of 5:50:19. Her victorious time was nearly six minutes faster than Lundblat’s time of 5:56:03 and both runners became the first women to beat the six-hour mark for the Mount Mitchell Challenge. The next fastest runner, Asheville’s Beth Nabers, finished the course over an hour later with a time of 7:07:08. The racecourse started in Black Mountain, North Carolina and wound its way through the campus of Montreat College before climbing up to the summit of Mount Mitchell, some 6,684 feet above sea level. After reaching the summit, the runners had to readjust their strides and breathing for the downhill portion of the race. In the men’s race, Paul Dewitt from Colorado Springs finished first with a time of 5:01:58. Both Bednosky and Dewitt are runners for the Montrail/Patagonia team, making them ambassadors of the new sport of ultra-running. Over the past few years, the sport has attracted athletes who previously specialized in marathons, triathlons and long-distance mountain bike races. “I’ve been ultra-running for a little over two years now and will race at least twelve trail races around the country this year of distances between fifty kilometers (31.2 miles) and one hundred miles,” said Bednosky. “My next race is the Bull Run 50-miler on April 9th in northern Virginia. So far this year I’ve raced two 50-k’s and two 40-milers with two wins, a course record, and a third place finish.” In addition to working at Ashe County High School and participating in ultra-running events, Bednosky is a part-time instructor in the Recreation Management Program at Appalachian State University.