Blind Bulgarian Runner Defies Sleep and Exhaustion in ‘Everesting’ Climbing Challenge 

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, March 21, 2025. (Reuters)
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, March 21, 2025. (Reuters)
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Blind Bulgarian Runner Defies Sleep and Exhaustion in ‘Everesting’ Climbing Challenge 

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, March 21, 2025. (Reuters)
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, March 21, 2025. (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 meters 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 meters 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."



3 Astronauts Return to Earth after 6 Months on China's Space Station

FILE PHOTO: A Long March-2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-19 spacecraft sits at the launch pad before taking off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center for a crewed mission to China's Tiangong space station, near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China October 30, 2024. REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A Long March-2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-19 spacecraft sits at the launch pad before taking off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center for a crewed mission to China's Tiangong space station, near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China October 30, 2024. REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo/File Photo
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3 Astronauts Return to Earth after 6 Months on China's Space Station

FILE PHOTO: A Long March-2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-19 spacecraft sits at the launch pad before taking off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center for a crewed mission to China's Tiangong space station, near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China October 30, 2024. REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A Long March-2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-19 spacecraft sits at the launch pad before taking off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center for a crewed mission to China's Tiangong space station, near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China October 30, 2024. REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo/File Photo

Three Chinese astronauts landed back on Earth on Wednesday after six months on China's space station.
The crew’s landing module came down slowly after separating from the return vehicle, descending on a red-and-white parachute, in Dongfeng, in China’s northern Inner Mongolia region on the edge of the Gobi Desert. Their return had been delayed by a day due to strong winds and low visibility, The Associated Press reported. The area is prone to sandstorms this time of year.
The astronauts, Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze, were launched to the Tiangong space station in October, and they turned over control of the station Tuesday to the new crew that recently arrived to replace them.
The Shenzhou 20 that brought the new crew also carried equipment for space life sciences, microgravity physics and new technology for the space station.
The Tiangong, or “Heavenly Palace,” space station has made China a major player in a new era of space exploration and the use of permanent stations to conduct experiments in space, especially since it was entirely Chinese-built after the country was excluded from the International Space Station over US national security concerns.
China’s space program is controlled by the People’s Liberation Army, the military branch of the ruling Communist Party.
The three Chinese astronauts have carried out experiments and improvements to the space station during their time in space. Two of the astronauts, Cai and Song, conducted a nine-hour spacewalk, the world’s longest, during their mission, China's space agency said.
The country’s space program has grown rapidly in recent years. The space agency has landed an explorer on Mars and a rover on the far side of the moon. It aims to put a person on the moon before 2030.