SAXONBURG — Dylan Davis finds himself in rather select company these days.

Davis, 24, of Saxonburg, is one of only three people in the world to complete the Winter and Summer Death Races this year in Pittsfield, Vt.

Owner of the Crossfit Bonniebrook gym in Summit Township, Davis finished the Winter Death Race in mid-January in 58 hours, 30 minutes. Only 29 people showed up for that race and Davis was one of nine who finished.

His girlfriend, Karlie Uzmack, served as his support team for that event.

For the Summer Death Race, no support teams were permitted.

“You had to go it alone,” Davis said. “The Winter Race was more physically grueling. This Summer Race was more of a mental test.”

The Summer Death Race lasted approximately 60 hours and was held in late June. There were 200 starters, but only 35 finishers.

Davis, Eric Furiado of Boston, and Scott Gregor of Connecticut are the only three to finish both events.

“I'm thrilled I was able to finish,” said Davis, who finished 13th. “These races test everything about you. And that might have been the last (Death Race), so I wanted to be a part of it.”

The theme of the Summer Death Race was “Life.” Participants began the race by breathing through a tube under water while in sleeping bags. That gave them “birth.”

Ironically, participants had to sign a fatality waiver before being allowed to begin the race.

The “Kindergarten” stage was a 30-mile hike to Bloodroot — in bare feet.

“They also connected us by rope in groups of 10,” Davis said. “They took our shoes and socks from us and much of the trail was gravel and cinders. It took about 24 hours for us to complete that portion of the race.”

Davis was at the head of his group. He said they would coordinate stops for hydration. They got water through springs along the trail and had to filter their own water.

“Being roped together, we had to hike at the same pace,” Davis said. “The groups who finished behind were eliminated from the overall Death Race, so we wound up losing two members of our 10. They couldn't keep up, so the other eight had to pick up the pace and burn them out so we could pass some other teams toward the end.

“I came out of that with just a few minor cuts and scrapes on my feet. Some racers suffered some deeper cuts. I later noticed a pretty big gash in my heel. The nerves in your feet get so over-worked that after a while, they don't react to the pain anymore.”

The “school” portion of the race consisted of grades 1 through 12, each grade representing a stage. To get out of Grade 1, for example, racers had to do forward rolls across the length of two football fields, submerge themselves one time in a murky, muddy swamp, forward roll back across the fields, then recite the alphabet backwards.

If a racer slipped up while reciting the alphabet, he had to repeat the entire Grade 1 process.

“I screwed up one time,” Davis said. “Then it was on to second grade, which involved backward rolls and memorizing a multiplication problem. And for whatever grade you were in, you had to submerge yourself in the swamp that many times.”

Davis completed the 12 grades in six to eight hours. Then there was the “Work” portion of the race.

Each remaining racer — fewer than 50 at this point — was weighed. He then had to go find a rock weighing 30 percent of his body weight and bring it back.

“I weighed in at 170 pounds, so I had to find a 51-pound rock,” Davis said. “If your rock weighed in at less that 30 percent, your punishment was doing 250 burpies (calisthenics). My rock weighed 51.5 pounds.”

For the remainder of the race — approximately 10 hours — racers had to add the rock to the bag of equipment they were carrying on their backs.

The “Boot Camp” portion of the race involved doing 25 pull-ups, 25 push-ups, 25 squats, 25 sit-ups and a 400-meter run. That constituted a lap. At midnight, they were stopped and the leader had done nine laps.

The rest of the racers were then given until 6 a.m. to match the leader's lap total.

Earlier, each racer emailed a family member or friend asking to have his or her eulogy written. The top six finishers got to be “buried” by the other finishers and read their own eulogies beforehand.

“The rest of us were given shovels and we had to dig their graves and bury them for a while,” Davis said.

No one received any money for finishing the Death Race. The winner had $20,000 awarded to the charity of his choice. The next five placers had $10,000 awarded to the charities of their choices.

Peak Races — the organization that puts together and hosts the death races — donated all entry fees to charity.

Davis received a “skull” award for finishing the race.

Now he's looking into competing in spartan races, which run anywhere from five to 35 miles with numerous obstacles tossed in.

He will not be running any marathons.

“Nah. I won't do a marathon ... too boring,” he said.