Barkley Marathons.

[Pragmatic]

Damian Hall completes loop 4 in 47:39:25
20mins to get out for final loop attempt. Monumental effort required now…but it IS daylight for the remainder of the 60hrs.

[Pragmatic]

Damian Hall completes loop 4 in 47:39:25
20mins to get out for final loop attempt. Monumental effort required now…but it IS daylight for the remainder of the 60hrs.

…actually 47:29:25…30mins to play with by the looks of things

[PeteS]

Unfortunately Jasmine has missed the cut off.

[Pragmatic]

Damian Hall heads out on loop 5 10mins before the cut-off after just a 10minute turnaround. Just bloody incredible tbh

[Pragmatic]

Jasmine back safely. Great effort.

[Pragmatic]

Damian also back safely from failed loop 5. Also a great effort, surely will give it another try next year?

[Pragmatic]

Aurelian Sanchez completes loop five and finishes the 2023 Barkley Marathons in 58:23:12

John Kelly completes Loop 5 and finishes 2023 Barkley Marathons in 58:42:23. His second finish.

Phenomenal effort and achievement by both

[Pragmatic]

With just 6 minutes and 27 seconds remaining Karel Sabbe completes loop 5 and finishes the 2023 Barkley Marathons in 59:53:33.

3rd and final finisher of 2023.

[Llani Boy]

A fantastic effort by all involved, especially Damian Hall, who must have used up so much energy either sailing, rowing or swimming to the USA to get to the start line.

[anthonykay]

Can someone enlighten me as to what makes the Barkley Marathons so uniquely tough? Many of the competitors are people who would routinely do 100 miles over hilly trails in under 24 hours, yet very few manage the distance in under 60 hours at Barkley. So is it:

(a) The steepness? But a single loop at Barkley is a similar distance to the Wasdale race, with only about 20% more climbing and descent.

(b) The terrain. It's forested, but pictures that I have seen make it look like what orienteers would consider runnable, or at worst, "slow run".

(c) The navigation. How difficult is it to find those books?

Or what?