Barkley Marathons.

[PeteS]

Well any race that is set up with the intention that nobody finishes, is going to have to be tough! There is little in the way of concrete information about the route which gets tweaked each year and with 3 finishers this year, heaven help next year's entry.
100miles is the stated length but most competitors believe it to be much more - nearer 125. As GPS is not allowed, nobody knows for sure. The climb is estimated to be somewhere in the region of 55,000 feet in total.
Yes there are some trails but a lot is off-piste in dense woodland covered with briars. A lot of runners come back from each loop ripped to shreds. The terrain is tough and combine that with the dense vegetation, navigation will be exceedingly difficult especially as at least half will be in the dark too. The weather is known for extremes of hot and cold, and frequently wet. One water station was frozen solid this year.
You can't use your own watch - you are given one but it will have come from a thrift shop and you'll be lucky if it works and of course, not knowing when the race will start is going to screw up your prep too.

There's a good documentary on it which I found on Amazon prime - other video streaming channels are available!

[Travs]

This is probably not the time or place for it.... but this "race" has never caught my imagination in the slightest.

(not trying to pour scorn on it.... its clearly incredibly difficult).

[Mike T]

This is probably not the time or place for it.... but this "race" has never caught my imagination in the slightest.

(not trying to pour scorn on it.... its clearly incredibly difficult).

Agreed. It is a mixture of silliness, and difficulty for difficulty's sake. I am surprised it is worshipped so. But it is undoubtedly extremely tough, and I admire those who do it, especially if they succeed in doing all 5 loops in the required time.

[Graham Breeze]

Agreed. It is a mixture of silliness, and difficulty for difficulty's sake. I am surprised it is worshipped so. But it is undoubtedly extremely tough, and I admire those who do it, especially if they succeed in doing all 5 loops in the required time.

So it's a bit like completing the London Marathon pushing a peanut with your nose...it's hard to achieve but which sane individual would wish to?

[PeteS]

Agreed. It is a mixture of silliness, and difficulty for difficulty's sake. I am surprised it is worshipped so. But it is undoubtedly extremely tough, and I admire those who do it.

So it's a bit like completing the London Marathon pushing a peanut with your nose...it's hard to achieve but which sane individual would wish to?

I imagine road runners say similar things about fell running!
You also have to put it in the context of Laz's other offerings as RO...

[ba-ba]

I was fairly intrigued by it a few years ago and there is still some intrigue now, but for something that it seems was meant to be low key and off the wall, there does now seem to be an excessive amount of hype and media cult about it.

Then again, things that I was 'psyched' (to use that horrible word) about 5-10 years ago I'm really not that fussed about and am more on nodding terms with now.

It reminds me of a cartoon I saw many years ago; A big exciting science story has broken and someone says "man I love science", to which a scientist replies "do you really love science, or are you just drooling over its arse as it walks away?" A lot of the buzz around running gets me feeling like this now. Thankfully Fell Running salves that. People doing the Barclay are impresssive, but there's no need to lionise it so much. Those knocking out fast 5km times are due as much adulation, but that's not as hyped.

[Fellbeast]

Small beer I’m sure amongst all the high brow stuff being debated on here but Jasmin Paris has just nailed the beast, with 90 seconds to spare, to become the first ever woman to complete 5 loops at the Barkley Marathons (anything between 100 and 130 miles, with c 55,500 ft of ascent) in the Tennessee backwoods

Could be possibly the greatest ever women’s long distance running achievement and done with so little time left on the clock!

[Travs]

Didn't Damian Hall go out on the final loop as well? Or did i read that wrong?

I saw the pic of the 5 finishers and he wasn't on it.

Jasmin looked absolutely f****d in that photo sitting against the finish barrier, in fact i didn't even recognise her.

I still stand by my comments above that it doesn't really capture the imagination for me... but i did recently watch a documentary featuring that Belgian guy who made the finish with about 10mins to spare a couple of years ago. Then the following year he regained his record on the Pacific Crest Trail.

I don't really follow American Ultra stuff.... but that Unbreakable documentary about the Western States 100, when Killian Jornet and those 3 Americans were all battling it out, was really good.

[Fellbeast]

Damian bombed out on loop 5

[Witton Park]

Jasmin looked absolutely f****d in that photo sitting against the finish barrier, in fact i didn't even recognise her.

Same here - just had a quick browse last night and come across the picture and just thought whoever that is, they've been through the ringer

Incredible achievement.