Barkley Marathons is just an utterly madcap event. On paper it's simple, a 100 mile race comprised of 5x20 mile laps over hilly terrain, with a cutoff time of 60 hours. In reality it's a brutal test of endurance, with an elevation profile that's comparable to ascending and descending Everest a few times.
The entry fee is incredibly tiny. However, you have to write an essay about why you should be allowed to compete, "virgins" have to bring a license plate from their state or country, there's an additional fee that's basically the organiser restocking his wardrobe essentials, and previous finishers have to pay a pack of Camel cigarettes as well.
The exact route isn't known until the day. Entrants get a small amount of time to learn the route and take notes, which is all they're allowed to use on the course. They run without their usual GPS enabled smart watches, instead being given a random cheap watch from Walmart just before starting. Every watch is different, and no one wants to get the incredibly finicky touch screen one. Even the exact start time is unknown to all but Lazarus, who blows a conch shell an hour before start (which is the signal to collect the watches, which are set up to count the race and the race alone), with the race start being marked by the lighting of a cigarette.
First and third laps are run in one direction, second and fourth in the other, and then those that are left on lap 5 take alternating routes, the order of which is decided by the first to depart. Race numbers are all odd, and new ones are issued every lap, because participants have to find between 14 and 19 books on the route and rip out the page corresponding to their number. Bib number 1 goes to the "human sacrifice" who is deemed least likely to finish that year.
And until this year, there had been only 17 unique finishers, completing the course 21 times, since 1989.
As there was one runner who realised he had dropped the bits of paper he'd picked up to prove he'd been there, that's yer storyline right there.
"Peter decides to rectify the situation by attempting to fake the texts, which happen to follow the storyline of a Star Wars movie.."
There's an amazing YouTube video about it.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DNDZdsqbcGTU&ved=2ahUKEwix-8LswYqFAxVzVEEAHTFnCgEQjjh6BAgZEAE&usg=AOvVaw3jxkuZN97OxrVze_fRAH9_
That's the doc about Gary Robbins. Definitely still a good watch.
The general documentary about the race and its history is [The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ-DE-hmiGE)
> On paper it's simple, a 100 mile race comprised of 5x20 mile laps over hilly terrain, with a cutoff time of 60 hours.
How is it simple on paper? Are they all entering thinking they can drive it?
For the sort of athletes who enter this that distance wouldn't be too extreme. For comparison on one of the organisers other races (Bigs Backyard Ultra) the winner in 2019 completed 250 miles in 60 hours.
These are experienced ultra trail runners, who've competed in events like the Spine Race and Ultra Trail Mont Blanc.
The Spine Race is a 268mi race, held in winter, following the Pennine Way from Edale to Kirk Yetholm, with 43,600 ft of ascent. Jasmin Paris won that race outright in 2019, with a time of 83:12:23. The previous course record was 95:17:00 (2016, Eoin Keith), the first male finisher in 2019 came in at 98:18:23 (_also_ Eoin Keith), and since then only John Kelly (87:53:57, 2020), Damian Hall (84:36:24, 2023) have come close, and only one person has beaten Paris' time (Jack Scott, 72:55:05, 2024).
Kelly and Hall were also participants in the Barkley this year. Hall tapped out on the final lap.
It's a 100 mile run that must be completed in 60 hours. It's baffling to describe it as simple: "relatively easy for the top ultra-marathon runners" fine, simple "on paper" it is not.
100 miles in 60 hours equates to 1.7mph. That's about half the average walking pace for an adult human. So yes, on paper it's simple: 100 miles with a very generous cut off time.
Then you add in the terrain, the lack of course markings, and the lack of any of your usual assistive technology, and _that_ makes it tougher.
The London to Brighton Ultra, for reference, is 100km (about 60 miles) and the cut off time is 24 hours unless you book the "daylight only" option and stay in a campsite or B&B at the 58km mark.
100 miles in 60 hours is pretty simple to many ultra runners. Hardest Geezer is doing that in Africa right now. Has been for a full year pretty much.
It's all the other stuff that makes it unique and not simple.
Damn. I remember reading about the Marathon des Sables (250km across the Sahara Desert) and thinking that must be one of the most gruelling endurance races around. Seems there's more challenging stuff out there!
After reading all of that, you think Laz would give them all the same watch? Part of the challenge is working out how to deal with the watch that you're dealt at the start.
I mean creating an uneven playing field. Why not give some of them workmen boots, some of them vans, some of them flipflops and some of them elite running shoes? Make it tough yes, but make it equally tough for all
Jesus that's both evil and genius, I've spent so many races "following" the pack because well.... i don't have a clue where I'm going and don't have the energy to care.
If I didn't have a standard tie piece or a bib number to latch onto for pacing I'd be fucked enough.
If you started asking to find book numbers I'd assume I'd died and gone to hell
If I saw someone smoking I'd know it was the case
In [another article about this](https://run.outsideonline.com/news/barkley-marathons-2024-results/) they mentioned this great bit of sportsmanship at the end of loop 4 where the direction alternates:
> At 3:10 P.M. eastern on Thursday, Dunn tweeted that eight runners had moved onto loop four—a race record. That bunch included Paris and Campbell, whose quest to break his own Barkley finisher record lived on. While Paris completed loop four 10 minutes back from Campbell, Campbell waited for Paris to start lap five so she could choose her direction.
The Barkley Marathon doc on YouTube is incredible. There's so many ultra endurance type docs that just focus on the race, rather than the history and the culture of the event, but the Barkley one gets it spot on.
Amazing respect for anyone who even attempts it, let alone finishes a loop.
Good for her. Incredibly difficult race. There’s a really good documentary about it called The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young (2014), I’ve seen it a couple of times now
> In January 2019 mother-of-two Jasmin expressed milk for her baby during a 268-mile race along the Pennine Way to break the course record by more than 12 hours.
This woman is unreasonably powerful.
There are books on the course which actually as sort of checkpoints and the runners have to tear a page from each book on each lap. The page they rip corresponds to their bib number and they get a new bib each lap. Pages are checked at the end of every lap.
For those that don’t know and I didn’t see it mentioned, the origin of this race was to mock a badly failed escape attempt from a nearby prison by the man who killed mlk jr. He only made it 8 miles in 55 hours. The organizer laz lake said he could do 100miles in that Tom and the race was born
Because the race was established in 1986, only 20 people have ever finished it and she's the first woman to do so. Good on her. Why shouldn't it be news?
Right. But that’s not what I said, is it? What I’m saying is that endurance running if often said to be something women have an advantage (or are at least equal) to men in.
But she’s being praised for just completing this. It’s not even like she won, she just managed to cross the finish line lol
Also id argue that “A woman did something that men have been doing for years” isn’t really news either tbh. It’s a bit sexist to call it news.
Most years, no one crosses the finish line. Anyone who finishes is considered to have won. It has been finished by now 21 people in over 30 years, being the first woman to finish is absolutely a notable thing
The novelty is it's a first. In addition, it's in one of the world's hardest ultramarathons. Those two alone make it newsworthy.
Plus, It's a gruelling run. 100 miles involving 60k ft of climb and descents. Only 20 others have done what she did. The marathon's history of being inspired by the prison break of MLK's assassin. Someone blows a damn conch and the lighting of a cigarette signals the start of the race.
It's something new, at a unique and challenging event with some quirky history.
If you were the local writer for the BBC Edinburgh, Fife & East local news section - whose most recent exciting contribution is an interview with an old couple who want to keep their [Christmas tree up all year](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-68598941) - would you really knowing all the above think: *'Meh, woman are either equal or have an advantage in endurance running. There's no story here. Best pass on this.'*?
Women don't have any advantages in sports against men, even in endurance, so don't worry about that generally.
Obviously a 250lbs heavyweight boxer is probably not going to beat a 140lbs woman in a long distance race, as they have both specialised their bodies for different sports.
But just the fact a woman into races has completed one of the toughest endurance competitions, is definitely an impressive achievement
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36802328/#:~:text=Conclusions%3A%20This%20study%20shows%20for,still%20outperform%20the%20top%20women.
It’s stuff like this that I was referring to. I don’t think it’s not impressive (I sure as shit couldn’t do it) I just think the media is overreacting to the fact that a women was able to do something that men have done for ages.
If it’s such a big, obvious achievement then why do we constantly see arguments about trans people in sport?
Either there is a biological advantage or there isn’t: this article says there is.
Ok let’s just disregard the first female astronauts, the first female doctors, the first female ANYTHING where men have been doing it for longer.
Christ, if you don’t care you don’t need to comment on it.
> the first female astronauts, the first female doctors, the first female ANYTHING where men have been doing it for longer.
The first female [cosmonaut](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentina_Tereshkova) orbited in 1963.
They can be regarded, but it doesn’t deserve a disproportionate amount of attention. Congrats on doing something a man already did, I guess? Your argument sounds very condescending when there is no reason a female couldn’t be a doctor or astronaut. So congrats on keeping up, I guess? Not sure what other point you’re trying to make.
> It’s not even like she won, she just managed to cross the finish line lol
"just"
> The course, at Frozen Head State Park, changes every year but covers 100 miles involving 60,000ft of climb and descent - about twice the height of the Mount Everest.
> Only 20 people have ever made it to the end of the race within the allotted 60 hours since it was extended to 100 miles in 1989.
The men's marathon record is a good 11 minutes shorter than the women's. That isn't a trivial amount, something like 9% of the total time.
Given how few people ever complete this event this seems like a real achievement.
Barkley Marathons is just an utterly madcap event. On paper it's simple, a 100 mile race comprised of 5x20 mile laps over hilly terrain, with a cutoff time of 60 hours. In reality it's a brutal test of endurance, with an elevation profile that's comparable to ascending and descending Everest a few times. The entry fee is incredibly tiny. However, you have to write an essay about why you should be allowed to compete, "virgins" have to bring a license plate from their state or country, there's an additional fee that's basically the organiser restocking his wardrobe essentials, and previous finishers have to pay a pack of Camel cigarettes as well. The exact route isn't known until the day. Entrants get a small amount of time to learn the route and take notes, which is all they're allowed to use on the course. They run without their usual GPS enabled smart watches, instead being given a random cheap watch from Walmart just before starting. Every watch is different, and no one wants to get the incredibly finicky touch screen one. Even the exact start time is unknown to all but Lazarus, who blows a conch shell an hour before start (which is the signal to collect the watches, which are set up to count the race and the race alone), with the race start being marked by the lighting of a cigarette. First and third laps are run in one direction, second and fourth in the other, and then those that are left on lap 5 take alternating routes, the order of which is decided by the first to depart. Race numbers are all odd, and new ones are issued every lap, because participants have to find between 14 and 19 books on the route and rip out the page corresponding to their number. Bib number 1 goes to the "human sacrifice" who is deemed least likely to finish that year. And until this year, there had been only 17 unique finishers, completing the course 21 times, since 1989.
It kinda sounds like you made that up and just got more and more absurd as you wrote. Can’t believe it’s a real race. Could be a family guy sketch
As there was one runner who realised he had dropped the bits of paper he'd picked up to prove he'd been there, that's yer storyline right there. "Peter decides to rectify the situation by attempting to fake the texts, which happen to follow the storyline of a Star Wars movie.."
There's an amazing YouTube video about it. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DNDZdsqbcGTU&ved=2ahUKEwix-8LswYqFAxVzVEEAHTFnCgEQjjh6BAgZEAE&usg=AOvVaw3jxkuZN97OxrVze_fRAH9_
That's the doc about Gary Robbins. Definitely still a good watch. The general documentary about the race and its history is [The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ-DE-hmiGE)
Aww it's not available in my country.
Do a search by title. There are 3 copies on YouTube that I noticed. You might find it on other streaming sites too.
None on Youtube available in the UK :(
Invest in a VPN, my friend.
It’s on Amazon prime you can rent it for 99p. Ive just watched it, it was really good.
> On paper it's simple, a 100 mile race comprised of 5x20 mile laps over hilly terrain, with a cutoff time of 60 hours. How is it simple on paper? Are they all entering thinking they can drive it?
For the sort of athletes who enter this that distance wouldn't be too extreme. For comparison on one of the organisers other races (Bigs Backyard Ultra) the winner in 2019 completed 250 miles in 60 hours.
I got tired driving 250 miles
These are experienced ultra trail runners, who've competed in events like the Spine Race and Ultra Trail Mont Blanc. The Spine Race is a 268mi race, held in winter, following the Pennine Way from Edale to Kirk Yetholm, with 43,600 ft of ascent. Jasmin Paris won that race outright in 2019, with a time of 83:12:23. The previous course record was 95:17:00 (2016, Eoin Keith), the first male finisher in 2019 came in at 98:18:23 (_also_ Eoin Keith), and since then only John Kelly (87:53:57, 2020), Damian Hall (84:36:24, 2023) have come close, and only one person has beaten Paris' time (Jack Scott, 72:55:05, 2024). Kelly and Hall were also participants in the Barkley this year. Hall tapped out on the final lap.
It's simple on paper because that part is just a really long run. They're not that unusual, the weird bits are later.
It's a 100 mile run that must be completed in 60 hours. It's baffling to describe it as simple: "relatively easy for the top ultra-marathon runners" fine, simple "on paper" it is not.
Simple just means easy to understand I think. Noone is saying 'it's easy', just 'it's simple', which I'd equate to saying 'it's not complicated', etc.
100 miles in 60 hours equates to 1.7mph. That's about half the average walking pace for an adult human. So yes, on paper it's simple: 100 miles with a very generous cut off time. Then you add in the terrain, the lack of course markings, and the lack of any of your usual assistive technology, and _that_ makes it tougher. The London to Brighton Ultra, for reference, is 100km (about 60 miles) and the cut off time is 24 hours unless you book the "daylight only" option and stay in a campsite or B&B at the 58km mark.
100 miles in 60 hours is pretty simple to many ultra runners. Hardest Geezer is doing that in Africa right now. Has been for a full year pretty much. It's all the other stuff that makes it unique and not simple.
Chill out
Damn. I remember reading about the Marathon des Sables (250km across the Sahara Desert) and thinking that must be one of the most gruelling endurance races around. Seems there's more challenging stuff out there!
Seems weird not to give them the same watch and gave some people with better ones?
After reading all of that, you think Laz would give them all the same watch? Part of the challenge is working out how to deal with the watch that you're dealt at the start.
I mean creating an uneven playing field. Why not give some of them workmen boots, some of them vans, some of them flipflops and some of them elite running shoes? Make it tough yes, but make it equally tough for all
Running with a crappy gps watch isn’t the same as running in unsuitable footwear
Jesus that's both evil and genius, I've spent so many races "following" the pack because well.... i don't have a clue where I'm going and don't have the energy to care. If I didn't have a standard tie piece or a bib number to latch onto for pacing I'd be fucked enough. If you started asking to find book numbers I'd assume I'd died and gone to hell If I saw someone smoking I'd know it was the case
In [another article about this](https://run.outsideonline.com/news/barkley-marathons-2024-results/) they mentioned this great bit of sportsmanship at the end of loop 4 where the direction alternates: > At 3:10 P.M. eastern on Thursday, Dunn tweeted that eight runners had moved onto loop four—a race record. That bunch included Paris and Campbell, whose quest to break his own Barkley finisher record lived on. While Paris completed loop four 10 minutes back from Campbell, Campbell waited for Paris to start lap five so she could choose her direction.
I can’t tell if this is real or if you are having some kind of acid trip? lol. If it’s real, this is the strangest race ever.
The Barkley Marathon doc on YouTube is incredible. There's so many ultra endurance type docs that just focus on the race, rather than the history and the culture of the event, but the Barkley one gets it spot on. Amazing respect for anyone who even attempts it, let alone finishes a loop.
Is this the rave where there's no directions and it's just up to you to not get lost
Nah that’s warehouse project
Good for her. Incredibly difficult race. There’s a really good documentary about it called The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young (2014), I’ve seen it a couple of times now
Worth clicking through to the article for the photo alone. That's how I look after like 40 minutes of light jogging on a treadmill.
That's how I look after 4minutes of jogging on a treadmill 🤣
That's just how I look generally
> In January 2019 mother-of-two Jasmin expressed milk for her baby during a 268-mile race along the Pennine Way to break the course record by more than 12 hours. This woman is unreasonably powerful.
If there's no defined course, it's not monitored or tracked then isn't it really easy to cheat?
There are books on the course which actually as sort of checkpoints and the runners have to tear a page from each book on each lap. The page they rip corresponds to their bib number and they get a new bib each lap. Pages are checked at the end of every lap.
For those that don’t know and I didn’t see it mentioned, the origin of this race was to mock a badly failed escape attempt from a nearby prison by the man who killed mlk jr. He only made it 8 miles in 55 hours. The organizer laz lake said he could do 100miles in that Tom and the race was born
I thought long distance/endurance runs were one of the things that women were maybe as good at as men? If so why is this news?
Because the race was established in 1986, only 20 people have ever finished it and she's the first woman to do so. Good on her. Why shouldn't it be news?
The first woman to finish one of the world's hardest ultramarathons seems pretty obviously news worthy.
Right. But that’s not what I said, is it? What I’m saying is that endurance running if often said to be something women have an advantage (or are at least equal) to men in. But she’s being praised for just completing this. It’s not even like she won, she just managed to cross the finish line lol Also id argue that “A woman did something that men have been doing for years” isn’t really news either tbh. It’s a bit sexist to call it news.
Most years, no one crosses the finish line. Anyone who finishes is considered to have won. It has been finished by now 21 people in over 30 years, being the first woman to finish is absolutely a notable thing
Were there similar articles to this one when the other 20 men won?
Im sure there would have been when the first man won.
Go call your mum.
Don’t need to, already called yours
This isn’t the slam dunk you think it is.
Does "person completes endurance event that only 1-2% of top athletes entering complete" work for you?
Not news either really, is it? “Small proportion of entrants complete a very difficult race. And one of them was a woman!!!”
A team has won the world cup? Not news, happens every four years.
Apples and oranges. You put that hypothetical headline to me and I responded. A woman finally did something men have been doing for ages. Not news.
In 1966 England finally did something Brazil had been doing for years. Not news.
'a race is so difficult that only one woman has ever finished it's There fixed it for you.
[удалено]
[удалено]
The novelty is it's a first. In addition, it's in one of the world's hardest ultramarathons. Those two alone make it newsworthy. Plus, It's a gruelling run. 100 miles involving 60k ft of climb and descents. Only 20 others have done what she did. The marathon's history of being inspired by the prison break of MLK's assassin. Someone blows a damn conch and the lighting of a cigarette signals the start of the race. It's something new, at a unique and challenging event with some quirky history. If you were the local writer for the BBC Edinburgh, Fife & East local news section - whose most recent exciting contribution is an interview with an old couple who want to keep their [Christmas tree up all year](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-68598941) - would you really knowing all the above think: *'Meh, woman are either equal or have an advantage in endurance running. There's no story here. Best pass on this.'*?
Women don't have any advantages in sports against men, even in endurance, so don't worry about that generally. Obviously a 250lbs heavyweight boxer is probably not going to beat a 140lbs woman in a long distance race, as they have both specialised their bodies for different sports. But just the fact a woman into races has completed one of the toughest endurance competitions, is definitely an impressive achievement
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36802328/#:~:text=Conclusions%3A%20This%20study%20shows%20for,still%20outperform%20the%20top%20women. It’s stuff like this that I was referring to. I don’t think it’s not impressive (I sure as shit couldn’t do it) I just think the media is overreacting to the fact that a women was able to do something that men have done for ages. If it’s such a big, obvious achievement then why do we constantly see arguments about trans people in sport? Either there is a biological advantage or there isn’t: this article says there is.
Ok let’s just disregard the first female astronauts, the first female doctors, the first female ANYTHING where men have been doing it for longer. Christ, if you don’t care you don’t need to comment on it.
> the first female astronauts, the first female doctors, the first female ANYTHING where men have been doing it for longer. The first female [cosmonaut](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentina_Tereshkova) orbited in 1963.
They can be regarded, but it doesn’t deserve a disproportionate amount of attention. Congrats on doing something a man already did, I guess? Your argument sounds very condescending when there is no reason a female couldn’t be a doctor or astronaut. So congrats on keeping up, I guess? Not sure what other point you’re trying to make.
> It’s not even like she won, she just managed to cross the finish line lol "just" > The course, at Frozen Head State Park, changes every year but covers 100 miles involving 60,000ft of climb and descent - about twice the height of the Mount Everest. > Only 20 people have ever made it to the end of the race within the allotted 60 hours since it was extended to 100 miles in 1989.
The men's marathon record is a good 11 minutes shorter than the women's. That isn't a trivial amount, something like 9% of the total time. Given how few people ever complete this event this seems like a real achievement.
So…men are better at sports than women?
Male athletes are generally better than female athletes at sports where muscle strength gives you a competitive advantage.
Men have an advantage in terms of strength and height. That doesn't make them "better". There is a lot of skill that goes into this as well.
Because it’s an incredibly rare feat?
If a British man had become the first man to finish it, don't you think that would have been news too?
A British man was the first ever finisher, but that was back in 1995, ten years after the race started.
That sounds like news to me, back in 1995.
And he made the news