Typically, nine to 11 books are placed in the woods, and if you are missing a page then you didn’t officially complete the loop. Your bib number is the page number you need to rip out of that book. At those checkpoints are books that Cantrell has placed there. It does not track the runner or splits rather, each loop requires runners to make it to various points in the park. (Example: If you finish a loop 1 in 10 hours, you have two hours until you have to start your second loop if eyeing a chance at the full course.) When the racer is ready to go back out, they receive a new bib and touch the gate to start again. The faster you finish a loop, the more time you theoretically have to recover before. Once touched, they can go to their crew and recover. When they complete a loop, they must touch the gate again to officially finish. Runners must touch the yellow gate as they leave for each loop. Each loop must be done in 12 hours to even attempt the full course, unless you’re attempting the “Fun Run”-that’s three loops with a time limit of 13 hours, 20 minutes for each loop (40 hours total). The second two are run in the opposite direction, and, it can be one or the other on the final loop. The first two are often done in the same direction (like clockwise). To complete the race, you must complete five loops of the course. See the Joy and Pain of the Barkley Marathons.(It was later deemed that Robbins came in from the wrong direction.) That is a hard cutoff, as learned by Gary Robbins, who appeared to be six-seconds off the cutoff time in 2017. Participants then have 60 hours to complete the race. When Cantrell lights a cigarette, that starts the race along with the clock. Once the hour is up, runners line up at the yellow gate at a campground within Frozen Head State Park. The only indication they receive for the start time is by Cantrell blowing a conch shell, which could come in the middle of the night, to signify that the race will start exactly one hour from that time. However, racers are never told when the race will officially start. The start time occurs between midnight and noon. Jasmin Paris became the second woman to start a fourth loop (Sue Johnston started a fourth loop in 2001). It is Kelly’s second Barkley finish in six attempts. Aurelien Sanchez of France, John Kelly of the U.S., and Karel Sabbe of Belgium became the first trio to complete all five loops since 2012. However, five runners completed a “Fun Run.” (See below.)įor the first time since 2017, there was a finisher at the Barkley-in fact, there were three finishers in 2023. A safe version of Barkley Marathons was held in 2021, with COVID-19 protocols in place.įor the fourth event in a row, the 2022 Barkley race had no finishers. The second time came in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic forced park officials to cancel the race. The first time came in 2000 when an issue kept Frozen Head State Park from honoring the event permits. In the race’s history, the event has only been canceled twice. Spectators are kept to only two spots while crews must wait at the campground near a yellow gate in Frozen Head State Park as they await runners returning. The race historically takes place around the first weekend in April, though it has been run in March before as a way to throw off spectators. Runners often return from a loop battered and cut up. The total elevation gain (60,000 feet) if you complete all five loops is the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest twice.īeing in the woods and often off blazed trails, runners are subjected to the thorns, briers, and other unpleasant plants to run through. The elevation is one of the most notable challenges of the race. (Add in the fact that it’s easy to go off course, and you can see how it becomes longer.) The distance for each is about 20 miles, according to Cantrell, though runners often dispute the claim saying it is roughly a marathon. You must complete five loops of the course to earn the title of Barkley Finisher. From there, all you need to know is it takes you through the park’s more than 24,000 acres, by the closed Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary, and up and over wicked terrain and switchbacks. The course is not well-known outside of those who have attempted a loop of the fabled race, but for your main reference you should know it takes place in the Cumberland Mountains within Frozen Head State Park, which is in Wartburg, Tennessee.
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