Only one finisher at this year's Barkley Marathons ultra event ©run britain
Only one finisher at this year\’s Barkley Marathons ultra event
The primary villain is the course at the Barkley Marathons where there was only one official finisher this year!
This ultra marathon event in Tennessee, USA, has a cut off time of 60 hours and last week only one runner managed this. To say the course is brutal would be an understatement.
*Another finisher completed the course in 60 hours and just 6 seconds, but was not considered an official finisher despite having all of the checkpoint paperwork (pages from a novel). The Barkley Marathon is a five lap course that totals 100 miles but most runners fail to reach the finish line, with just 15 finishers since the first event in 1986.
This legendary race that runs through the overgrown forest and woods of the Frozen Head State Park, is considered one of the most challenging trail races in the world. With a maximum field of just 40 runners the Barkley ultra has a number of peculiarities including the $1.60 (around £1.25) entry fee and a secretive registration process. Runners are required to collect pages of a novel on the course to prove they ran the correct race route to the finish.
The 2017 winner was John Kelly (from Washington DC) who ran 59:30:53. Unofficially 2nd place was completed in 60 hours and 6 seconds, but remains unratified, as the cut off time is 60 hours.
*Update 1610hrs – The runner who came in 2nd wasn't disqualified for coming in too late but rather he ran the wrong way and missed two miles off the route. Apologies for the incorrect information.
Run Britain – News