It’s the world’s most notorious ultramarathon – and shrouded in secrecy for good reason due to the delicate ecological nature of Frozen Head State Park in rural East Tennessee. Spectators are not encouraged.
But this year’s event got under way at 05:17 local time (09:17 UK, 10:17 CET) on Wednesday 20 March, with the race’s official information provider Keith Dunn posting: “After a brief memorial, the cigarette was lit at 5:17. The 2024 Barkley Marathons has begun.”
There had been a “false alarm” at 03:16 when a car alarm was mistaken for the conch (only at the Barkley!).
But then at 04:17 the blowing of the conch by race creator Lazarus Lake signalled an hour to go and a scramble for the 40 invited runners to get ready – and choose a basic watch to keep track of time elapsed once the ceremonial cigarette is lit.
GPS is not allowed – it’s map and compass and a desperate search for pages of a book on each 20-mile loop which each have to be completed within 12 hours. Click here for more details on the nuances of the event but the ultimate aim is five loops within 60 hours to join the list of finishers.
Regarded as one of the toughest races in the world, until now only 17 different people have managed to complete the full course – three of them last year. Does that mean it will be even more challenging 12 months on?
Barkley Marathons live updates
There is no website or social media page, let alone live streaming, and no GPS devices are allowed so it’s a very different version of ‘live tracking’ for this one.
The one semi-official way to follow what is happening is via @keithdunn on his Twitter / X feed which we’ve embedded below (just click the ‘X FEED’ button to view).
And we’ve collated all the information to keep you in the ‘loop’ throughout.
Loop 1 | Loop 2 | Loop 3 | Loop 4 | Loop 5
Here’s how it all unfolded…
The Barkley Marathons
start list
As Keith Dunn said himself just a couple of days before this year’s race: “Just as a reminder, we never post a list of starters.”
It’s only as the race develops that pieces of the jigsaw start to emerge.
There were some automatic qualifiers – Big’s Backyard ultra winner Harvey Lewis, who has been here before, plus the first male and female at the Barkley Fall Classic which were French orienteerer and trail runner Maxime Gauduin and American ultrarunning and Toughest Mudder / Hyrox star Kris Rugloski. They all had places if they wanted them. Lewis and Gauduin took their spots, but not Rugloski because of an untimely injury.
And other runners, invited by Laz, have now emerged including last year’s winner Aurélien Sanchez, two-time finisher John Kelly, as well as British pair Damian Hall and Jasmin Paris, who has gone closer than any woman to finishing the race in recent years. Could this be the year?
Click here for more details.
Notable runners
Route
The Barkley Marathons is made up of five 20-mile loops with more than 54,000 feet of ascent (that’s nearly twice up Mount Everest).
Each loop starts and finishes at the fabled yellow gate where competitors and support teams make camp and the runners have 12 hours to complete each loop.
The first loop is clockwise and then it alternates until the fifth and final lap. At that point the first-placed runner chooses which direction to go, with any other runners alternating so they are more likely to have to run separately.
In reality – though we don’t know for sure as there’s no GPS allowed – the loops are more likely closer to 26-miles long, meaning that anybody who completes all five will have covered around 130 miles. Any runners who manage to complete ‘just’ three loops inside 40 hours are awarded ‘fun run’ finisher status.
The route changes every year and it is near impossible to review. Roughly 80% of the race is off-trail and there are no aid stations – just two water points.
And the difficulty of each loop can’t be understated, with incredible climbing and navigational challenges and all through thick and sharp briars.
Each competitor has to find books hidden around the course and tear out the page corresponding to their race number. Failure to present a page from every book at the end of each loop results in disqualification. The book titles have become part of Barkley folklore and previously included Death Walks in the Woods, The Valley of Death, Almost Home, The Body in the Woods, Fool, The End, A Week in the Woods, and The Idiot.
One bit of good news for the runners is that the weather forecast this year – at least for the first 48 hours – looks pleasantly dry and sunny.
Barkley Marathon finishers
The full five-loop race has only been completed 21 times by 17 different runners. The current race record is 52:03:08 and was set by Brett Maune in 2012.
1995: Mark Williams
2001: David Horton; Blake Wood
2003: Ted “Cave Dog” Keizer
2004: Mike Tilden; Jim Nelson
2008: Brian Robinson
2009: Andrew Thompson
2010: Jonathan Basham
2011: Brett Maune
2012: Brett Maune; Jared Campbell; John Fegyveresi
2013: Nick Hollon; Travis Wildeboer
2014: Jared Campbell
2016: Jared Campbell
2017: John Kelly
2023: Aurelien Sanchez; John Kelly; Karel Sabbe
Past winners
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