“Well that was easy!” Gary Robbins captures joyous finishes of Barkley Marathons’ famous five

A month on from the Barkley Marathons and there hasn’t been a better video than Gary Robbins’ compilation of the moments the record-breaking five finishers each reached the fabled yellow gate at Frozen Head State Park, which is embedded below.

Gary Robbins and the Barkley Marathons

Robbins of course is a big part of Barkley legend. 

‘Where Dreams Go To Die‘, which tells the tale of elite ultrarunner Robbins’ attempts to complete the brutal race, has had well over three million views on YouTube.

That provided fantastic insights into what makes the event so special and this year Robbins was again part of the inner circle.

He revealed it was his final visit to Frozen Head, explaining: “I will not be going back. I have had my fill – I went there to be able to say thankyou and bye to those involved and I could not have ended up with a better finish.”

History in the making

For not only did he crew for John Kelly, who made it round the five loops for the fifth time, but Robbins also played a key role in getting Ihor Verys started in ultra trail running – and the Ukrainian-born Canadian would go onto to conquer the Barkley on his very first attempt.

We see not only the finishes of those two in the raw, un-edited footage which is embedded below but also those of Jared Campbell (a record-breaking fourth completion), Greig Hamilton and of course Jasmin Paris.

All feature fascinating and very personal insights – and the moment when Jasmin presses the ‘buzzer’ shortly after making history as the first woman to finish the race brings it all to a joyous conclusion while also underlining the extraordinary effort which had made it possible. Enjoy!