Jasmin Paris becomes first woman to finish Barkley Marathons – ‘The Race That Eats Its Young’

Jasmin Paris made ultrarunning history when she became the first woman to finish the notorious Barkley Marathons at Frozen Head State Park in Tennessee.

Until today – and in the 30+ years since the race became a brutal five-loop 100-mile test which features as much elevation as climbing Mount Everest twice – only 17 people, all men, had made it to the end within the allotted 60 hours.

But no woman had previously come closer previously than the mum of two, who is also a vet and research scientist.

She completed what is called a ‘Fun Run’ on her debut in 2022 by getting through three of the loops. And then last year she became the first female since 2001 to embark on a fourth loop.

But this time it was all about trying to go all the way.

How Jasmin Paris’ race panned out

Things had gone relatively smoothly on her third attempt. She was quicker than previously (12 hours is the cut-off for each loop) which all meant that she had not much more than 13 hours to complete the fifth and final loop.

It was desperately tense waiting for news which, in what must be unique for an incredibly popular sporting event, still comes from one man’s X feed, adding to the whole mystique of the event.

The cut-off in British time was 21:17 on Friday night (5.17pm local time) and just a single minute before that point, Keith Dunn posted: “Jasmin Paris finished loop five of the #BM100 in 59:58:21.”

Kudos to Campbell

And just to add to the achievement which will go down in Barkley legend, there was also an incredible sporting gesture which might just have helped Jasmin achieve her dream. Read more about that here.