Laz Lake gives the inside track on Barkley Marathons Valentine’s Day massacre

Laz Lake, the enigmatic creator of the Barkley Marathons, has provided plenty more detail as to how this year’s race played out – including the names of all 12 runners who made it through the first loop.

‘The Race That Eats Its Young’ started on February 14 rather than the usual mid-to-late March slot and it proved to be something of a Valentine’s Day massacre as exactly 70% of the 40-strong field failed to make the time cut on the first of five potential loops.

And that set the tone, with the forecast poor weather moving in quicker than expected to ramp up the difficulty level even further. Just four of those 12 would make it to the end of loop two in time, with Sébastien Raichon the last person standing but getting no further than the end of loop three as he was credited with a ‘Fun Run’.

Weather watch

Laz’s Facebook recaps of the Barkley are always fascinating reading and this year is no exception. It also includes plenty of navigation advice for aspiring Barkley participants of the future but we’ll cover that separately and instead focus on his description of what unfolded on that first loop.

He wrote in his own inimitable style: “the first ones back were who you would expect.
mathieu blanchard, max king, sebastien raichon, and andras ansaberg all in a group
damien hall was just a few minutes behind them.
their 9:47-9:48 times were a little on the long side of the window to reach 5 loops.
but they had also run the course the long way on loop 1.
.
“math was on their side,
but the weather forecast was not.
it was not very long before the sun would be setting,
and rain was supposed to come with the darkness,
and continue until sunday afternoon.
.
“i guess almost everyone had heard stories about the frozen head weather.
few had experienced it,
and i dont think it is easy to understand how quickly it can turn from merely unpleasant to potentially deadly
unless you have had it happen to you!
.
aurelian sanchez and guillaume calmettes were next in,
a few minutes past 10 hours.
ir was going to be a long wait for the next runner,
leaving only 7 of the original 40 starters with a real shot at 100 miles.
.

‘We waited in vain’

“those shots came with many caveats
not least of which was the weather.
few are capable of 100 miles of barkley.
fewer still are capable of doing it in bad weather.
and bad weather was on the way!
.
“it was close to 12 hours before john kelly and oscar michalak came through.
chris roberts and severine (from belgium) came in at about 12 and a half hours followed a little later by paul terranova.
.
“and then we waited in vain for the last flurry of athletes to slip in under the 13:20 cutoff for the first loop.”

Raichon, Blanchard, Hall and King were the only four standing after loop two – King would drop out first on lap three, followed by Hall and Blanchard as Raichon completed it in a cumulative time of 38 hours and five minutes. That was outside the 36-hour window to be allowed to start a fourth loop – but inside the 40 hours needed for a ‘Fun Run.

All of which means we can say that the confirmed ‘finishing order’ for the first 12 at the 2026 Barkley was as follows:

Position	Runner	Nationality
1	Sébastian Raichon	FRA
2	Mathieu Blanchard	CAN
3	Damian Hall	GBR
4	Max King	USA
5	Andris Ansabergs	LAT
6	Aurélien Sanchez	FRA
7	Guillaume Calmettes	FRA
8	John Kelly	USA
9	Oskar Michalak	POL
10	Séverine Vandermeulen	BEL
11	Chris Roberts	USA
12	Paul Terranova	USA