For the second year in a row there were no finishers of the brutal Barkley Marathons, the event billed as ‘The Race That Eats Its Young’.
It’s arguably the toughest of all ultramarathons. It sounds simple – five 20-mile loops inside 60 hours around Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Frozen Head State Park in Tennessee – but is anything but.
This year some things were different – including a Valentine’s Day start at 6am local time rather than the usual mid-March slot – but the result was the same as most previous editions as the course itself was the ultimate winner.
It all means just 20 different people – including one woman in Jasmin Paris – have completed the challenge since the race began in 1986 – click here for our beginner’s guide and here to learn more about its enigmatic creator Laz Lake.
There is a consolation prize of what is called a ‘Fun Run’ for anyone who manages three loops in less than 40 hours and that was earned this time by French runner Sébastien Raichon.
Valentine’s Day massacre
From the outset things looked bleak for the 40 selected runners.
A modified route – on account of renovation work at the usual campsite – saw no less than 70% of them eliminated on the first lap as 40 became 12 in what was a Valentine’s Day massacre.
The carnage continued on loop two as they were whittled down to just four – Raichon, Mathieu Blanchard, Damian Hall and Max King – two Frenchmen, though Blanchard also has Canadian citizenship, a Brit with previous Barkley form in Hall and an American in King.
And as the rain and fog made things even tougher both Blanchard and King were early casualties on lap three.
Keith Dunn – the sole source of reliable information – then revealed than neither Raichon nor Hall would be able to add their names to the select list of finishers, explaining: “A runner has to begin loop 4 by the 36 hour mark in order to continue. Neither Damian nor Sébastien will finish loop 3 in time to begin loop 4; however, if they complete loop 3 within 40 hours they will be credited with a Fun Run.”
‘There are no finishers’
And late on Sunday night Tennessee time came more news on that pair: “Sébastien Raichon finished loop 3 in 38:05:46 and is credited with a Fun Run.
“Damian Hall came in off loop 3, but without collecting all his pages and is the last to face the bugler. Fog, cold, and the wet weather were factors.
“The 2026 Barkley Marathons is over. There are no finishers.”
It was all over inside a weekend. But for 53-year-old Raichon it was a triumph of sorts given the conditions and came just a month after his victory in what is billed as ‘Britain’s most brutal’ ultramarathon – the 268-mile Winter Spine Race.
For Hall though it was more frustration at an event where he has already suffered some agonising near misses.
CLICK HERE for our review of the entire 2026 Barkley Marathons.
