Barkley (Read 687 times)

"I understood immediately at the moment what he meant. As I wanted nothing to do with it, I resolved that my grave will be nothing but a pile of bones and a corpse with the bearings of heavy use. I encourage you all to do the same, find your own Barkley and do your part in making cemeteries that much less wealthy.  If the Barkley Marathons are the race that eats its young, I advise that all finishers (such as me) coat themselves in syrup of Ipecac prior to starting the race, in order to be less appetizing."  -Nickademus Hollon (2013 Finisher)

holy crap... that race sounds ridiculous.  thanks for the link!

No woman has ever finished this, one (maybe two?) have only made it as far as the "fun run" (60 miles). I would love to see a woman finish it. I wish I could try it but I get lost on a 400 meter track.

This is race is fascinating because it and it's runners are the anti-Badwater or Marathon du Sable. No hype, no EPIC!  XTREME!!!  TOUGHEST RACE ON THE PLANET!!!! stuff (from the inside, anyways). It is just quirky and designed for failure and that gets under some runners' skin and festers there, and forces them out to see for themselves.  It is fascinating.

http://www.outsideonline.com/1924491/60-hours-hell-story-barkley-marathons

Oh, goodness. I have never been interested in this, but as soon as I started reading about it, I thought to myself, "This sounds like Gary Cantrell" Since I have met him, and have had him laugh at me for something...

First you have to know someone that has run it to find out how and when to apply.  I had a friend attempt this year and she didn't even complete one loop.  It takes a lot of navigational skills to find the books which is probably why I would never apply.  Although if I could stay with someone that has done a loop before that might help.  I've met the race director and have run his Backyard Ultra twice and done quite well.  Also, I ran the Barkley Classic 50K+ last fall which gives you a taste of the real Barkley and a pretty good chance of finishing.  I stayed with people most of the race.  Although the course was marked, it wasn't marked well and we had questions several times but figured it out. We were given a compass and a map in our race packets but I relied on other people to use them.  I've never experienced anything quite like climbing up Rat Jaw.  I highly recommend the Barkley Classic.  It is the toughest 50K I've ever done and it didn't help that it was about 5 miles too long

I think the course has gotten harder since then. An elevation profile I saw recently showed that each loop, you go above 3,000' eight times and below 1,500' nine times. That means a MINIMUM gain of 12,000' per loop, or 120,000' of elevation change total. But probably much higher.

Saw briars. They have to go through saw briars (the majority of Barkley is not on established trails).

If anyone is familiar with them, they will know that they are the most unholy, painful, evil thing to be found on this planet. They grow everywhere, snag in your clothes and won't let go, snag your skin and tear it open.  My old man has them on his property where I build trails. They are the definition of hell.

 

 

this isn't running as I recognize it ---

The term is "footrace".  When asked, one of the rare finishers said he was able to run only about 50% of the time. The term "runners" is used because the competitors come from a running background and will be spending some time running. No one is implying that anyone is running up 54,000 feet.