Runners are allotted 60 hours to complete all five 26-ish-mile loops, and up until this year’s event, only 15 runners had successfully done so in the race’s 36-year history. The notoriously brutal and mostly off-trail route covers roughly 130 miles and takes in about 63,000 feet of elevation gain. The event got underway on Tuesday, March 14, in Frozen Head State Park, Tennessee. Hopefully we will see a different story in 2018.A file photo of Aurélien Sanchez during the 2019 John Cappis 50k. Collins did have all his pages, despite the unfortunate mishap, and the video of his finish collapse from exhaustion is devastating, posted on Canadian Running’s Facebook page.Īlthough every runner’s heart wants him to slip in with an official finish, the rules are brutal rules that every participant respects. The page requirement changes with each lap.

Along the course, the participants ensure they followed the correct map by collecting pages along the way and presenting them at the finish line. Gary Collins would have been the first Canadian to finish the feat, until he made a wrong turn and missed the cutoff by 6 seconds, tapping the finish line gate from the wrong side. Imagine a race cutoff of 60 hours-don’t worry, we can’t either.īut at the elusive 100-mile Barkley Marathons, an insane ultra event comprising five 20-mile loops through a wooded park in Tennessee, this is the reality, along with 60,000 feet of elevation gain. Those who finish are few and far between-exactly 14 men have done so under the cutoff. Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members!

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