This year's event attracted runners from five different continents.
"We don't publicize it because the demand has become so great," he said. It's not exactly secret, it's just that in its early days, the number of people who wanted to try it grew cumbersome, so they simply stopped announcing it. Only in the world of Gary Cantrell and others like him would a 60-mile race be considered a "fun run." There's also a "fun run," which consists of only three loops, and a slightly-more-generous time frame. Cantrell said some runners try to speed up in order to build up enough time to sleep, but that just turns out to be even more punishing. The time limits don't allow for much in the way of rest. While 94 percent of the people who have attempted the Strolling Jim 40 have completed the 40-mile course, only one percent of the people who run the Barkley Marathons are able to complete the event. In 30 years of the Barkley Marathons, only 14 people have finished all five loops. This year, not a single person made it to the fifth loop. If you make it to the fifth loop, you get to choose your direction, and the next runner after you must run the opposite direction, with runners alternating from that point forward. The first two loops are done counterclockwise, the next two are counterclockwise. The course includes steep hills.Ĭompetitors attempting to run the full 100-mile event must complete each 20-mile loop in 12 hours, or they don't get to move on to the next loop.
The Barkley Marathons consist of five loops around a 20-mile route - not marked paths, but rough trails through a wooded area.
That's because you haven't heard about the other races Gary Cantrell organizes.Ĭhief among those is the Barkley Marathons, held each spring, not in Wartrace, but near Wartburg, in Frozen Head State Park in Morgan County of East Tennessee. (AP) - The idea of running 40 miles, to most people, sounds like a ridiculous, over-the-top challenge.
0 kommentar(er)
