Barkley Marathon - Nicky Spinks and Jasmin Paris

[AuntieStella]

They are among the 5 England competitors, the third woman is Katie Wright and the men are Damian Hall are Tom Hollins

24 competitors this year.

Keith is doing a brilliant commentary on Twitter (@ KeithDunn) Seven runners didn't make the cut off for finishing loop 1 (at least one because she got lost)

For those who don't know, this is a brutal and idiosyncratic trail ultramarathon - extremely rough terrain, no GPS watches allowed, course is not marked and runners get instructions on the day and then have to find their way.

Anyone else following it this year?

I'm finding it oddly fascinating! It's the sort of running I wish I could do, but know I never will

Yes. The conditions look good too.

Such a shame Jasmine couldn't go for 5, but what an inspiration she is....

I'm confused about who is still out there, can anyone help me out.? I'm not on Twitter but i'd gathered from this thread that there are 5 doing the final loop, but the spreadsheet which only has John, Aurelian and Karel out there.

It's just those 3 still out there

Damian dropped out of loop 5, Jasmin timed out lap 4

He often looks remarkably fresh faced. I don't know how!

Off topic but this made me laugh - I was very impressed by egg burrito guy yesterday

Thanks @MoneyInTheBananaStand
Great user name by the way.
"Lucille: I'll be in the hospital bar.
Michael: Uh, you know there isn't a hospital bar, Mother.
Lucille: Well, this is why people hate hospitals"

There were 7 on the 4th loop

4 completed it in time to start the fifth
2 tapped out without completing the loop (Ihara and Casas)
1 (Jasmin) did finish the distance but did not meet the cut off time

(4 others also completed loop 3, but did not proceed to loop 4 - 1 injured, 3 made the "fun run" cut off but not the one for starting loop 4)

Of the 4 who started the 5th loop, 3 are still going

1 (Damien) got lost and returned to the start area (presumably knew that he couldn't possibly make the time after that)

@MoneyInTheBananaStand - especially for you!

John Kelly has finished in 58:42:23

“He is the third runner to finish the Barkley Marathons more than once”

Aurelien Sanchez has finished in 58:23:12
“A bit of a challenge near the end - a day hiker removed one of the books, believing the race was over”

(no word on Karel Sabbe yet)

And Karel Sabbe finished in 59.53.33

Never has so much of twitter been so desperately nervous about seeing a Belgian dentist in time!

I'm not used to seeing the word "finisher" and Barkley in the same sentence. Let alone three. What a year.

I can't believe we had 3 finishers and one who finished on their first go as well.

3 finishers! Think we can expect it to be seriously brutal next year then I love shower burrito guy, absolutely fair enough pal I would also need a shower burrito after even 20 minutes of that course

This is very good @AuntieStella 🤣🤣🤣

The choice of GIFs is rubbish @RelentlessForwardProgress this is the best I could find 😕

Just a last bit of data crunching.

As this thread was about Nicky and Jasmin, here's a round up of the women runners' results.

In a field of 39 starters 8 are listed as female. British runners are 3 of the top 4

1 Jasmin Paris UK (7th)
2 Katie Wright UK (26th)
3 Andrea Larson USA (27th)
4 Nicky Spinks UK (28th)
5 EB (?) (32nd)
6 Melissa Robertson AUS (34th)
7 Dawn Greenwalk USA (35th)
8 Andrea Kooiman USA (37th)

I think Nicky (this year's Human Sacrifice) was the oldest runner - it's her 56th birthday next month.

And with that, it's time to think of other things, and perhaps see you all again at some unspecified time next spring

Thanks for the company everyone. See you back here again next year.

Thanks for that @AuntieStella really interesting! It’s been great hanging out here - thanks all, see you next year!

See you all next spring!

First year of really following it, wish I’d found this thread earlier! Absolutely amazing work from some certifiably mad human beings - I love it. Looking forward to next year already!

Never heard of it but looks incredible. Writing here in hopes it pops up next year in the threads I'm on, I check them more than just following.

Aurelien Sanchez’s time for his last three loops was the fastest time ever for those three! And anti-clockwise!!

If I start a thread next year, I’ll add a post with a link to this one (so it’ll pop up for those who think they’ll spot it that way)

Rounding off with one last pic

Love the Gif, @MoneyInTheBananaStand

Thank you @AuntieStella for starting the thread, I've really enjoyed following along in real time

For anyone interested, Laz, the Barkley founder, has another race called the Big Dog Ultra which is equally bonkers in a slightly different way. You run a 4.1 mile loop within an hour, every hour, until only one person is left who then wins....current record is....wait for it....85 hours!

This is a documentary about it on you tube:

He's also exported it! This is a great watch about Laz launching the madness on Danish Runners:

PS - couple of further snippets

a) Karel Sabbe has set a new record as the slowest ever successful finisher

b) the claim that Damien's book on Chimney Top had been moved (like Aurelien's) leading to him getting lost looking for it is just a tease. He's since confirmed that he simply didn't find it, because he was totally sleep deprived and getting confused. Jasmin, running her fourth loop (in the other direction, I assume) found both it and him - asleep - and got him moving again. He ran back to the start/finish shortly after her. Nice that they look after each other Out There

Thanks! I look forward to finding out more 😁

There's a short interview with Laz in the new york times.
I also came across a video of someone doing the drop into the stream tunnel near the prison that they have to clamber down. I'd be terrified of it in the dark. I'll see if I can find it again.

Great thread! Watched the film on Sunday about it, The Race that Eats its Young, brilliant! Ordered a couple of books too. Did my own ultra at the weekend and thought about these runners a lot.

Until next year! xx