The Barkley Marathons 2024. Conch shell at the ready...

[Taylormiffed]

No idea when it will start. Follow @ keithdunn on twitter as he's usually the only journo who attends.

Let's hope for another safe race. Maybe a woman can finish for the first time and hopefully there'll be a handful of Brits to cheer on. Although tbh, I'll cheer on anyone crazy enough to attempt it.

Ooh a thread about this crazy race. I’ll pull up a chair. Saw the documentary a while back and have a distant buddy who’s done a fair bit in the ultra world so find it interesting and awe inspiring the distances they cover. My DH is a runner and watching him in bits at the end of a super hot 30m on a drip is not a nice experience so what these folk put themselves through is crazy.

Info on timings: 12 hours per loop, plus extra 4 for fun runners

In GMT (Frozen Head time)
Start: Wed 09:17 (Wed 05:17)
Loop 1 cut off: Wed 21:57 (Wed 19:17)
Loop 2 cut off: Thurs 09:17 (Thurs 05:17)
Loop3 cut off: Thurs 21:17 (Thurs 19:17)

Fun run ends: Fri 00:17 (Thurs 23:17)
Loop 4 cut off: Fri 09:17 (Fri 05:17)
Race ends: Fri 21:17 (Fri 19:17)

Update: tweets from Keith in the last 10 mins or so

"A long haired guy and a couple of groups of six runners are each past the fire tower"

"A tall skinny guy in a red hat is past the fire tower"

"An American and a Japanese runner are through the fire tower at 11:15"

So that's quite a lot through by the 6 hour point. But we don't know if the course has changed. This loop is clockwise.

Thank you so much for the conch call! I'd forgotten which user name I was a year ago but figured it out.

Settling in... 💞

Some pix from the water tower - tweeted by Taka

Also Keith has tweeted that two runners threw trash on the ground at the start - they’re seeking to identify who, and they face disqualification

(edited to give the source of the pix)

Crikey, all that enormous effort in the training and application quite literally chucked away on the starting line! You'd never stop kicking yourself, would you?

I wish more races were that tough on litter - although having a field of only 40 helps! I was a back of the pack finisher in my first (and last) big road race, and I was literally wading through drifts of discarded water bottles - I was disgusted.

Me and some fellow runners litter picked when we were at the back of a trail race.

The Barkley looks quite jolly when the weather is good on the first lap.

Not to mention taking a coveted space away from another runner 😤

Keith tweeting that 2 runners have been tapped out, but he doesn't say who (or why)

Also that a guy with a grey beard and a muscular guy with tree trunk legs are through the water tower.

We should have loop 1 finishers soon

Anyone not on Twitter and not wanting to sign up - Amelia Boone is screenshotting Keith Dunn’s feed on her Threads, erm, thread 👍

Summary of Keith's latest tweets:

6 runners finished loop 1 in just over 8.30, then 2 more around 8.35, plus 2 French runners at 8.45 and a nondescript guy at 8.46 (prob Jared Campbell?)

First to set off on loop 2 left at 8.38

Lots of jokes about Tennessee state legislature and runners in transition (is interloopal a new identity?)

One runner described a new section as "brambly" and "pitchy"

A Japanese runner has just come in at 9.11 (their PB for loop 1)

Waiting for updates about "Small European woman"

Cmon Keith!

First runner has to be either John or Jared I reckon

I'm hoping she was among that first 8 who were not described!!

Updates:

"A guy with awesome glasses has finished loop 1 in 9.16"

"A guy with very daring shorts has finished loop 1 in 9.30"

C'mon Small European Woman 💪

I think Taka is mid-update as his list has hopped about

Following is John Sugdens current list (timings weird as they’re in some other US time zone)

Taka is still mid-update, and (having been obsessively refreshing for a while) I can now see how he's going about it.

Still incomplete, but latest refresh shows that John Kelly finished loop 1 first, second of the first bunch of three still blank, third finisher Jasmin Paris. Please let this be right !!

Further Keith tweet updates:

'Guy with red hat finished loop 1 in 10.27, almost an hour behind the previous loop one finisher'

'Another large gap, and the next loop 1 finisher comes in at 11.16 "Ratjaw Sucks"'

'With half the field still out on loop 1, runners have 40 minutes to get in and out to be on 100 mile pace, or 2 hours for Fun Run pace'

'The next runner finishes loop 1in 11.30; as he approaches the gate his crew yells "c'mon c'mon; we don't have all day!"'

I know it's early but Small European Woman is going great guns (please let the spreadsheet be right!) Come on Jasmin!!!! Bang on time for a finish 🙏 Keep it going.

Has Damian fallen asleep again? Bit early for that sort of malarkey.

Just nipping on to say I’m here and I’m excited! Not on twitter anymore so any updates gratefully received

Signing in - love a bit of vicarious ultrarunning madness

Where do I look for the Taka spreadsheet, I’ve forgotten

@Flangeosaurus

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vS7bFn8RH5Na4vVxNijCsFCiHeYqRksDi5D9ddC9Fz4yK7nOQhEg8HwG78lz-PFVB2EkFn4QlJKEXMV/pubhtml

Bit of an update on here. Barkley and Winter Spine are the highlights of my year!

https://www.youtube.com/live/7QQPHc8VbEk?si=my_B1ciZvrYIwhwU

Taka's latest updates have landed

The first 3 finishers for loop 1 were John Kelly (what was his nickname last year?), guy with the mohawk and small European woman.
Only one of the next 3 is named at the moment - Harvey Lewis (USA)
Then some more blanks

Keith's latest:

"Tragedy averted - a runner who came in off loop 1 three hours ago, missing a page, went back out and found it. Loop 1 complete" "Quick turnaround and he has started loop 2, a huge smile on his face"

"The man in black has finished loop 1 in 11.49"
"The man in black begins loop 2 at 11.57. Eight minute interloopal period. MIB II finishes loop 1 immediately thereafter"

"The loop 2 leaders are on RatJaw" (about half an hour ago)

I think Kelly might have been nondescript guy last year

Guy with mohawk is deffo Damian

We know who small European woman is.

Aaaarrrghh!!! Too exciting!!! I need to pace myself there's two more days of this 😬