FUN RUN

Record Three People Finish One of World’s Most Grueling Races

The notorious ultramarathon sees finishers self-navigate their way across a mountainous 100-to-130-mile course in under 60 hours without sleep.

As if life wasn’t already painful enough, there are those select few of us who choose to run ultramarathons. And within that minority, there exists a group just hardcore enough to elect to run a self-navigated, sleepless course of between 100 and 130 mountainous miles with an elevation gain of roughly 63,000 feet in under 60 hours. The name for this road straight to hell? The Barkley Marathons, of course. On Friday, three athletes—American John Kelly, Frenchman Aurélien Sanchez, and Belgian dentist Karel Sabbe—crossed the finish line within the time limit, marking only the second time in the race’s 36-year history that there were three finishers. Only 17 people have ever completed Barkley, founder Gary “Lazarus Lake” Cantrell told CNN. There were no finishers in the last five years, and there has never been a woman finisher. But history was made earlier in the event on that front, with U.K. running champion Jasmin Paris becoming the second woman ever to start the fourth lap of the mountain’s five-lap track, before ultimately timing out. “I still think a woman can finish 5 loops, although I suspect Laz will make next year even harder,” she tweeted.