Distance: 100.00 mi
Type: Loop, Trail Ultra
Difficulty: 10 / 10
Filed Under: Running
The Barkley is considered one of the toughest 100 mile races in the world. It has 52,900 feet of climb (and 52,900 feet of descent), more than any other 100 mile race, more than the 33,000 ft. of climb at Hardrock, and more than the 45,000 ft. at Nolan's 14.
Since the race began in 1986, only 4 runners out of 500 have finished within the 60 hour cutoff. Mark Williams of the UK finished first in 1995 in 59:28. Here is his race report. In 2001, after several failed attempts, Blake Wood, 42, NM, and David Horton, 50, VA, finished together in 58:21, only to be disqualified for inadvertently leaving the course to follow a parallel route for about 200 yards. This route (on the south side of the stream instead of the north side) has slightly better footing and had been the normal route until 2000.
To give you some idea of the difficulty of this course, Blake had won the 2001 Rocky Raccoon 100 in 16:13, and the 1999 Hardrock 100 in 30:11. David Horton won Hardrock in 29:35 in 1993 and held the course record for the Appalachian Trail (2160 miles in 52 days) until recently.
Cave Dog (Ted Keizer) finished in 56:57 in 2003. He holds the Colorado 14er speed record, 54 14,000 ft. peaks in 10 days, 20:26. He also holds speed records in the White Mountains, Adirondacks, and Catskills. (See www.thedogteam.com). He trained for 2 weeks on the course before the race.
The race consists of 5 20-mile loops with no aid except for water at two points. The cutoffs for the 100 mile race are 12 hours per loop. The 60 mile "fun run" has a cutoff of 40 hours, or 13:20 per loop. To prove you completed each loop, you must find 9 to 11 books (varies) at various points along the course and return a page from each book.
(Description excerpted from Matt Mahoney's website. He has done the Barlkley more than anyone I know, and describes the race perfectly.) Try his website for past race results, history, race reports and other interesting information - http://mattmahoney.net/barkley/.
You need to find the race form online. If I gave it to you here, well, that would be too easy and there isn't anything easy about the Barkley. You have to contact the race director, Gary Cantrell, on Dec 26 for entry. Caution it will fill up and a certain number of entries are reserved for veterns and the rest are open for virgin sacrifices. Oh, you will also need to write and essay on "Why I Should Be Allowed to Run the Barkley."
As seen in an old entry form ... "Rigorous requirements must be met: NO women. They are too soft. No children. They are too small. No Californians. This race is not cool. NO soccer fans. Soccer sucks. NO marines. They don't biodegrade. NO yankees. We don't want them buried here. NO wimps, worms, slugs, or weenies. They don't got what it takes. And most of all, NO Health Fascists. We encourage smoking during the race."
"The Barkely Eats Its Young" - as the bumper sticker on my car says.
As seen on an old entry form ... "Frozen Head State Natural Area. Don't ask, if you can't find the park on your own, then you don't belong "out there".
Comments
sean said ...
They cook up the best damn pre-race dinner you have ever tasted. Don't miss this - well worth the entry fee.
Gary, I'm coming back one of these days, but right now I am still too scared.
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