“Call me the Benjamin button of Barkley,” Kelly tweeted at one point on the last day of the race. He had been the most recent Barkley finisher back in 2017, which seems like a lifetime ago, given how COVID-19 seemed to change the scope of time. He wound up back at the infamous yellow gate of the start/finish area about 19 minutes after Sanchez, in 58:42:23. Next was John Kelly, the 38-year-old local runner from nearby Boone, North Carolina, who became a two-time finisher and only the third person to record more than one successful finish. He tore out his page and got credit for completing the course in 58 hours, 23 minutes, and 12 seconds. The 32-year-old Frenchman thought he was doomed and returned to the yellow gate with the pages he had, only to find the book waiting for him at the finish. RELATED: Barkley RD Sparks Debate on InclusionĪurelian Sanchez was the first to finish the race, but not without encountering a bit of a challenge near the end after a day hiker removed one of the books, believing the race was over.
This year’s race was the first time that four runners began the rarely-experienced fifth loop and only the second time three runners completed the course, which is roughly 130 miles in length and includes about 63,000 feet of elevation gain, within the 60-hour time cutoff. So did Jasmine Paris, even though she didn’t last quite as long as her male counterparts in what was one the best and most exciting editions of this small, quirky, and extremely grueling race yet. This week on the rough and rugged terrain of Tennessee’s Frozen Head State Park, legends were born.Īmid cold, wet weather and little sleep, John Kelly, Aurelian Sanchez, Karel Sabbe, and Damian Hall put on quite a show this week at the dastardly and often cruel ultra-distance quagmire known as the Barkley Marathons in Wartburg, Tennessee.
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