![]() That does not mean you are allowed to follow any route you choose between checkpoints. and you have to show up at all of them or you can be disqualified… the books are nothing more than unmanned checkpoints. it is not an orienteering contest, nor a scavenger hunt. I hate it, because this tale perpetuates the myth that the barkley does not have a course. the time, in that situation, is meaningless. he failed to complete the course by 2 miles. I never expected the story to somehow become that he had missed the time limit by 6 seconds. So, when someone asked if he had gotten in before the limit i foolishly answered. so, i had looked at the watch, even tho there was no possibility that he would be counted as a finisher. I do, however, always record when runners come in, whether they are finishing a loop, or not. Gary had just come in after having run off course and missing the last 2 miles of the barkley. On Monday, he collected a page from the last book on the course and expected to hit a trail, turn left and be able to reach the finish with a few minutes to spare. It was Robbins’ second attempt - after he dropped out in the final loop last year, reporting that he was delusional and seeing faces on the leaves of trees. “That one fatal error with just over two miles to go haunts me.” “I did not finish The Barkley Marathons, and that is no one’s fault but my own,” Robbins wrote in a blog post on his website Tuesday. (This year, it started on Saturday at 1:42 a.m., Canadian Running reported.) Most don’t make it past the first three loops, which are known as the “fun run.” Only 15 people in the race’s history have completed the whole thing, including John Kelly, who finished roughly 30 minutes before Robbins. It starts at odd times, marked not by a starter gun but by Cantrell lighting a cigarette at the iconic yellow gate. The Barkley takes 40 participants a year, chosen through a secretive application process. One used this year was a self-help book titled “There Is Nothing Wrong with You” - which Cantrell liked, because “there was something wrong with every person that got a page out of that book.” Each runner has to rip a page from each of the 13 books to prove they ran the entire course. The checkpoints are just books tucked in the woods. This year, the course had more than 20,000 metres of uphill climb, said Cantrell, the race director. It is five loops of a 20-mile (32-kilometre) course in Frozen Head State Park near Wartburg, Tenn., navigating by map and compass through saw briars and climbing and sliding down hills with names like Testicle Spectacle. Since it started in 1986, the Barkley has earned a reputation as one of the most gruelling trail runs in the world. “But I guess without those moments of tragedy you can’t have the great exaltation when it all works out.” Michael Doyle “A lot of people had something in their eye. “The bugler cried when he had to play,” Cantrell said. Even if he hadn’t veered off course, he had still reached the gate six seconds over the 60-hour limit.Ī bugler played taps to mark Robbins’ failure - one of the many traditions of this strange, three-decade-old race. “And then I realized my error and I knew I didn’t have enough time to come back over the mountain.”Īfter the discussion, it was clear that Robbins’ mistake meant he had not finished the race - running two miles short of the 100 mile (160 kilometre) total. “You turned right instead of left?” Cantrell said. Robbins showed Cantrell a rain-soaked map and pointed out where he veered off course. She looked up at Cantrell, who was wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a canvas riding jacket. Robbins’ wife crouched down and put her hand on his shoulder. He lay on the road with his knees tucked to his belly, hands on his face. “I took the wrong side of the mountain in the fog,” Robbins can be heard saying in video posted by Canadian Running Magazine. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Manage Print Subscription / Tax Receipt.
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