The 2022 Barkley Marathons has come to an finish after the final two opponents, Karel Sabbe and Greig Hamilton, bowed out on their fourth loop of the 20-plus mile course.
Sabbe was making good time, ending three loops in simply over 32 hours. The fourth loop at nighttime did him no favours, as he was discovered off-course in one other city, chatting with a rubbish can who he thought was an individual (he’d been operating for 40-plus hours at this level). The native sheriff pulled Sabbe apart, escorting him again to camp, the place his 2022 Barkleys try sadly got here to an finish.
Hamilton, an orienteering knowledgeable, ran the early two loops with Large’s Yard Extremely stars Courtney Dauwalter and Harvey Lewis, earlier than going forward of them on the finish of the second loop (the place Dauwalter and Lewis dropped after failing to seek out the seventh ebook). Hamilton was shifting properly, however he had time to make up, arriving in camp after loop three virtually three hours behind Sabbe. In the end, it wasn’t within the playing cards for Hamilton, who didn’t full loop 4 in beneath 48 hours (the rule for being allowed to try loop 5).
The Barkley course has received once more, for the fifth consecutive 12 months.
2017 marked the final time anybody completed; that was the 12 months John Kelly accomplished all 5 loops (and Canada’s Gary Robbins got here shut). 100 and sixty-five runners have began the race since 2017, and Sabbe and Hamilton are the one runners to achieve loop 4 on two events. Kelly tapped out this 12 months after three loops to complete the Enjoyable Run.
Jasmin Paris scored a Enjoyable Run, which is three loops of the course in beneath 40 hours. She is the primary girl to take action since Bev Anderson-Abbs (who’s Canadian), again in 2013. Paris, Kelly and Thomas Dunkerbeck are all credited with Enjoyable Runs. (Runners who begin a fourth loop are disqualified from claiming a Enjoyable Run.)
There are roughly 40 starters yearly. They’ve 60 hours to complete 5 20-mile loops by steep and unforgiving terrain in Tennessee’s Frozen Head State Park whereas utilizing their orienteering expertise to navigate the course, which isn’t marked. GPS watches will not be allowed; every runner is issued a Casio watch with little or no performance past retaining them apprised of how a lot time has handed. Runners should additionally gather particular pages (akin to their bib quantity) from books hidden on the course; lacking pages imply computerized disqualification. (Runners obtain a brand new bib at the start of every loop).
