With £1.60 in cash and an old race T-Shirt 17 runners entered HAC’s new event The Barkley (not actual) Marathons.
The Barkley Marathons is an ultramarathon trail race held in Tennessee. The course is an unmarked 20 mile loop. The race requires the runner to complete five laps, which would have a total elevation of 16,500m. To date only 15 runners have completed the full five loops. The race is currently subject of a Netflix documentary “The Barkley Marathons; The Race That Eats It’s Young” should you want to learn more.
In a nod to the original event where the race is started by the lighting of a cigarette, John Dobbs downed a shot of Tennessee Jack Daniels.
HAC’s unmarked and unmarshalled 5k course took the runners to three checkpoints where, as in the original race, pages from books had to be bought back to race HQ to prove completion of the course.
The aim was to run five loops in a three hours time limit, with each lap run clockwise and anticlockwise alternately.
Well done to Scott Farley who completed all five loops in 2.27.35 and Catriona Paterson who was the only lady to complete five loops. Paul Leppard was our only other runner to complete the full five laps in the time limit.
True to the original event, Taps was played each time a runner completed their final loop.
Thank you to James Laing for organising the event and Zoe Dobbs, John Dobbs and Andy Wood for managing the event on the day.
