This is badass. There is a race in Frozen Head State Park, TN, that is held once a year and has been since 1986. In that time approximately 650 people have entered and only 7 finished, until today. It is 5 loops of 20 miles each. Total elevation gain is 52,000+ feet. Yes, that is correct.
The time limit is 60 hours. The 8th finisher in the history of the Barkely Ultramarathon finished today in 57:37. Andew Thompson made it to the 5th loop in '05 then went off the rails, hallucinated and sat down for a few hours. He never really got it together again. This year he pulled it off. Snow, freezing rain, wind all day today.
This is a crazy race, no other way to explain it. An hour before race start the RD blows a conche shell. There are no aid stations on the course, only 2 unmanned water stops and the runner’s car at the start of each loop. To prove you finished each loop you must provide pages from books scattered along the course.
david james, friend of mine, won umstead. finished in 15hrs 5min. 3rd fastest time in history of race. he also placed 2 OA at coastal challenge in costa rica in feb beating scott jurek. he is the real deal. a name that will be popping up a lot in ultramarathons
i dont know how he does it, or anyone does it for that matter. im running a 50k at the end of the month im hoping he paces me to around a 4:30 which would be a walk in the park for him. just hoping i can hold up
That is insane! I’m totally wiped after a 60 minute run, these guys are out there running for 60 hours!
And I think that is more elevation gain than I have experienced cumulatively in my life!
I am totally not worthy.
I did one 10 hour treadmill run a few weeks ago (52.4 miles), and I’ve got 3 ultras planned for the summer (52.4 miles, 100 miles, and 30.4 miles). Barkley is something I would like to do in the future. It is most definitely one of my favorite ultras out there!
Right now I do not have time to read those articles. But the entree fee for the Barkley is something like $1.15, a license plate from your home state, and a short essay on why you should be allowed to attempt the Barkley. That’s just fricken cool by itself.
To give you an idea of how tough this course is, the winner of the Umstead 100 miler this weekend did it in less than 16 hours.
Ironman and Ultraman are a walk in the park compared to this race.
No kidding. After 7 IM races and about 15 HIM races, my first 50 miler was without a doubt the most brutal race I’ve ever done. So I came back. Croom Fool’s Run 50 miler is this Saturday, hopefully the weather ends up better than the current forecast…88 and rainy! Matt Mahoney will probably be there, I beat him by a couple of minutes 2 years ago and he passed me in the last 2 miles last year. He’s a great guy, and puts on a hilarious shiggy ultramarathon every May near Melbourne. Last year it rained the night before and washed away all the flour marks showing the course, so we all fumbled around following him while he tried to remember which turn it was and where…between that and climbing the sandpiles and “running” through sugarsand so fine you’d sink 3 inches with each step…whuf what a race!
I’ve done one 50 miler so far. It was worse than the 3 IMs and countless other races I’ve done. It was so painful.
So, I’m back again too. These next couple years are all about running for me. I’m doing Ultraman Canada as a relay and I get to do the double marathon. Sounds fun in that sick kind of way
I hope you have great weather. Let us know how it goes.
I’ve done one 50 miler so far. It was worse than the 3 IMs and countless other races I’ve done. It was so painful.
So, I’m back again too. These next couple years are all about running for me. I’m doing Ultraman Canada as a relay and I get to do the double marathon. Sounds fun in that sick kind of way
I hope you have great weather. Let us know how it goes.
I’ve done one 50 miler so far. It was worse than the 3 IMs and countless other races I’ve done. It was so painful.
I had a DNF at my first 50-miler on Saturday at American River. It was at the 50K aid station (Mile 31.67), and I missed the cutoff by 7 minutes. The course was just about to start getting a whole lot more “interesting”. I could tell that if I had continued on to finish the race, I would have hurt a lot more than I did after finishing my one and only iron-distance triathlon.
Shoot, I’m really sorry to hear that. I was right on the edge of the cut-off times for my race as well. Very frustrating to put in all that training. This is the season where the race frequency really picks up tho hopefully you can do another one this year.
I was literally bed bound for a couple days after the race. I was in so much pain I was barely able to make it to the bathroom.
I’m convinced I was undertained though. Training for an IM and a 50 just don’t go together unless you can put in 70+ mile weeks running and still get in the riding and swimming. Not enough time in my day for that.
That’s OK, I knew what the cutoffs were, and I definitely planned for them. There were a couple of dumb screw-ups that I did that actually cost me those 7 minutes (one was being in line for the port-a-potty only 3 minutes from the start), and then I realized that the starting line was further out on the levy than I had figured. I crossed the starting line more than 3 minutes after the horn. There were a couple of other errors I made as well.
I’ll try to run more, and do more longer runs. The longest run I did in training was the Napa Valley marathon 5 weeks before. I may see about trying the Helen Klein 50-miler in November.
You should come do the American River 50-miler in Sacramento next year. It’s a huge race (by ultra standards) and very well organized. I’m sure I’ll give it another go next year.
The Barkley will make you cry. Not sure where you’re from, but I have been in those hills. OUCH.
What’s interesting about Barkley is the race is inspired by the attempted escape of MLK’s assassin from Frozen Head State Park. He ran for about 56 hrs and was caught only a few miles away. Hard for folk used to streets or even well marked trails to conceive of the difficulty of this one. No trail markings, no support, just two unmanned stations with water. Just water. No guarantee when the race will start, it’s whenever the race director decides to start things that morning. It could be 8am, it could be 11am.
I have a friend wanting to race this next year. I told him if he gets in, I’ll give him such support as I can. Rides from the airport, crash space… but no pacers are allowed in this race, and despite one 50K finish thus far (another planned for 3wks after my first 1/2iron, am I crazy?) I know I’m not up to this sucker. If my pal finishes Badwater this year though, maybe he’ll stand a chance. IF he can get in.
