Barkley Marathons 2027

So you thought you were tough because you conquered the UTMB? 😅 You definitely don't know the legendary Barkley, that's for sure ⬇️.

Welcome to the league of ultra-runners, or rather to the secret garden of Lazarus Lake (or Gary Cantrell for those who know him well) 🤫. The Barkley Marathons goes against the typical codes you might find in all the other races on your trail calendar 📆. Here, no inflatable arches, no medals, and definitely no aid stations with attentive volunteers 🤕. But before we talk about the race itself (which is mostly a race against yourself), you need to understand that the Barkley is a mythical, one-of-a-kind trail with a unique story 📖.

We're in Morgan County, deep in Tennessee, where the humidity clings to your skin, and the brambles show no mercy to your ankles 😬. The concept of the Barkley Marathons started as a joke: in 1977, the assassin of Martin Luther King escaped from Brushy Mountain Prison, located nearby 📍. He managed only 13 km in 54 hours of manhunt. Laz, the creator of the race, thought a real runner could cover 160 km 💡. That's how the world's craziest myth was born 🌍.

Before you can step to the starting line, you have to get in! ✅ But here, no website, no bib exchange, no contacts... You have to be ingenious to try to get in touch with Lazarus and then write your best letter of motivation 📝. If you're among the 40 most convincing runners, expect to receive a letter of condolences announcing the bad news... that you're going to face one of the toughest races in the world. "If I am foolish enough to attempt the Barkley, I deserve to be held responsible for all the consequences of this attempt, be they financial, physical, mental, and others." Yes, yes, those are indeed the small print at the bottom of the contract you sign with Laz 😂. It's a bit like a pact with the devil of the trail 😈. And if that wasn't enough, you even have to bring a gift to your executioner, a gift he himself chooses: shirts, socks, packs of cigarettes... Don't get it wrong, or you might not even start! 🥲 For your first edition, you must bring a license plate from your home country 🇫🇷, which will then be hung in the camp near the starting and finish line as a memento of your journey (in case you don't come back 🤪). Once you've checked all the boxes, you can embark on the adventure 🗺️.

The start is given when Laz lights his cigarette 🚬. Forget your latest GPS watch and your nutrition plan calibrated to the kilometer ❌. Here, you're given a map, a compass, and you must tear pages from books hidden in the forest 🔎. If you lose a page, you're out of the race, even if you complete the Barkley 🎰. You don't get to tell a story, but recover the page that corresponds to your bib number (a new bib for each loop started, or it's not fun) to prove you took the right path 🛤️. Yes, Lazarus is demanding! 🤓 As is the terrain! We're talking about 5 loops of about 32 km each, but beware, the distance is "approximate" ☝️. Two loops in one direction, two in the other, and the last in your chosen direction. 12 hours to complete each loop, 60 hours to conquer the legend 🏅. You'll have the Frozen Head State Park as your playground, a 10,000-hectare park where the thick fog will further blur your vision after days without sleep 😴. You'll even pass through a tunnel under the old prison 👮‍♂️, a unique passage reminding you that you're there to serve your sentence as a passionate runner 🔐. In addition to finding your way and reaching the "checkpoints", 60% gradients will let you test your climbing skills 😇. You're probably wondering about the total elevation gain of this insane trail? 🫠 A modest 18,288 meters of ascent, equivalent to two ascents of Everest 🗻. To refuel on the Barkley, the only gastronomy you'll encounter is the "Rat Bar" or a cold slice of pizza at the yellow gate 🍕. As for the weather, it's highly changeable (like Lazarus's mood 😜): you can go from blazing sun 🌞 to a snowstorm ❄️ quicker than it takes to say "DNF" 🫨.

Speaking of legends 💪, how can we not mention Jared Campbell, the only one to complete the event three times. And for a touch of national pride, we have our national hero: Aurélien Sanchez, who tamed the beast in 2023 🏆. Not forgetting the incredible Jasmin Paris, who became in 2024 the first woman to finish the race 🏃‍♀️, collapsing on the iconic yellow gate one second before the time limit ⏳. The Barkley is a unique, almost mystical atmosphere, usually held at the beginning of the year 🪾. If you drop out (which happens to 90% of runners), a bugle will play "Taps" to celebrate your failure 📯. That's the spirit of this adventure in the wilderness: enforced humility in the face of the forest's power 🌲. The Barkley is the ultimate test, the grail for those who want to know what they truly have within them 💥.

If you have an old license plate lying around and you're afraid of nothing, the adventure awaits you 👊.