‘It was hard to stay motivated on those reps in the dark, with wind and hail blowing horizontally into my face,’ she said ‘But the thought of how much harder Barkley was going to be kept me going.’ She also took part in ‘pretend’ Barkley runs complete with navigation, brutal terrain and books to find (in the race itself runners must locate around 10 books on each lap and tear a page from each in order to qualify for the next lap).Īccording to inov-8, one morning she did 22 ascents of Castlelaw (a hill in the Pentlands), accumulating 5,500m (18,000ft) ascent in seven hours. So, how do runners go about preparing for a race as impossibly difficult as the Barkley?įor Fun Run 2022 finisher Paris, training in the UK's brutal storms this year helped with her mental preparation. Combine that with no course markings, disruptive flora and fauna, including monster saw briars and weather that can go from baking hot to icy rain in a few hours, and you have a challenge that's as close to impossible to finish as any race out there. There's no official data on distance or elevation, but each loop is thought to be around 20 miles, with something in the region of 12,000ft of elevation gain. To successfully finish the Barkley Marathons, runners must complete five laps within 60 hours. This year, there was, once again, no finishers. Only 15 runners have finished the race in its 36-year history, the most recent being John Kelly in 2017. I realised I wasn’t going to make it back in time to start a fourth loop so I focused on trying to get a Fun Run.' What exactly does the race involve? I was on my own and made some more significant navigation errors. 'After doing the first two loops in the same direction, I had to go the other way round on loop three. I made some significant navigational errors, so much so it felt like I ran the full 100 miles given all the detours I took! 'The biggest challenges were the navigation and the weather. 'My goal was to give it absolutely everything I had, and I feel I did that, so I’m happy. Speaking to her sponsors, inov-8, after the race, Paris said:
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