OT: The Barkley Marathons have begun
In case you haven’t heard of it, the Barkley Marathons is the stupidest race on the planet. Taking place every spring in the hills of Tennessee, fess than a few dozen have ever completed the full course (which consists of five laps of 25-ish miles each through nasty backcountry.)
Lazarus Lake blew the conch shell, then lit the starting cigarette, this morning. By evening, we’ll know who’s actually running it (which, for any mountain or trail runner, is the most exciting reveal of all as it’s kept a secret until the first lap is completed.)
Read more about this stupid race here: https://www.runnersworld.com/races-places/a26750827/barkley-marathons-faq/
March 30th, 2019 at 10:50 AM ^
(P.S. this race is so stupid that I’ll be following the twitter account of one of its organizers all weekend. https://twitter.com/keithdunn)
March 30th, 2019 at 11:19 AM ^
So you're a fan then? but yeah this is a crazy raxe .... There's a documentary on this race on netflix that's pretty good (Barkley: The race that eats its young)
There is another one on YouTube called Where Dreams Go To Die. It follows Gary Robbins the entire time that is super good.
March 30th, 2019 at 10:56 AM ^
Does Charles know about it?
If not, good!
March 30th, 2019 at 10:59 AM ^
After the Round Mound of Rebounds won the inaugural event, the race was named after him.
(Honestly, I clicked on the thread expecting to find an eating contest.)
March 30th, 2019 at 11:03 AM ^
not quite right, muttley. barkely was the 25 mile circumference/mountain they ran around that first race. thus, the name...
March 30th, 2019 at 11:17 AM ^
One of my favorite documentaries. I'd like to see them do an updated version, maybe they have?
And yes, it is truly a stupid race. Can't imagine finishing even one loop.
March 30th, 2019 at 12:03 PM ^
There was another version that came out recently...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDZdsqbcGTU
Enjoy these types of documentaries. Not sure why but I like seeing the extreme sports in a way even though I'm not that into them.
Touching the Void is an amazing documentary about mountain climbing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4LD9vQ3Fjs
The Dawn Wall is another great story. That one was on Netflix.
The Barkley reminded me a bit of Marathon Des Sables. I only knew about that race through another Netflix docuseries from Losers.
March 30th, 2019 at 11:32 AM ^
I looked at this thinking it might have something to do with Charles Barkley, and actually be funny. Oh, well.
March 30th, 2019 at 12:01 PM ^
I live out in Reno and am involved with the ultra running community quite a bit. I have quite a few friends who are incredibly tough runners. One in particular isn't that fast but has done some of the hardest ultra runs out there (Hardrock 100, Tor de Geants). He tried to do Barkley a few years ago and when I ask him about it, he just shakes his head and starts swearing. He did get three pages but didn't even complete 1 lap.
I got to meet John Fegyveresi (the third finisher in the documentary) at WS100. He was taking a break at our aid station and my wife and I kept looking at him since he looked familiar but we just couldn't place him. He was very humble but his pacer filled us in on who he was.
It's gonna be fun watching them all go at it. The race director also has another race in the fall where you just have to do 4.1 miles in an hour over and over and over. There's technically only one finisher every year. Last year the winner did 283 miles and beat out Courtney Dauwalter (a super bad ass trail runner and super nice person) https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=53391
March 30th, 2019 at 12:03 PM ^
I’ve got some friends that are (shhhh) in Barkley this year. Their previous experiences are usually described with a mixture of laughter, tears, and grimaces.
maybe see you in Auburn sometime. :)
March 30th, 2019 at 12:06 PM ^
You have to be a particular type of sadist to do the Barkley lol
March 31st, 2019 at 10:48 AM ^
They're masochists. Only a masochist would do the Barkley.
A sadist would make someone else do it.
March 30th, 2019 at 12:08 PM ^
Charles Barkley should go through this - in a golf cart.
March 30th, 2019 at 12:52 PM ^
Not as bad as being a Michigan fan in Ohio since 2001.
Wait, so this race was inspired by prison escape of the man who assassinated MLK? Hard pass. When I saw ultramarathon, I was expecting some pretty white stuff. But even I wasn't expecting it to be that far white after clicking the link.
Documentary goes a bit more in on it, but yeah it's essentially mocking James Earl Ray for making it only 8 miles in 55 hours of escape time.
As for this being white as af. Yeah no shit, what other race does crazy shit like climbing buildings, mountains etc for fun?
The image of Barkley running a marathon is the laugh I needed. Charles running THIS race would be comedy gold. It has to happen.
"My gawwwd! I gotta run up THAT HILL?! No I ain't."
March 31st, 2019 at 12:37 AM ^
I came here to upvote thinking this was an anti-Capital One commercial thread.