
2017 Barkley Marathon features one finisher, heartbreak for Gary Robbins - corny
http://runningmagazine.ca/2017-barkley-marathons-recap/
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anotherturn
The 6 second thing is a little bit of a mistake that sensationalizes the
story. He actually ran off course for 2 miles and missed some of the
checkpoints - full text from the race director below [1].

Obviously this race is pretty hardcore and the people that participate are
freaking awesome! The race should be sensational based on that alone, but alas
journalists need to add a little more spice...

    
    
        A message from the RD of The Barkley Marathons #bm100:
    
        i wish i had never said 6 seconds...
    
        gary had just come in after having run off course
        and missing the last 2 miles of the barkley.
        that is, of course, not a finish.
    
        i do, however, always record when runners come in,
        whether they are finishing a loop, or not.
        so, i had looked at the watch,
        even tho there was no possibility that he would be counted as a finisher.
    
        so, when someone asked if he had gotten in before the limit;
        i foolishly answered.
    
        i never expected the story to somehow become that he had missed the time limit by 6 seconds.
        he failed to complete the course by 2 miles.
        the time, in that situation, is meaningless.
    
        i hate it, because this tale perpetuates the myth that the barkley does not have a course.
        the barkley is a footrace.
        it is not an orienteering contest,
        nor a scavenger hunt.
        the books are nothing more than unmanned checkpoints.
    
        the boston marathon has checkpoints.
        and you have to show up at all of them or you can be disqualified...
    
        that does not mean you are allowed to follow any route you choose between checkpoints.
    
        now, the class with which gary handled this terrible disappoinment
        at the end of a truly magnificent performance...
        that was exceptional,
        and is, in and of itself, a remarkable achievement.
    
        but he did not miss the time limit by 6 seconds.
        he failed to complete the barkley by 2 miles.
    
        laz
    
    

[1]:[https://www.facebook.com/trasie.phan/posts/10212547374898805](https://www.facebook.com/trasie.phan/posts/10212547374898805)

~~~
js2
Read this from Gary:

[http://garyrobbinsrun.com/blog/2017/4/close-but-no-
cigarette](http://garyrobbinsrun.com/blog/2017/4/close-but-no-cigarette)

Amazing.

~~~
placeybordeaux
> The river was maybe fifteen feet wide and absolutely raging from all the
> rain we were experiencing. I took one step off the river bank and was
> already chest deep. I would never have made the decision to attempt to swim
> such waters under anything other than a highly sleep deprived and stressed
> state of mind.

It really seems like just a matter of time until someone dies on the course.

~~~
js2
That's true of many trail ultras with single track. A wrong step in the wrong
place you're going down a cliff.

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soci
I first knew about the Barkley Marathons when I stumbled across the
documentary on a streaming platform. I recommend to watch it to anyone who
wants a sneak peak on what this absolutely insane/crazy race is about.
[http://barkleymovie.com](http://barkleymovie.com)

~~~
Judgmentality
I saw it on Netflix and loved it. I also highly recommend it for anyone that
wants to watch a unique documentary.

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js2
I ran the Umstead 100 this weekend. It was my second hundred (my first was
techically a 24h race where I got to 105 and called it quits). Umstead took me
25 hours and kicked my ass. And as far as hundreds go, Umstead is an easy one.

I can't even imagine the sufferfest that is the Barkley.

I don't know why we push ourselves this way. Maybe I'll figure it out one of
these races.

Respect to Gary. If you didn't watch the video, he thanks Laz (the R.D.) and
gives him a hug. What a fine and proud showing for the ultra community.

~~~
lsllc
Congrats, that's damn hard effort. I've run 50K and I could see maybe pushing
it out to 50 miles. But going on to 100 miles seems just so so so much
farther. Don't know how you do it!

~~~
TylerE
Running 100 miles doesn't begin to describe the Barkley.

It's more like running 100 miles...on a section of the Appalachian
Trail...that hasn't been maintained in 20 years.

~~~
joelrunyon
Running, power hiking, and navigating 100 miles :)

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mavelikara
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkley_Marathons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkley_Marathons)

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joelrunyon
This race is a beast.

I've done a bunch of a ultras and know quite a few better runners than myself
and seeing them tap out on this race just tells you how gnarly it really is.

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goldenkey
A strong contender would have to be the Marathon des Sables, around 250
kilometers (156 miles) worth of racing through the Sahara desert in southern
Morocco.

Contestants get access to rationed water and a tent. All food has to be
carried by the runners. Along the way, they get to deal with dehydration,
blistering heat, sand storms, and the very real risk of getting lost. One
stage is typically about two marathons in length, and has a time limit.

It's one of very few events that require insurance for corpse repatriation.

Up to 2008, two deaths occurred, one of whom died of a heart attack in his
sleep after completing the long stage in 45th place (out of about 750). To
gain entry, you have to have a medical certificate anda resting ECG report
from at most 30 days before the start of the race, so that's quite
extraordinary.

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pdelbarba
Interestingly, the 100mi road record is 11:46:37. I doubt that was done with
~10mi of vertical climb though...

~~~
outericky
But this isn't 100 miles of a course (in fact it's likely more). It's also not
a course. You need to figure out how to get to the checkpoints over obstacles,
through brush, night and day. You also need to do it alternating
clockwise/counter clockwise, except the last lap... it's a far cry from a
flat, supported 100 miler.

~~~
pdelbarba
Yea, it's more of an orienteering ultramarathon

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williamscales
With a title like this, I expected a true tragedy had occurred. It is brutal
for Gary but such is the nature of the Barkley Marathons.

Knowing that humans push themselves to these limits for the sheer fact of
having done it is something that gives me a lot of motivation. I have been
following the Barkley Marathons for a while and I dream that someday I may
subject myself.

------
cf
For those unfamiliar with this race, the Outside magazine article on it is a
great read: [https://www.outsideonline.com/1924491/60-hours-hell-story-
ba...](https://www.outsideonline.com/1924491/60-hours-hell-story-barkley-
marathons)

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nocoder
This is mind blowing. I do a bit of running, some half marathons etc. but
nowhere close to Ultras and this just amazes me and also excites me. I would
want to push myself to do this at least once...see how my body responds.

~~~
Unbeliever69
Barkley is beyond an ultramarathon. It is utter sadism. Only 15 people have
ever finished it. Most of the Barkley is actually climbing and walking with a
little bit of running thrown in here and there.

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kzisme
Thanks for posting this - I'm excited to see the rest of the information as it
comes in!

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rconti
I don't get how the first person to complete 4 loops had the "choice" to
decide which way to run the last one. Was he choosing for everyone? This
doesn't make sense, because my understanding is runners can go ANY direction
they want. If they have to reverse for the 5th loop, they have to reverse
relative to their OWN race direction.

~~~
dtparr
For the first two loops, everyone runs clockwise. For the next two, counter
clockwise. For the last lap, the leader picks a direction and anyone left
alternates, so odds follow the leader, evens go the opposite way.

In this case, John picked CW, so Gary had to go CCW. Although per twitter,
they had discussed it during the 4th lap and decided it mutually.

~~~
rconti
Thank you. I must have mis-remembered or mis-understood the documentary. Or
perhaps the rules changed.

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kazinator
Who gives a damn about their official cutoff?

Data point/fact: Garry Robbins finished in 60:00:06.

Coming to the finish from the wrong direction is a problem; maybe they could
figure it out somehow and translate that to a penalty of some number of
seconds.

~~~
dtparr
So, first off, I don't think anyone, least of all in the running community
wants to take anything away from Gary's accomplishments. He ran an amazing
race, no question about it.

That being said, this race has its allure and mythical status specifically
because it has a variety of rules/challenges that must be precisely followed.
Not meeting any of them means you are not a finisher of the Barkley Marathon.
If we start bending the rules because someone was close or from the emotions
of things we start to devalue the accomplishment itself.

Ok, so if we say 6 seconds, that's really close enough. What about 6 minutes?
What about 60?

What if he ran the right distance but took a wrong turn? Should we give him
time credit for the extra couple miles?

What if he had the wrong page from a book? He still made the checkpoint...
What if he had 3 wrong pages?

Eventually, being a finisher becomes a very confused and confusing
accomplishment to even understand. I think it's far better to be very clear as
to the rules, and then follow them, even if heartbreak ensues.

~~~
kazinator
_> Not meeting any of them means you are not a finisher of the Barkley
Marathon._

Article is scant about anything other than the >60hr time. It doesn't say he
would not have qualified had he come in under 60. (So the fellow who finished
under 60 hours met all those other requirements to the letter? Not a single
wrong turn, etc?)

> _Ok, so if we say 6 seconds, that 's really close enough._

Close enough to what? Nobody is saying change 60:06 to 60:00.

> _What about 6 minutes? What about 60?_

It's very simple. Any time should count as a time, if anyone official is there
at all to witness and record it. At the cutoff time they prepare to go home,
and then leave. Nobody owes you a recorded time after the cutoff.

When the last timer packs up leaves, any subsequent finishers can simply be
left not recorded. The status is something like "they are not officially noted
as having finished". That's a big difference from saying "did not finish". If
one person claims "did not finish" and another "finished", one of them is
lying or mistaken. But there is no contradiction between "finished" and "not
recorded".

They were there; that's why they (and thus all of us) know he was 6 seconds
over. It's effectively recorded.

If Gary is not going to be on record as a finisher, then shut the fuck up
about the six seconds. Just say "Not recorded! I saw someone that might or
might not have been Gary at some time after the 60th hour; I had reset my
stopwatch by then in any case ..."

The six second precision with which we know that Gary supposedly _didn 't_
finish is the laughable contradiction here.

~~~
pyromine
There's traditions around this race, and it's okay if you don't agree with
them but not being part of the community that embodies these traditions means
you cannot come in and redefine them.

Also, no offence, but you clearly don't know enough about the race to really
be talking about how it should be operated.

This race is full of obscure rules and insanely harsh conditions, it's just
how it goes.

~~~
Johnny555
Ahh but the parent poster is part of the community that doesn't believe that
the Barkley community is fair, so you cannot come in and define _that_
community because you clearly don't know enough about it to really be talking
about how it should be operated.

You can defend the race without telling someone else that he has no right to
his own opinion.

~~~
throwanem
That's not what's being said. What's being said is that 'kazinator's opinion
does not _count_ here, which is a different and much more reasonable
assertion. Telling other people how to be is never valuable and always rude.

