Barkley Marathons

[Feanor]

"A British runner has made history by becoming the first woman to finish one of the world's hardest ultramarathons.
Jasmin Paris from Midlothian completed the Barkley Marathons in Tennessee with just one minute 39 seconds to spare of the 60-hour cut off."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-68643341

She's quite a remarkable ultra-runner, famously having expressed milk for her baby whilst setting a new race record in the 2019 Spine Race along the Pennine Way, finishing the 268 miles (431.3 km) on 16 January in 83 hours 12 minutes and 23 seconds. Becoming the first woman to win the event overall, she surpassed the previous record of 95 hours 17 minutes set by Eoin Keith in 2016 and the previous female record of 109 hours 54 minutes achieved by Carol Morgan in 2017. (cut'n'paste from wikipedia).

I watched a film about this event a couple of years ago:
https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/The_Barkley_Marathons_The_Race_That_Eats_Its_Young

It's insane. In a good way.

[Feanor]

And she's just been interviewed on the BBC news!

It's an unusual day when the Barkley Marathons make it onto mainstream news.

[Jasmine]

Yes, absolutely incredible. This is one of those cases where it's hard for the general public to understand quite how much of an achievement this is. Jasmin is really very inspirational. She's also unsponsored, by choice (she was previously an Innov8 ambassador) and is one of the founders of the Green Runners movement. It's a shame that Damian Hall wasn't able to finish, having failed to find a book on loop 5.

Apparently there is actually a coveted accolade of being the slowest Barkley finisher, which is now Jasmin Paris. At 90 seconds within cut-off, it will be difficult for someone to take a longer time, but still finish. If you watched Jasmin finish, she was running at the finish. I can only imagine what was going on in her head in that last 30-60 minutes.

[fimm]

“I felt I was going to reach the finishing gate, or collapse right in front of it. There was a tunnel of roars on either side. But I couldn’t focus. It was all a bit blurry. ... When I got about eight minutes out, I suddenly thought I really might not do it,” she says. “I had about a kilometre to go but up a hill. I was so desperate to stop. But my mind was telling me: ‘If you don’t make this, you will have to do it all over again’."

from https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/mar/25/jasmin-paris-interview-barkley-marathons-ultramarathon-history

[ravenbait]

Yes, absolutely incredible. This is one of those cases where it's hard for the general public to understand quite how much of an achievement this is. Jasmin is really very inspirational. She's also unsponsored, by choice (she was previously an Innov8 ambassador) and is one of the founders of the Green Runners movement. It's a shame that Damian Hall wasn't able to finish, having failed to find a book on loop 5.

Apparently there is actually a coveted accolade of being the slowest Barkley finisher, which is now Jasmin Paris. At 90 seconds within cut-off, it will be difficult for someone to take a longer time, but still finish. If you watched Jasmin finish, she was running at the finish. I can only imagine what was going on in her head in that last 30-60 minutes.

According to a quote I read, she was telling herself that if she didn't make it, she'd have to do it again next year.

An incredible achievement. I felt like I was intruding on something watching the video of her crossing the line. You can see the exact moment she lets go of her body.

Sam

[mrcharly-YHT]

A genuinely historic achievement.

Her win of the Spine was also a historic event.