The Barkley Marathons

[DonDavis]

Heard of this? It's not for sane folks. I've ran most of my life, but I'd never even attempt this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkley_Marathons

One of my friends, an Ultra Runner, got in this year. He's on his way there, starts sometime in the next few days.

"The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young" used to be on Netflix.
Well worth the watch if you can find it.

[masraum]

Wow, "in 25 years, only 10 people have finished."

I just don't have the desire to try to push myself that hard / that far. If it was life/death, then sure, I'd try to do what I had to do, but for "fun," nope, nope, nopety, nope, NFW.

The ultra marathon folks are already pretty nutty.

[porsche4life]

I’ve heard about them, and even in the crazy group of runners I know, this is viewed as totally insane.

Have you had your friends head examined? 🤣

[DonDavis]

Only 15 runners have finished since it began in 1986, 55% of the events have had no finishers.

Pete’s head is fine... just wired differently.
However, he did beat the horse in Man v Horse in Prescott a couple years ago. Sooo, maybe?

*Correction- I'm not certain he beat the horse, but he's ran it many times very competitively.

[GH85Carrera]

Humans used their brains, and developed cars, motorcycles, boats and aircraft to go long distances with minimal effort. I am not going to ignore all that inattentive thinking.

[DonDavis]

Ha ha! That's so true Glen!

I'll just sit back and watch the carnage unfold.

But I will say some the run accomplishments I've seen over the years are truly humbling.

[GH85Carrera]

There is or was a race of natives of Mexico that caught deer by just running them down. A human in top shape can run longer than a deer. It will fall over from exhaustion, and they just walk up to it and cut it's neck. I assume they had to be doing the running in a area with no heavy trees of the deer would just vanish into the forest, and it is hard to run thought heavily wooded areas.

I prefer to go to the local grocery store to stock up on food. I really do enjoy modern amenities.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

There is or was a race of natives of Mexico that caught deer by just running them down. A human in top shape can run longer than a deer. It will fall over from exhaustion, and they just walk up to it and cut it's neck.
.

This is how I've always done it. You tellin' me there is an easier way?

[masraum]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

There is or was a race of natives of Mexico that caught deer by just running them down. A human in top shape can run longer than a deer. It will fall over from exhaustion, and they just walk up to it and cut it's neck. I assume they had to be doing the running in a area with no heavy trees of the deer would just vanish into the forest, and it is hard to run thought heavily wooded areas.

I prefer to go to the local grocery store to stock up on food. I really do enjoy modern amenities.

Yep, pretty amazing. I think the folks that do it in Mexico, do it in the mountains. Either way, having the critter "disappear into the woods" is part of it, which includes tracking. Although, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of "woods" involved since this is very much about overheating the animal.

Modern hunter-gatherers
Hunter-gatherers, including the San today, use persistence hunting to catch prey faster than themselves.

The persistence hunt is still practiced by hunter-gatherers in the central Kalahari Desert in Southern Africa. The procedure is to run down an antelope, such as a kudu, in the midday heat, for up to five hours and a distance of up to 35 km (22 mi) in temperatures of as much as 42 °C (108 °F). The hunter chases the kudu, which runs away out of sight. By tracking it down at a fast running pace the hunter catches up with it before it has had time to rest and cool down in the shade. The animal is repeatedly chased and tracked down until it is too exhausted to run. The hunter then kills it with a spear.[10]

The Tarahumara of northwestern Mexico in the Copper Canyon area may also have practiced persistence hunting.[11]

Persistence hunting has even been used against the fastest land animal, the cheetah. In November 2013, four Somali-Kenyan herdsmen from northeast Kenya successfully used persistence hunting in the heat of the day to capture cheetahs who had been killing their goats.[12]

Seasonal differences

In particular, the Xo and Gwi tribes maximize the efficiency of persistence hunting by targeting specific species during different seasons. In the rainy season, prime targets include steenbok, duiker, and gemsbok, as wet sand opens their hooves and stiffens their joints. Hunting in the early rainy season is particularly advantageous because dry leaves form "rocks" in the animals' stomachs, resulting in diarrhea. Stiff joints and suboptimal digestion make the prey weaker and more available targets. In contrast, in the dry season, hunters run down kudu, eland, and red hartebeest because these species tire more easily in the loose sand. Hunters say that the best time to practice persistence hunting is near the end of the dry season when animals are poorly nourished and therefore more easily run to exhaustion.[14] By targeting the most vulnerable prey during each season, the hunters maximize the advantages of endurance running.

Conditions/parameters

- Persistence hunting must be performed during the day when it is hot, so that the animal will overheat.
- The hunters must have been able to track the animal, as they would have lost sight of it during the chase.
- Such a long hunt requires high amounts of dietary sources of water, salt, and glycogen.
- Although the success rate of recorded persistence hunts is very high (approximately 50%[15]), unsuccessful hunts are very costly. Therefore, there would have had to be a social system in which individuals share food, so unsuccessful hunters could borrow food from others when necessary.

[flipper35]

Originally Posted by masraum

Wow, "in 25 years, only 10 people have finished."

I just don't have the desire to try to push myself that hard / that far. If it was life/death, then sure, I'd try to do what I had to do, but for "fun."

The ultra marathon folks are already pretty nutty.

Would be death or death in a different spot for me.

[DonDavis]

Conch was blown at 2:04am EDT Friday Mar 18th.

Cig was lit at 3:04am. It has begun.

The heavy rain let up at the start, but it will return Friday evening. Temps will range from mid 60's to mid 30's throughout the weekend.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by DonDavis

Conch was blown at 2:04am EDT Friday Mar 18th.

Cig was lit at 3:04am. It has begun.

The heavy rain let up at the start, but it will return Friday evening. Temps will range from mid 60's to mid 30's throughout the weekend.

Sounds like a wonderful experience! Wish I was there taking part.

[DonDavis]

Well, crap.

After only 5.5 hours, my friend Peter has dropped out.

Highly irregular for him. Have to guess due to injury or disorientation. They're sent out with a map and a compass...in east Tennessee heavy brush. No word from him yet.

Got the news through other friends that got their update via Twitter from the Race coordinator.

[Nostril Cheese]

I think I know some of these guys. Crazy bastards

[DonDavis]

In some ways, that's an insult to the word "crazy".

[masraum]

Clearly your buddy came to his senses!!

[ckissick]

I don't understand what makes it so hard. To finish in 60 hours, you have to maintain a pace of 2 mph. That's not very fast.

The Badwater (Death Valley) Ultramarathon is 135 miles long with 13,000 feet of elevation gain, and run in July when it's usually 120 degrees or more. And people finish it in well under 30 hours. The record is 21:33. That's a pace of over 6 mph.

The Barkley Marathon must harder, but how is that possible? It must be the terrain. The Badwater is on roads and good trails, while the Barkley appears to be on very steep terrain in forests with no or few trails.

I posted a thread recently about my excursion into a wildfire zone that required scaling hillsides so steep I had to cut foot holds in the ground and use my hands. I probably covered no more than 3 miles, but I was more wiped out than I had been on a 17 mile hike up and down Mt. Diablo, with 4100 feet of vertical. So yeah, it must be the terrain.

[DonDavis]

Barkley is over 100 miles, 54,000 feet elevation change, 2 water drops. Watch the trailer, better yet, queue up the Doc on Prime.

You’ll change your tune..

Btw, that Badwater run is tough, but many folks finish every year.

Only 15 have finished Barkley and no women have ever finished.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by ckissick

The Badwater (Death Valley) Ultramarathon is 135 miles long with 13,000 feet of elevation gain

Originally Posted by DonDavis

Barkley is over 100 miles, 54,000 feet elevation change

Presumably, that means that the Barkley is 27k' of gain, since it's 5 "laps".

Crazy terrain with no trails and it appears, basically no support of any sort (probably other than some sort of emergency medical and some way to track the folks). I guess you've got to figure out where you're supposed to go on several check points and hit each one 5 times.

"Badwater Ultramarathon" sounds like something else that I'm not interested in attempting.

[DonDavis]

Yeah, I said change, but it's gain. That's what I was thinking, but the words came out differently. From the Wiki page "with 54,200 feet (16,500 m) of accumulated vertical climb".

To understand it fairly, watch the doc. Remember when James Earl Ray escaped from prison in 1977? This is the inspiration for the race's creation. JER made it 8 miles in 55 hours, then he was caught. A local named Gary Cantrell said "hrumph ( I'm paraphrasing ) I could do better than that"...thus the Barkley's was born.

Just know the experts in this field call it the most challenging run in the US. Not the world, there are way tougher ones in Europe.

I did the Presott Half without training and they tout it as one of the toughest. But that was all road and gravel surfaces. My ass was thoroughly cooked when I finished...but I finished running across the line. Too smoked to even sit. Just kept moving....to the bar. And there were water and aid stations all over.

Mind you, I grew up about 90 minutes from where the Barkley's is. I have hiked/camped all over that stuff. To set out alone without tech...nope. That ain't me.