Yowza, 10+ miles up is a lot of up!

Yep, it's the terrain. The Badwater is flat for a lot of the time. You go over one range and then up to Whitney Portal. The Barkley is nothing but up and down, and very steep, too.

Only 2 runners were qualified to begin a third loop. They set out but time caught up with them.

No finishers this year.

Still no word from my buddy. I did hear he's ok, but no word on why he dropped out.

OK, so now I'm curious, what's tougher than this out there anywhere?
Wow, crazy. So the big problem is that there's a max time and most folks can't finish within that time.

Yes, let us know when you hear from your buddy.

There are many. Talk about a rabbit hole of a search.

https://ultra-x.co/best-and-toughest-ultra-marathons-in-europe-2020/

There's some old photos on the site below. There are 9 books from which each runner must tear out the page number that corresponds to their bib number. It proves each runner made that checkpoint. The books are named appropriately.
"A Time to Die" was one. Another was "Southern Discomfort".

The Barkley Marathons

The "Tour of Giants" looks pretty insane, but still, it appears as if people finish it.

IKR?!

Gauging the difficulty of those has to be completely subjective.

I just know they all suck.

I got tired trying to find races that had so few finishers. I mean, why start a race that hard? Sure, I understand the challenge of it, but if I'm flying to Italy, I want to cross the finish line successfully.

They're all an incredible accomplishment. And it's near my hometown.
Definitely going to camp there sometime and maybe help crew a runner someday.
That'd be a hoot.

Crazy. I am all about suffering and actually enjoyed it for many years racing road bikes. Ran x country for all three years in HS just to keep my cardio in shape come racing season. Running in those trials kicked my azz and had enough running to last me three live times. I can only see myself going bush whacking in that terrain. Can you imagine if that was up in elevation like CO, British Columbia, or the high Sierras?

I read that humans can run none stop further then any other animals on the planet.

I remember seeing something on utube about a bike race that ran in Alaska that it takes days to finish where they had to drag that dang bike all over the mountain. Only about 15-20 % finish the ride.

I'd rather get married again :eek:

Just heard from my buddy.

Minimal support crews were allowed this year. His girlfriend could not arrive till after the start to assist between loops. She'd stay till the end after that.

Rain was heavy, he was sleeping in a rented van, alone, and missed the 1 hour warning to the start. This happened to many runners.
One said "If you want a quiet ride, get a Jeep Compass, if you want to miss the conch blow, don't get a Jeep Compass".

Runners pounded on his windows and he had MAYBE 20 minutes to throw on his gear. Made it the gate just as Laz lit the cig.
Off he went, frazzled, but on the go. About a 1.5 miles into climbing, he realized his bib was not in his pack and couldn't remember if it was 15 or 13.
This matters because the runners tear out a page that corresponds to their bib number that proves they made each checkpoint. Wrong page and they're DQ'd.
Made the hard decision to go back and get it. No question, he had to.

Descending on the way back, one of his hiking poles caught a fallen tree and the handle snapped off. One more problem.
Made it back, got his bib, back on trail, but fog was causing nearly whiteout with the headlamp. On the first ridgeline, made the wrong choice and proceeded the wrong way. No one else was around since he went back. After a few hours of back and forth he arrived at a church. He knew he was effed.
Popped out of brush near the entrance to the park.
Devastated he went back the start and faced the bugler.
Through tears and pain he explained what happened to Laz and Keith.

They said no one has ever covered that much ground and to the church and back in that little time. They said it's an awesome story that'll be told forever.

He was crushed. Trained for 2 solid years for this and it was over in an instant.
Maybe next year.

Ugh, what a lousy way to go out. Great video though.