Date: 96-02-02 16:11:56 EST From: furtaw@eeyore.lv-hrc.nevada.edu (Ed Furtaw) To: IUS-L@AMERICAN.EDU (Multiple recipients of list IUS-L) I was the first official finisher of the *55-mile* Barkley Marathons, in 1988. The 60-mile course was first instituted last year, 1995, and I DNFed it. I believe that Barkley was called a 50-miler in its first year, 1986. However, no one finished that first year. The trail won, proclaimed Gary Cantrell (race creator/director) in UltraRunning. In 1987 the course was modified by the addition of another major hill ("Hell"), the nominal distance was adjusted upward to 55 miles, and again no one finished. That set the stage for 1988, where Tom Possert performed a world-class effort and crossed the finish line in just under 24 hours. Unfortunately, he had skipped a one-mile section of the course on two of the three loops, so he was disqualified. I subsequently plodded to a finish in 32+ hours, after having had several hours of sleep during the rainy night between the second and third loops. As punishment for the fact that Barkley was now proven to be finishable, in 1989 Gary made the 55-mile course more difficult by the addition of another major hill ("Rat Jaw") to each loop and the deletion of a comparable length of sissy trail. Also for 1989, he created the 100-mile race in addition to the 55-miler. No one finished either distance in 1989. The courses then stayed the same through 1994. In 1995, another major hill ("Worse Than Hell") was added to each loop, and the nominal distance was upped to 60 miles. Tom Possert won the 60-miler; thus he was the first to finish the 60-mile course. Mark Williams went on to become the first runner to ever seriously attempt to go beyond three loops, and he subsequently finished the 100-miler, thus destroying the myth which most of us actually believed, that no one could finish the 100. In my mind, the Barkley Marathons has a rich and colorful history, and is the most extreme example of a trail race in a sport of extremes. Unlike other ultras in which race management and volunteers do their best to help as many runners as possible finish, Barkley is intentionally set up to minimize the number of finishers, while still trying to keep it within the limits of possibility. Gary keeps making the course tougher when he thinks too many runners are finishing. I am still astounded to realize what Mark Williams accomplished last year. It will be truly remarkable if he can finish the 100 again. I'm not sure there are any Americans who are capable of finishing the 100. Possert is certainly one of the best at this type of thing, and I'm not sure he was capable of finishing the 100 last year. When he stopped after 60 miles and headed for home, he stated that he did not think anyone would finish the 100. I speculate that David Horton (record holder of the former 55-mile course, ~23:45) is one of the few Americans that I am aware of who has the ability to have even a reasonable chance to finish the 100. I hope he tries it this year. BTW, Phil is right that I have never been able to stay awake long enough to finish Barkley. I did finish the 55-miler again in 1991, but I again slept (for about two hours) between loops 2 and 3. I tried in 1992 to do it without sleep, but on the third loop, I was so mentally and physically exhausted that I fell into a cold creek, then got lost and wandered aimlessly for about two hours. After finding the trail again, I kept stumbling because of weakness and exhaustion, and finally decide to stop before I fell off the side of a mountain. My current record at Barkley is 2 finishes (of the old 55 mile courses) in 5 attempts. This year I plan to try it again, and I am determined to finish it (the 60-miler, that is). Frozen Ed furtaw@hrc.nevada.edu ------------------------------------------------------ Edwin J. Furtaw, Jr., P.E. Environmental Engineer Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies University of Nevada, Las Vegas 4505 Maryland Parkway Las Vegas, NV 89154-4009 Phone: (702) 895-1461 Fax: (702) 895-4385 Visit our Web site at: http://eeyore.lv-hrc.nevada.edu