Fastest completion of The Barkley Marathons

The fastest completion of The Barkley Marathons is 52 hours 3 minutes 8 seconds, achieved by Brett Maune (USA) on 2 April 2012 in Tennessee, USA.

The Barkley Marathons is one of the most arduous, and certainly the most idiosyncratic, races on Earth. The brainchild of Gary “Lazarus Lake” Cantrell, it was first run in 1983. The course takes in five loops of the Tennessee hills, each roughly 20 miles in length. The total elevation gain is around 60,000 ft, or twice that of Mount Everest. At each checkpoint, runners have to tear the page corresponding to their bib number from a hidden book. Only 18 athletes have completed the full five-lap race inside the 60-hour time limit.

Around 40 athletes take part each year, including a “human sacrifice” who wears bib No.1 and is considered least likely to finish. The entrance fee is $1.60 – applicants have to write essays on why they should be selected and send Cantrell sundry articles ranging from license plates to pairs of socks. The start time is kept secret, with entrants given an hour’s warning by the blowing of a conch shell. To begin the race proper, Cantrell lights a cigarette.