It’s time: the infamous Barkley Marathons started this morning (5:17 a.m. local time, ed.). That means forty runners are venturing into a monster race that – if completed – is some 200 kilometers long and has 20,000 altimeters.
The Barkley Marathons is considered one of the toughest, if not the toughest ultrarun in the world. Since its first edition in 1989, only 17 participants made it to the finish line. The majority of participants usually do not even get past the halfway point of the ultrarun, which consists of a total of five laps for which you have 12 hours each. A detailed explanation of the event can be found here.
