Race director Gary Cantrell will likely be quietly satisfied. The 2026 edition of the Barkley Marathons was over well before the 40-hour mark – and once again, there were no finishers. Only Sébastien Raichon, the French ultrarunner who earlier this year claimed victory at the Montane Winter Spine, managed to complete the infamous Fun Run. However, he did so outside the required time limit, preventing him from starting lap four – let alone attempting the full five-lap finish.
Widely regarded as the toughest ultramarathon in the world, the Barkley seemed even more unforgiving this year. Most competitors were eliminated during the opening loop of roughly 30–40 kilometers, and the second loop proved equally brutal. By the start of lap three, only four runners remained: Damian Hall, Sébastien Raichon, Mathieu Blanchard, and Max King.
King and Blanchard dropped out early in lap three, leaving Raichon and Hall to battle on alone. Facing relentless cold, rain, and dense fog in the unforgiving terrain of Tennessee’s Frozen Head State Park, both athletes pushed forward but ultimately fell short of the race’s strict requirements.
Raichon completed lap three in just over 38 hours – more than two hours beyond the cutoff to begin a fourth lap. Because he finished within 40 hours, he was officially credited with completing the Fun Run (three laps), but his race ended there. Hall also reached the end of lap three, but he was missing several of the required book pages – used as proof of navigation at hidden checkpoints – meaning he had not followed the correct route and was not allowed to continue.
The contrast with 2024 could hardly be greater. That year, an unprecedented five runners completed the Barkley Marathons – remarkable for an event that, in the four decades since its inception, had seen fewer than twenty finishers in total at that time. The 2024 edition also marked the first time a woman finished the race.
The unusually high number of finishers did not sit well with Cantrell, who immediately promised to make the event even harder in the future. He delivered on that promise. Just like in 2025, when only one runner completed the Fun Run and no one finished, the 2026 race once again proved that at the Barkley Marathons, the mountain – and Laz – almost always win.
For more on what makes the Barkley Marathons so notoriously difficult – and why it is widely regarded as the world’s most brutal ultrarun – make sure to read this article.
