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Jasmin Paris Becomes First Woman to Finish Hardest Race
- pnut 3y agoArticle conspicuously omitted how long the race is, seems like a relevant headline level detail...
- philipwhiuk 3y ago> 100 miles The exact route is not published and competitors are banned from GPS. But it's more than 100 miles. Might be ~25 miles a lap.
- jurassicfoxy 3y agoExactly. Plus people that finish it can run really hilly 100 milers in ~16 hours. And they finish this one ins just under 60 hours. So I'm guessing it's quite a bit more than 100 miles!
- serial_dev 3y agoFinishing a 60 hour ultra marathon in 59:58:21 must have been a nail-biter.
- pushedx 3y agoThe various documentaries on the Barkeley are some of the most memorable videos I have watched on YouTube: https://youtu.be/IEIerVw1vsw https://youtu.be/IEIerVw1vsw https://youtu.be/LZ-DE-hmiGE https://youtu.be/LZ-DE-hmiGE https://youtu.be/NDZdsqbcGTU https://youtu.be/NDZdsqbcGTU They inspired me to start running again.
- sabellito 3y agoI started running years ago because of these videos too.
- twright 3y agoThe first link is 2023’s race. The second link is 2014 and is probably how most people learned about the race since it was on Netflix. It’s amazing to compare the two race years to see how much it has changed in terms of competition and popularity.
- Socnic 3y agoI'm surprised how little people you actually see running in the first video you listed. If anything, that you inspire me hiking.
- BinaryMachine 3y agoI just watched the first video thus far and wow. Thank you for sharing! I thought maybe competing in something like this would be only for people in their 20's 30's because I am getting older, but I heard other people are in their 40's. This inspired me to do something more competitive than just run on a treadmill every other day. Reminds me of high school cross country running a little.
- AndrewKemendo 3y agoUltramarathon skews older
- dmd 3y agoIf I was gonna just watch one of those, which would you recommend?
- sabellito 3y agoThis one is not on the list and it's my favourite. Not the most well-produced of the bunch, but it captured a mood that I didn't find in any of the others. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-V8x0hQXA4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-V8x0hQXA4
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- guerrilla 3y agoI don't know, I just watched two of these and found them both pretty boring compared to climbing videos. Look up Adam Ondra, Alex Megos, Alex Honnold, Margot Hayes, the Reel Rock channel, the North Face channel, the Patagonia channel or maybe that movie about Janja. One of my favorite is Action Directe: https://www.redbull.com/int-en/episodes/reel-rock-s7-e3 https://www.redbull.com/int-en/episodes/reel-rock-s7-e3
- defrost 3y agoWorth pointing out that it's rare for anybody to finish. It was a year of historic firsts at the Barkley Marathons. No race is more notoriously impossible to finish. Over the first 37 years, only 17 people had done so. That all changed on March 22, 2024, when an unprecedented five runners completed the race, smashing the record of three set last year.
- PierceJoy 3y agoMy money is on Laz making it notoriously impossible again next year. No way he lets this continue lol.
- pricechild 3y agoIn one of the YouTube videos, there's a line from him along the lines of "if people do finish this year, it might be the last event as people will find it boring and not want to turn up.x
- randoglando 3y agoHow many enter?
- dtf 3y ago35
- Karellen 3y agoThe number of applications to participate are not publicised - but it's an infamous race amongst ultrarunners, so I suspect they get quite a lot of applications. However - the way to apply is also not publicised, so there are probably a fair number of people who'd like to enter but don't figure out how. 35 applications are accepted each year.
- thih9 3y ago> The Barkley is limited to 35 runners and usually fills up quickly the day registration opens source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkley_Marathons https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkley_Marathons
- BelleOfTheBall 3y agoWow, I haven't heard of this one before. I'm no couch potato these days, but that's the kind of feat that makes me realize I am far from fit, it seems insanely difficult to even navigate the trail.
- oldpersonintx 3y ago[dead]
- ansible 3y agoYou are fit. But there's a difference between that and being at the very peak of human physical and mental endurance. In many ways, it seems harder than climbing Mount Everest, due to the time limits.
- sabellito 3y agoCuriously, the accumulated vertical climb is twice Everest's height.
- mauvehaus 3y agoIt's considerably more since nobody climbs Everest from sea level. Base camp is over 5000m.
- magicalhippo 3y agoStanding on the beach looking up at Mauna Kea[1] and then standing next to the telescopes at the summit just an couple of hours later (including a height-adjusting stop midway), this got me curious: what's the highest mountain one can realistically climb "in one go" (ie as an expedition) starting at sea level? [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauna_Kea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauna_Kea
- dieselgate 3y agoMt Whitney isn’t very tall by global standards but is one that may fit the description
- 2wrist 3y agoJasmine is phenomenal. Her Bob Graham Round run a few years back was spectacular too.
- J253 3y agoNever heard of the race before. Highly recommend reading about some of the quirks surrounding it: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkley_Marathons https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkley_Marathons
- thih9 3y agoThe race is full of peculiarities. > In addition to running, competitors must find between 9 and 14 books along the course (the exact number varies each year) and remove the page corresponding to the runner's race number from each book as proof of completion. Because of this, competitors are only issued odd numbers. Competitors get a new race number, and thus a new page requirement, at the start of each lap. source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkley_Marathons https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkley_Marathons
- leereeves 3y agoAre they hard to find? Another peculiarity I found interesting: > Upon arriving, first-time Barkley runners, known as virgins [no comment], are required to bring a license plate from their state/country as part of the entrance fee.
- sevagh 3y agoIt seems so arbitrary. Why not make them hit pinatas and eat candy corresponding to the runner's pre-assigned flavor?
- Biganon 3y agoThe entire race is filled with similar arbitrary and humorous details I think the start of the race is indicated by a man lighting a cigarette
- aembleton 3y agoBecause no one has to go and check on the books to see if they've reached the checkpoints. They just bring the pages back to Laz.
- bell-cot 3y agoOnce you start saying "hardest race", my mind goes to people like Preet Chandi. OTOH, doing "unsupported" solo expeditions across Antarctica may require a rather larger budget than doing a 60-hour foot race in Tennessee.
- MOARDONGZPLZ 3y agoDoing a solo expedition isn’t a race. Very different things. The closest race I know to an expedition is the Badwater 135, which is 135 mile run from Death Valley to near the top of Mt Whitney. But that’s significantly easier than Barkley if percentage of people who finish is the metric.
- tialaramex 3y agoSee, to me the obvious comparison was to the Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race, because of the loops. I hate loops, I'm a walker not a runner, so these aren't things I have any ambition to attempt, but personally I'd rather spend six hours going to somewhere (even if to then immediately get in a car and be driven back to civilisation) than three hours in loops repeating myself. In other ways these are very different races - Sri's race is literally around a single city block, over, and over, and over again - there's no significant climbing element, it's not really possible to get lost and it's mostly about the mental state needed if you are sufficiently capable of the running itself. But the loops, that's what jumps out at me.
- nemo44x 3y agoI’m surprised she is the first women to complete it as I recently read an article in Scientific America [1] that said the new evidence from exercise science shows women are better physiologically suited than men at long distance running. Because of the science here I wonder if there’s bias or even sexism in selecting who is allowed to run this race. Or is there something unique about this race that contradicts what we now know about long distance running? [1] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-theory-that-men-evolved-to-hunt-and-women-evolved-to-gather-is-wrong1/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-theory-that-m...
- padjo 3y agoThere’s so many things odd about this race that it’s not particularly surprising it doesn’t line up with controlled scientific evidence.
- steveBK123 3y agoThe more I read about the race the more it sounds like calvinball.
- xarope 3y agoSpeaking of which, I'd love to do a calvinball ultra event!
- ChrisArchitect 3y agoExcellent reference.
- kalind 3y agoHow could women be better physiologically suited at long distance running than men, when for example there are around 2500[1] men that have a better time than the women's marathon world record at 2:11:53? Or compare the men's record at UTMB (100 mile race) at 19:37:43 vs the women's record at 22:30:54. [1] https://worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/road-running/marathon/all/men/senior?page=26 https://worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/road-ru...
- karaterobot 3y agoCongratulations to everyone who finished. I got deep into reading up on this race a couple years ago. I think about it when I'm doing my little hikes. I can't imagine. But I'm mostly fascinated by the character of Lazarus Lake, his avuncular sadism, and the rituals and ceremonies surrounding the whole race. > With three finishes under his belt, it may seem like a fourth one was clandestine for Campbell, 44 Not sure how clandestine is being used here. Incorrectly I guess. I miss copy editors.
- dhc02 3y agoThe two sentences following that one both start with the word "but". Pretty bad paragraph for a "real" publication.
- epivosism 3y agoYou might like this conversation Laz had with Tyler Cowen a few months back: https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/lazarus-lake/ https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/lazarus-lake/
- ndr 3y agoThere's a recent conversation of Lazarus Lake, the designer of these races, with Tyler Cowen [0]. This race is crazy hard. [0] video+transcripts @ https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/lazarus-lake/ https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/lazarus-lake/
- pgwhalen 3y agoSome great quotes here. > When people try to set up similar events, say, in Europe, they make them put a tracker on everybody because the government wants to protect you from yourself. But we’ve always done it. They’ll say, “Well, the tracker wouldn’t make a difference because it doesn’t tell the runner where they are.” But it tells the runner someone knows where they are. > I’m transitioning it over to a guy named Carl Laniak because I won’t be around forever. We just had to get rid of the nonproductive qualities. He had empathy [laughs] and other things that serve no purpose in a race of this nature.
- exabrial 3y agoNot to diminish this feat, what an amazing finish!… I doing know anything about the race designers, so what and why is the motivation behind this “race”? If it’s impossible to finish, why does anyone spectate?
- anamax 3y agoThey're not watching for the end, they're watching for the journey. If you just care about the end, there's no reason to show up until then. Heck, a photo of folks crossing the line should be enough.
- jurassicfoxy 3y agoHe (Laz) only creates special races, truly sadistic ones. He has zero interest in putting on regular 100 milers. There are thousands of those, but his races are among the most challenging and interesting in the world. He also invented the even more sadistic Backyard Ultra format!
- dieselgate 3y agoIt’s not impossible to finish which is likely one of the reasons it has appeal
- tekla 3y agoBecause its fun
- yieldcrv 3y ago[flagged]
- philipwhiuk 3y agoShe's female. She breastfed her kid on Montane Spine the other year. Is that female enough?
- yieldcrv 3y agoyes, thank you I don't think that's something women need to prove or have publicity about, I was asking more so about social familiarity with this person. but thanks for the details
- thrw4eoij32r49 3y ago[flagged]
- quickthrowman 3y agoThe article says mother of two, I’m not sure why you’re confused. Are you trying to start a culture war debate? > Paris, who juggles being an elite runner with being a mother of two and an animal veterinarian, If you actually cared in this particular scenario and aren’t just trying to cause a shitstorm, you could’ve found the article below in less than a minute. Here is a blog post with pictures of her pregnant, talking about being pregnant: http://jasminfellrunner.blogspot.com/2017/11/?m=1 http://jasminfellrunner.blogspot.com/2017/11/?m=1
- yieldcrv 3y ago[flagged]
- quickthrowman 3y ago> thanks for being more familiar with it and letting me know, like I asked I’m not familiar with this person in the slightest, I googled “Jasmin Paris pregnant” and found the proof you were looking for. Have you ever read an article about a transgender athlete that didn’t mention the fact that they were transgender? If you can find an article published by a news organization about a transgender athlete that neglects to mention that, I would be incredibly surprised. That’s why I’m not giving you the benefit of the doubt in this line of discussion, you’re complaining about an imagined problem that doesn’t exist. > replying to your inline edit Do you not consider the incentives when examining the actions of people and organizations? I suggest you start if you aren’t doing that. News organizations sell controversy, transgender athletes are controversial. No competent news organization is going to miss out on clicks by neglecting to create controversy by mentioning the fact that a transgender person is transgender. Not because the news organization necessarily supports transgender individuals, but because they want to make as much money as possible. Companies care more about money than supporting minority group ideology in virtually every case. That’s why I think you’re incorrect about your complaint that the media doesn’t properly identify transgender people. If you really think a news org will let ideology trump revenue, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
- ebergen 3y agoFor a tech connection the first person to ever finish the race was Mark Williams who also worked on HHVM at Facebook.
- dtf 3y agoI just googled a bit and found his race report from that event, dated April 1995: https://www.mattmahoney.net/barkley/bark100.txt https://www.mattmahoney.net/barkley/bark100.txt
- TheAlchemist 3y agoJohn Kelly, the guy who is one of 2 people that managed to finish the race 3 times, is a Data Scientist. He has a blog, with a great name to combine both of his passions ! https://randomforestrunner.com/ https://randomforestrunner.com/
- js2 3y ago> At 3:10 P.M. eastern on Thursday, Dunn tweeted that eight runners had moved onto loop four—a race record. That bunch included Paris and Campbell, whose quest to break his own Barkley finisher record lived on. While Paris completed loop four 10 minutes back from Campbell, Campbell waited for Paris to start lap five so she could choose her direction. This is a lovely bit of sportsmanship[^1]. The person who finishes the 4th lap first gets to choose what direction to go out on the 5th (last) lap, then the remaining runners have to alternate. The course is a lot more difficult one direction than the other. Campbell waited to start his 5th lap to give Paris the choice what direction she wanted to run her 5th lap. [^1]: I've run a few ultras. It's a sport that seems to either engender or attract good sports. Probably due to the shared suffering.
- cl42 3y ago100% with you. I do a lot of trail running and the community is consistently supportive, positive, and the biggest competition tends to be with yourself (your demons, your fatigue, etc.). This is true whether you're doing a run in Norway, California, or Japan... Universally wonderful people.
- js2 3y agoA few year's back at Big's Backyard Ultra (2014), one of the last two runners had to catch his plane back to his home country. As you probably know, to win Big's you have to be the sole runner to complete a final lap, however many laps that is. Because the other runner didn't think this was a fair way for him to win, they both stopped running together on the 49th lap (204 miles) and that year there was no winner.
- analog31 3y agoMy wife's a trail ultrarunner, and says that there's a lot more camaraderie. She suggests part of it is due to the fact that the races are so unpredictable, that direct comparisons and even "time" aren't all that meaningful. Another friend suggested the same thing about cyclocross.
- xarope 3y agoI think Kilian Jornet's done that many times too, in highly competitive races.
- carabiner 3y agoUltrarunning should be an Olympic sport. Vastly more interesting than the track stuff they show.
- creaghpatr 3y agoIt's really hard to broadcast on TV because of the logistics and (usually) remote locations. But it would be amazing to watch a 100 miler in Paris or greater France, where they already have a huge ultra scene.
- Ekaros 3y agoI have long said someone should combine biathlon and triathlon. That would be suitable competition.
- thrw4eoij32r49 3y ago[flagged]