Nicky Spinks has spoken of the extreme challenges faced by runners in the 2019 Barkley Marathons – a race which no-one finished for a second successive year.
*inov-8 Czech ambassador Pavel Paloncy retired after lap 1 following some navigational difficulties and a fall.
Runner Nicky Spinks was dubbed “Britain’s Toughest Woman” by media following her pioneering completion of a 116-mile Double Ramsay Round over Scotland’s unforgiving mountains in 2018.
Now, however, the 51-year-old breast cancer survivor and inov-8 ambassador faces arguably her toughest running challenge to date – the notorious Barkley Marathons, a ‘race’ no woman has ever finished.
And with new graphene-enhanced MUDCLAW G 260 shoes on her feet, it will be a case of Britain’s Toughest Woman (armed with the World’s Toughest Grip) Vs the World’s Toughest Ultramarathon.
A 100-mile suffer-fest like no other, the Barkley Marathons, staged in Frozen Head State Park, Tennessee, USA, sees runners self-navigate their way around an unmarked lapped course. Participants tear pages out of hidden books as they go and return them to enigmatic race organiser Gary ‘Lazarus Lake’ Cantrell, otherwise known as ‘Laz’.
The course, which can change year-to-year, is kept largely secret, just like the entry process and the date of the event (usually late-March/early April, with spectators discouraged from attending). Each lap (of which there are five in total) tends to be 20-plus miles in distance and includes about 12,000ft of brutally-steep, obstacle-laden, muddy mountain ascent through thick woodland.
15 men have finished Barkley Marathons. No women. Yet.
Of the several hundred runners who have started the Barkley Marathons since its inception in 1986, only 15 have finished the full five laps within the 60-hour time limit, one having done so three times and another twice. All 15 are men. No women. Yet.
Last year saw nine well-established female ultramarathon runners and long-distance hikers among the 40 selected starters but, amid terrible weather conditions, none completed a second lap within the time limit. Best male was Gary Robbins, who managed what Laz calls the “Fun Run” – three laps within a 40-hour window.
Details found online suggest that six women have completed the “Fun Run” over the last 33 years, with only Sue Johnston (in 2001) doing so inside the 36-hour barrier that allows a runner to start a fourth lap. Records show Sue completed a total of 66 miles.
There is no doubt that Barkley Marathons pushes runners to the limit, both physically and mentally, but Nicky is no stranger to such limit-pushing. In 2016 she celebrated 10 years post-diagnosis by becoming the fastest person to run a Double Bob Graham Round (132 miles, with 54,000ft of ascent, twice summitting 42 English Lake District peaks) in a time of 45hrs 30mins.
Two years later, Nicky became the first person to complete the Scottish equivalent, a Double Ramsay Round (116 miles, with 57,000ft of ascent, twice summiting 24 mountains) in 55hrs 56mins. She followed this up by winning the women’s race at last September’s Ultra Tour Monte Rosa (a 105-mile event through the Italian Alps that includes 37,000ft of ascent) in 37hrs 11mins.
Through these challenges – and many more – Nicky has so far raised £18,000 on her JustGiving page for Odyssey, a charity that helps people with cancer regain their self-confidence and enjoyment of life through a variety of activities.
Looking ahead to her latest challenge, the beef farmer from Yorkshire, who was awarded the British Empire Medal last year, said: “I’ve done challenges that no woman has done before in the past, and I know a woman can complete Barkley Marathons, so I will be giving it my best shot. I know, however, that it is a very unpredictable race and I think you need to have a lot of luck too.
“Going into something not knowing if you will finish is tough, but it’s similar to when I did the Double Bob Graham and the Double Ramsay Round. I approached both of those planning to finish but knew that it might not happen. I’ll do the same at Barkley. I will think about it as a five-lap race and look after myself in a way that would allow my mind and body to do all five laps.
“I’m also hoping that having done something similar to laps on the double rounds that this will help me mentally at Barkley. Laps are tough, really tough, and I think that’s why some Barkley runners don’t go as far as they possibly could because it’s mentally difficult to go back out and run/hike the same ground you’ve already covered.
“Another big challenge is getting inside Laz’s head. The navigating through mountains, the time limits, the distance, I feel okay with all that and will handle it the best I can, but it’s things like not knowing the course and not knowing where Laz will put the books, that I am more worried about. I think there could be up to 10, maybe as many as 13, books to navigate too, and once at a location it won’t be like an orienteering event where there’s a big orange kite to go to, it will instead be a bit of a game trying to get inside Laz’s mind to find the exact placement of the books.
Barkley Marathons is inspired by the real-life jailbreak of a notorious assassin, who escaped Tennessee’s Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in 1977. He fled on foot over the unforgiving woodland terrain, covering 8 miles, before being caught 54 hours later. The story goes that Laz mockingly responded: “I could do at least 100 miles.” And so, the Barkley Marathons was born, held on the same ground that the assassin made his failed escape.
Made famous by the 2014 Netflix documentary The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young (Trailer featured above) and a number of other films that have followed, the event requires participants to start and finish each lap at a yellow gate, close to where their support crews wait. Out on the course they have to be totally self-sufficient, helped only by two water stations.
1) It is limited to 40 entrants each year. The entry process is largely secretive but involves writing an essay to Laz and paying a $1.60 application fee.
2) First-timers must bring a vehicle registration plate from home and give it to Laz (Nicky’s registration plate rather aptly, given she’s a farmer, reads M29 EAT – see photo at top of blog post).
3) One participant is deemed the least likely to finish the first lap by Laz and receives bib number one.
4) Barkley can start any time between midnight and noon on race day. When a conch (large-sized shell) is blown, that means there is one hour until the race starts.
5) There is no starter’s pistol, instead the race begins when Laz lights a cigarette.
6) Runners must navigate their way to set locations and find books placed out on the course by Laz. They must tear the page out of each book that corresponds to their bib number and return them to Laz at the end of the lap.
7) Runners receive a new bib number each lap.
8) When a runner drops out, a bugler plays “Taps” upon their return to the yellow gate.
Both the shoes with their super-aggressive studs and the guards with their tough protection will be invaluable for all the muddy terrain and nasty undergrowth I’m likely to encounter on the course.
“As a Barkley ‘virgin’ I’m hoping to find a reliable Barkley veteran who is running and maybe team up with him/her on lap one. It seems veterans help virgins at Barkley, they don’t try to ‘shake them off’ like you might find at other races. Veterans have a better idea as to how Laz’s mind works and will know the kind of pace you need to run/hike to get back within the time limit. The event is so tough that it’s a case of participants versus the course, rather than participants versus each other.
Crewing for Nicky will be Jon Barker and his wife Diane, who live in Georgia. Nicky met Jon during the 2012 Dragon’s Back Race and the pair have remained friends. Prior to that Jon had started three Barkley Marathons, with his best result being a completion of the “Fun Run” in a time of 39hrs 39mins in 2011. His experience, know-how and insight will be crucial in Nicky’s attempt to go the distance at Barkley.
Jon said: “Barkley is as tough as everyone says it is. The terrain is very difficult, and the navigation can be somewhat sketchy until you ‘learn it.’ Opportunities to quit show up at just the right (or you might say, wrong) time, while the vegetation can be unfriendly, and the body gets beaten down quickly.
“It’s not a race per se. It’s everyone versus the course, which is not flagged, and the description given to you takes some translating. You are really out there without support for each loop and not necessarily in control of where you are going. It’s five times around the same difficult route, if you can keep on course. It gets progressively harder and there are changes in direction on some loops.
Asked why he thought no woman had finished Barkley Marathons and if 2019 could be the year it happens, Jon added: “Maybe that person hasn’t attempted it yet? I do, of course, think is possible.
And what about Laz himself? The man behind the Barkley Marathons was kind enough to answer our questions… without giving away too many details!
Pavel, a former three-time winner of the 268-mile Spine Race (the event won this year by Jasmin Paris), said: “Anything and everything can happen at Barkley Marathons. I expect it will be very demanding, both physically and mentally. Steep uphills, steep downhills, mud and undergrowth, the terrain will be tough, as will the route-finding against the time limit.
“I will use the same tactics I have used when trying something new, and the same I used for my first Spine Race. I will show respect to the course but be confident in my skills. I will go there open-minded, look around and learn along the way. I want to learn as much as possible on the first lap so I can use it later in the race.
*Follow the hashtag #bm100 on social media (especially Twitter)…. but don’t tell anyone, it’s a secret!
*Photos (unless otherwise detailed in the captions) by Summit Fever Media, who are creating a film documentary about Nicky’s Barkley Marathons experience.
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To carry her kit, food and fuel on each lap of the Barkley Marathons course, Nicky will use the new RACE ULTRA PRO 2in1 VEST. She will wear it with the 10-litre pocket attached to the rear – this is one of two options for how the vest pack can be used. Nicky was extensively involved in the prototype testing of our new range of packs, helping us get the perfect fitting packs for both women and men.
The RACE ULTRA PRO 2in1 VEST gives Nicky multiple options in terms of how to carry fluid and store trekking poles. Watch the video below to discover more.
Her clothing for Barkley Marathons will include the super-lightweight STORMSHELL WATERPROOF JACKET, FULL-LENGTH TIGHTS and EXTREME THERMO MITT, though what she wears and uses will depend on the unpredictable weather conditions within the state park and on the mountains.