The 2022 Barkley Marathons

The 2023 Barkley results are available here.

The 2022 Barkley Marathons course at Frozen Head State Park in Tennessee won again this year. There were no finishers among about 35 starters. If runners complete three 20-mile loops (60 miles/97 km) this is known as a “fun run.” The full course is five loops, about 100 miles (160 km), with about 54,200 feet of climbing, which must be completed in 60-hours. This year thirty runners finished Loop 1, six runners finished Loop 2, and five runners finished Loop 3.

On Loop 4 of 5, Karel Sabbe of Belgium retrieved the pages from the first three books, but then became disoriented and lost. He descended toward the lights of the town of Petros, probably thinking it was the former Brushy Mountain Prison, which the course runs through.

In Petros, he sought help from a trash can that he thought was a person. People in the village called the Sheriff reporting a suspicious person. He was then a given a ride back to camp by the Morgan County Sheriff. The Sheriff asked for this selfie with Laz. Greig Hamilton of New Zealand had not yet returned from Loop 4 in time to start Loop 5. He made it back to camp around noon and was the final runner to face the bugler, who played Taps.

Five runners finished the three-loop fun run this year:  Karel Sabbe of Belgium 32:21:49, Greig Hamilton of New Zealand 34:20:39, John Kelly of Tennessee, USA 35:26:09, Thomas Dunkerbeck of The Netherlands 39:27:46, and Jasmin Paris of England, UK 39:49:56, the first woman to finish the fun run in nine years. Jasmin Paris was overheard at the fire tower on Frozen Head saying “Fun Run” doesn’t seem like the right name for it. She added: “My goal was to give it absolutely everything I had, and I feel I did that, so I’m happy.”

During the first night, runners on Loop 2 experienced terrible, down-pours of rain. Courtney Dauwalter and Harvey Lewis dropped on Loop 2 after about 29.5 miles, after having difficulty finding the book at the bottom of “Leonard’s Butt Slide” in the heavy, cold rain and decided to return while they could still self-extract.

Each year, runners have to locate books on each 20+ mile loop to prove they ran the right course. There were 14 this year. They had to tear out a page from the book that matched their bib number. Books have appropriate titles.

The Ukrainian flag was the first one placed by Laz before the race. Harvey Lewis brought 50 Ukrainian flags for runners and crews. They were hand-made Kathy Magistrelli, who teaches with Harvey in Cincinnati. They were placed them on the registration table and they were gone in a few hours. Read about Ukrainian Ultrarunning History and profiles of several amazing runners.

On Loop 3, John Kelly lost his book pages for a time. They were in a waist belt and became unclipped. He spent three hours searching for the belt, doing hill repeats on “Little Hell.” It ended up being at the very top of the hill right in the middle of a gravel road. He returned in time to continue on loop 4, but decided to quit. He knew that no one had ever started loop 4 with so little time remaining and finished.

Guillaume Calmettes of France had to drop when the wind blew away one of the book pages out of his pack. If you finish the loop without all of your pages, you are out.

Laz, the race director, usually changes the course somewhat each year. It was rumored that it was a bit easier this year, with the removal of a 500-foot climb, ha, ha.  Laz once said, “Someone told me that every ultra has its signature hill, the nasty one that’s totally unreasonable and makes or breaks the race—the Barkley is like all those hills just put end on end.”

Learn about the early history of the Barkley Marathon

• Barkley Marathons – The Birth
• Barkley Marathons – First Few Years
• Video: Barkley Marathons – The First Year 1986

Also: Western States 100 – The TRUE First Finishers Learn the true history that was buried.