![]() ![]() To mark a runner’s failure, a bugle is played. If runners complete the first three loops in under 40 hours, it is considered a successful completion of the “fun run” version of the race, though that is usually a failed attempt at the main event. The full five-loop course must be completed in 60 hours, or 12-hours per each 32-kilometre loop. This year’s racers faced rain, lightning and cold temperatures. There are no rain delays for the Barkley, which after the ceremonial lighting of a cigarette. Having Reed his son there is a huge motivation for him as well.”Īnd motivation is needed during the punishing and bizarre competition in Tennessee’s Frozen Head State Park. “She knows exactly what he needs and when he needs it and what he’s feeling or what he’s thinking. Langford credits Robbins’ family - wife Linda and son Reed - for getting him through the highs and lows of the race. “The weather and the course got the better of everybody this year,” said Geoff Langford of Ridgeline Events, Robbins’ friend and business partner. This was the first year since 2015 that no runners finished. Since 1986, only 15 runners have completed all five loops. Last year, at some point on the fifth and final loop, he got confused in fog on the unmarked course and arrived at the finish line from the wrong direction. Using maps, participants guide themselves five times through an unmarked 32-kilometre loop with no aid stations, and only two water stops.Įach year has been an emotional defeat for Robbins. Well, that and titan, of course.At the 2018 Barkley Marathons, it was the course - not its runners - that was the victor again.įor North Vancouver’s Gary Robbins, it was the third time he was bested by the 160-kilometre ultramarathon through Tennessee backcountry. ![]() That’s the only word for a guy like Gary Robbins. And isn’t that something we can all relate to? This is, without a doubt,a peek into the mind, the toughness and the motivation of someone who is truly exceptional. And yet today, people around the planet clamor to be selected as one of the 40 athletes who participate each year.Īnd while he certainly shares some vivid and heart-stopping imagery, the details which actually occasionally made me feel physically ill on account of the sheer depths of suffering one has to subject themselves to in order to even finish one lap of this event – at the end of the day, this is a conversation about what it takes to create the person we want to become. To give you a sense of just how arduous the Barkley is, in its 30 years of existence, it has seen only 15 finishers. He is an epic storyteller, which comes with being an east coaster, I suspect. You will do this.” It will be a while before my fingernails grow back. Gary, a two-time racer in this sadistic endeavor, walks us through the gritty details, what goes into preparing for it, how he handles the times of darkness – and his mantra: “You can do this. And more than all this, he gives us a candid and inside look at quite likely this planet’s most mysterious adventure race, recently popularized by the Netflix documentary of the same name: The Barkley Marathons, a 5-lap, 100-mile course through the most unforgiving Tennessee terrain and in often-times the most bleak conditions imaginable. He talks about the value in being in the right relationship when it comes to achieving an authentic life. He walks us through what it felt like – the courage it took – to walk the road less travelled, to leave his home in Newfoundland in search of a non-traditional life and the decisions he had to make in order to stay true to that journey. A one-time self-admitted professional partier, Gary eventually traded in the cans of beer for a pair of running shoes, and embarked on a journey of personal transformation that is astounding to say the least. Gary Robbins is one such person and the conversation we had is one such chat.ĭespite the fact that Gary is as decorated an ultra-distance runner as they come, this is an episode that explores deeper themes. You will do this." - Gary RobbinsĮvery once in a while you have a conversation with a person – a person so exceptional, that’s the only word for it – that the stories they tell are universal in that they tap into the humanity of it all.
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