it’s not negligent… if you do it on purpose
Barkley marathons 2026 motto
If you don’t know what the Barkley Marathons is… stop right now. Go and watch the excellent “Where Dreams Go to Die” documentary on YouTube, or even better (although not currently available in the UK), “The Race That Eats Its Young“, and then come back and continue reading!
If you’ve read my race reports before you’ll know I like to go a lot of detail, but this is the Barkley and part of the appeal of the race is that it’s shrouded in secrecy… and it should stay that way. Will I tell you how to enter? No, I won’t. Will I tell you how to finish the race? No, I can’t (yet 😉). Will I give you a sense of how it feels to be “Out There” without sharing any info that has not already been made public? I hope so.
Special thanks up front to two people in particular – firstly to Julie who supported and encouraged me throughout my preparation for the race, pushed me harder in training that I would have done by myself and shouldered much more than her fair share of responsibility at home (including managing a newly arrived puppy, no less!) so I could be free to go off on a fool’s quest in the woods of Tennessee. Secondly to Allan Parkin who apparently hadn’t had enough of me during Race Across Scotland for agreeing to come over and crew me during the race. Sorry I didn’t go far enough (spoiler alert) to actual require you to crew a transition!
So, what can I tell you about the Barkley? After 8 years of applying, I finally received my “condolences” late last year and was surprised to find out that not only was I in the starting field of 40 rather than having a spot on the weight list, but that the race would be held in mid-February, more than a month earlier that the traditional date of early April or even the mid/late March of recent editions! My intention to have a full break from training after GOBYU went out of the window and I started planning the trip and preparing myself.
The physical preparation alone was a step up from any training block I had even done before. January in particular I hit my highest ever monthly training mileage – 325 miles, and my highest ever monthly elevation gain – 69,000 ft. In between regular hospital visits plus all the usual commitments of family life, I ran every day throughout the month and added in two (sometimes three) hill repeat sessions per week, focussing on steep, off-trail slopes similar to what I’d encounter on Barkley. I logged a couple of long overnight solo runs in the Ochils, and added in a couple of night orienteering events to brush up on my navigational skills. I experimented with various clothing combinations in varying temperature and weather conditions, and tested out the gear I planned to use (the two new items being poles and a wrist compass). The first few weeks were tough as I definitely hadn’t fully recovered from the 2025 racing season, but I found my body soon started to adapt and my strength and confidence grew. It’s a risky business comparing my training with others who have had success at Barkley but I think I did as much as a I could given the time and circumstances.
In addition to the physical training, I also spent a lot of time doing my homework on the race I already had an extensive library of Barkley info compiled over several years, including course maps I had constructed from prior race reports. In total I listened to over 40 hours of Barkley-related podcasts, dozens of YouTube videos and chatted or talked with several veterans, picking up many useful nuggets of information along the way. Before long February rolled around and it was time to taper and pack for the trip, and see if all the preparation would be enough!
Since this would be my first ever trip to Frozen Head State Park, I planned to arrive a little bit before the race to give time for a few recce runs in the park. Normally before such a big race I’d have a very minimal mileage during the last week of tapering, but in this case the huge navigational benefits of orientating myself in the park outweighed the slight physical disadvantage of an imperfect taper. Allan and I flew out on Tuesday to Nashville, picked up a car and headed to an Airbnb cabin, conveniently located just a few miles outside of the park. Apart from camping in the park itself(which was not available this year due to ongoing campsite renovations and park maintenance), this was literally the closest thing available and I was happy to have booked it ASAP after I got my condolences email. The cabin was “rustic” but had heating, a shower, comfortable beds, and a kitchen. Funnily enough, we used our camping crockery that Allan had packed, before he found the cupboard containing pans and plates etc. as we were packing up to leave.
After several weeks of very cold weather, the week leading up to the race was perfect, with clear skies and lots of sunshine. Overnight temperatures dropped to just below freezing and soon gave way to a bright morning and balmy high teens (C) during the afternoon! On Wednesday we set off for our first day in Frozen Head State Park. It was a bit surreal to be driving up Flat Fork Road and into the park that I had seen so many times on videos and on the map. As I mentioned earlier, things were a little different this year and the majority of the trailheads and all campsites were closed due to maintenance, but the visitor centre was open and provided access to the trails via the Chimney Top and Old Mac trailheads. We first stopped at the visitor centre to check what restrictions there were and they assured us that all the trails were open, but we could only access from those two trailheads, or from outside the park at Armes Gap. I picked up a couple of copies of the official park map, and we got ready for our first run out on the trails.
We set off up the Chimney Top Trail, following the green blazes up and over Rough Ridge and then on up to Chimney Top Mountain itself. It was great to be finally out in the park, and my legs were feeling good after a taper and couple of days rest due to travelling. We followed the trail along the ridge to Little Fork Mountain and Mart Fields campsite before turning North towards Frozen Head and the fire tower. All the time I was looking around, identifying landmarks and working out what I was looking at – knowledge that I hoped would be useful on race day. Arriving at the Tub Springs junction, we headed up to the very top of Frozen Head, stopping to look down Rat Jaw from the trail. This early in the year the briars didn’t look too bad! In the race it’s not required to climb the fire tower, but we went right to the observation platform at the very top to get a great panoramic view of the whole area. It was a lovely day, but I would not have wanted to be up there in high winds or a rain storm. After a quick food stop at the picnic bench nearby (which would be used as a water drop during the race), we headed back down to the junction and headed North on the undulating West Lookout Tower trail, past Panther Gap and Peach Orchard Gap (a “Gap” is the US equivalent of a “Pass” or “Col”) before heading along the Coffin Springs Trail to reach the Garden Spot, right at the far Northeastern corner of the park. There are several jeep roads in this area that lead on to Stallion Mountain and it’s well known as a slightly confusing part of the course so it was good to visit it and orient myself. We also spotted where the Cumberland Trail heads off towards Guinea Hill Knob and the intersections with the North Boundary Trail. From here we retracted our steps back to Panther Gap, and took the North Old Mac Trail back down to the trailhead. It was an easy 3.5 miles of enjoyable downhill trail in the afternoon sun. In total we covered 19 miles and 4,400 feet of climbing in a little over 5 hours and didn’t see another person all day – a perfect first day out in the park.
For our second recce run on Thursday morning we drove round to Armes Gap on Highway 112. It was a chillier morning as we set out, but still bright and sunny. The East Lookout Tower Trail was just over two miles of climb up to the Tub Springs junction. Today we planned to explore a bit of the North Boundary Trail so we headed the same way as before but instead of turning on to the Coffin Springs Trail we followed the West Lookout Tower Trail as it passed Squire Knob and Bald Knob (this is the trail that is known as the Barkley “Quitter’s Road” as it leads all the way back to the Yellow Gate). The irony of two “Bald Knobs” out for a run past Bald Knob (mountain) was not lost on us 🤣 We turned North on the Bird Mountain Trail to join the North Boundary Trail – it’s still a “Candy Ass” trail in Barkley parlance but was definitely less well defined and maintained than the other trails, and there was a wonderful sense of remoteness being on the Northern reaches of the park. We followed the trail all the way to just below Garden Spot, before retracing our steps from yesterday back via Coffin Springs and Tub Springs.
On the way back down to Armes Gap we diverted onto the short out-and-back Old Prison Mine Trail, which leads to some old mining ruins about a third of the way up Rat Jaw. Here we bumped into a group of three French guys, and if the French are hanging around in Frozen Head State Park in the Spring, it can mean only one thing – they are here for Barkley. After a slightly awkward conversation where we both tried to suss out our reasons for being there, it turned out they were a media crew who would be filming the race, so I’m sure a documentary will be coming out before too long. We explored the ruins for a bit before heading back to the car – 14 miles and 2,800 feet of climbing in 4 hours. Recce number two complete and we had been to most of the main areas of the park except for the Northwestern corner (England and Bird Mountain). It would be possible to reach that area but since the Big Cove trailhead was closed it would have been a long day – longer than I wanted two days out from the race. Since that part of the course is normally early on (in the traditional clockwise direction), I figured I would likely be with an experienced group at that point, so it was the “least bad” section to miss out on recceing.
On the way back we stopped for a brief look at the old Brushy Mountain Penitentiary – the famous prison that the race route passes under(!) – before heading back to the cabin to organise my gear and food for the race weekend. I also prepared two copies of the map – highlighting creeks/rivers, and plotting in some jeep roads that are not shown on the park map.
Friday dawned bright and cold again – registration day! We were under strict instructions not to arrive before 9am, so at 9:02 we were the third vehicle in the queue to get in 🤣 Due to the renovations, the camp would not be set up in Big Cove as normal, and for the first time ever the race would not be starting and finishing at the iconic Yellow Gate. The race organisers had made special arrangements with the park for us to have exclusive access to a parking and picnic area about quarter of a mile away. In fact, it was an ideal spot as there were two large covered shelter areas and all of the camping spots were closer together than normal. There was even a small yellow gate that has been constructed specially for the occasion, complete with the original “Do not block gate” sign! We were allocated parking and camping spots – there was clearly some “seeding” as I was right at the end of the site (next to the person who ended up with the #1 “human sacrifice” bib), but we were only maybe 50m from the gate. For some reason, Americans seem to like camping on gravel hard standing, or even tarmac, but we found a little spot of bare earth next to a picnic table and set up the tent.
For the rest of the morning we helped with the event camp setup – moving barriers, unloading firewood, hanging the licence plates and had a chance to meet several legends of the Barkley including laz, and Sandra, Carl, Mike Dobies, Larry Kelley, David Horton as well as many runners as they arrived during the day. The excitement was building but everyone was very friendly and accommodating. In the early afternoon race registration began, and I traded my virgin’s licence plate for a race number, course instructions and race bib (#3). The instructions revealed that not only would we not be starting at the OG Yellow Gate, but we’d also be going anti-clockwise (or counter-clockwise to use the American phrase). The race pack also has “computer predictions” and mine was “Registers the loudest “WHAT WAS I THINKING ?!?!” ever heard in Tennessee” 🤣
After registration, the master map was published and it was time to copy the route onto my own map. It quickly became clear that the course was almost identical to last year’s and I was really happy to find that the route I had worked out from the previous year was almost exactly correct – my homework had paid off. There was quite a crowd around the master map, and I had to wait a while before I could get a spot where I was close enough to copy down the route and the book locations – but it was definitely worth doing it accurately! After I’d made one copy I retreated to our camp site to make a second copy, add in bearings for some of the key climbs/descents, and finally laminate the map with sticky-back plastic. Fortunately it was still a lovely day, it would have been much harder to do it on the floor of the tent, hiding from wind and rain. We even had time to take a walk up to the original Yellow Gate for some obligatory photos.
With all my map preparations completed, I spent some time discussing the route with a few of the experienced veterans that I knew – there definitely seemed to be fewer than usual this year. One of the highlights of the pre-race is the “pot luck” dinner. Traditionally, the race staff provide barbecued chicken (charred on the outside, still frozen in the middle). I gave that a miss, but sampled many of the local dishes brought by runners from all over the world. My contributions of IRN-BRU and Tunnock’s Caramel Wafers went down well, but the vegetarian Haggis was not so popular – I think Allan finished it up later on. Unfortunately it’s illegal to import lamb lungs into the USA and as I didn’t want my Barkley trip to be ended at border control I decided it was best to go with the veggie option 🤣
In the early evening Allan and I prepped my race pack with food and supplies and organised all my kit for the fast and efficient interloopal periods that I envisioned. It was dark at around 7pm and by 8pm I was tucked in to my sleeping bag for a final read through of the instructions. I played over the route in my head (both directions) as I fell asleep. Allan slept in the car for a few hours before staying awake from 11pm onwards to listen for the conch. I actually slept remarkably well, only waking suddenly around 3am after hearing a noise (maybe it was in my head!). I remember re-working out my loop times assuming a 6am start as I fell back to sleep, before waking suddenly again at 5am to the unmistakable sound of the conch – one hour to go until Barkley time!
Allan got started on preparing breakfast while I went to the toilet and then changed into my kit. Although I had trained most of the winter in tights and it was still around freezing I knew it was going to be a nice day so I made the decision to start in shorts. Breakfast was porridge, a PBJ sandwich, apple and two cups of tea. Now that the start time was known, we were able to collect our race watches – basic Casio digital watches set to 00:00 at race start. I put mine on next to the bracelet that Julie had given me to wear as a reminder she was supporting me, so I would see it every time I checked my watch. The hour flew by and soon it was time to cram in to the little space behind “Yellow Gate Junior” as Carl gave some last-minute advice and “Taps” was played in memory of Barkers gone but not forgotten. Around this time a photo was taken which showed my shorts, jacket, pack and hat but not my face – triggering a bit of social media sleuthing to identify me as (of course) I’d kept my participation in the race a total secret 🤣 There was a ten-second countdown before laz lit his cigarette and we were off!
Now for the not-very-detailed report on the race itself… the pace was quick straight out of the gate, and a conga train formed up the first climb with the prospective race leaders up front. I hung to the back of the first group of 15-20 people as we switchbacked up the hill and people started to drop off the pace. Cresting the first ridge, I decided it was time to start putting food in and pulled a banana out of my pocket. Taking my attention off the trail for a brief second, I rolled my ankle massively – it was incredibly painful for a few minutes and I slowed to a hobble down the descent and cursed my stupidity as I watched the lead group pull away from me. As we climbed again I was able to regain a decent pace and just about kept people in sight as we left the candy-ass trail and headed off into Barkley terrain properly just as the sun was rising over the ridge to the East. On the first off-trail descent the head-torches were switched off an the people I was following disappeared into the forest – I was “out there” solo – a proper Barkley experience. Some people I’ve talked to (including some at the actual race) said they were genuinely terrified to be out there on their own, but I felt right at home and was enjoying myself, even though my race plan was falling to bits already! I actually navigated nearly perfectly to the first book, but on the next climb I made a serious navigational error, climbing the wrong ridge and ending up about a quarter mile further South than intended – inadvertently on top of the wrong Mountain 🤦♂️ Much of the Barkley terrain is quite similar – there are trees, rocks and creeks everywhere and it’s easy to convince yourself you’re in the right place when you’re not. I even found a tunnel in the rocks that could have been the “Eye of the Needle” I was looking for – but it did not contain a book. After searching the capstones for around 30 minutes, I looked at the big picture, and realised that there was no peak to the South of me and I was in fact on Kelley Mountain rather than Indian Knob. It only took a short while to traverse the ridge and locate the book, but I had lost so much time already!
My navigation for the next few books was better (but not perfect), and I really enjoyed passing through the prison tunnel and climbing Rat Jaw by myself. At the next book I caught up with a group that had been searching for it for over half an hour, and we formed up and mostly stuck together for the rest of the loop. Early on, there were three of us who seemed to be moving a bit quicker than the group and we talked briefly about pushing ahead, but the group seemed to reform at each book and we quickly dropped the idea.
We actually worked very well as a group and made only a few minor navigational errors, but group decision-making eats up precious minutes, and gradually the time slipped away. Within the group of eight (three USA, one Aussie, one Kiwi, one Brazilian, one Irish and one Scot) we had three veterans with varying degrees of recent-or-not experience, so it was a good chance for me to learn from them. Around the Meatgrinder climb we finally accepted what had been growing increasingly obvious – we were not going to make it round the loop within the 13:20 cut-off to continue. Although it was sad to realise I would not be able to continue onto loop 2, it really took the pressure off and we had a great time on the last few books. As a group we were fully committed to finding all the books and finishing the loop – quitting was not an option. I seemed to have a good knack of working out some of the book locations, particularly spotting the tricky “Heaven’s Gate” book, located shortly after the “enormous horse penis shaped tree” 🤣 We did the last three hours in the dark, and it started raining about an hour from the end – not heavily and not too cold, but enough to feel I had got the full Barkley experience.
After grabbing our pages from the final book, we stopped briefly at the original Yellow Gate (sadly, no-one had thought to bring a camera 😉), and then whooped and hollered our way down the road, crossed the creek and touched the new Yellow Gate together a little after 11pm (17 hours race time). Apparently “group Taps” are not a thing, so we all stood for eight individual renditions and that was it – our Barkley Marathons was over!
The next day, it was great to hang around at the campsite, share stories with other DNF’ed participants and the race staff while we waited for the last runners to return from loops 1 and 2 and finally for Sebastian to complete his fun run and Damian his 2.5 loop DNF in the evening. It actually rained pretty hard all day, and we were glad to have the picnic shelter and a log fire to keep warm and dry. I had a chance to sample some of the Barkley chicken – “digitally prepared” by rubbing on hot sauce with my own fingers. It was even cooked all the way through! If the conditions in camp were wet and chilly, it sounded like it was much, much worse out there on the course. Having said that, I would have happily traded all of Sunday’s time in camp to still be out there and in the race.
Reflecting on the race after a few days recovery in Nashville, first of all I had an absolute experience of a lifetime – the whole race was genuinely type one fun i.e. fun at the time, even the bits when I was a bit lost, or slogging up yet another steep climb. I thoroughly enjoyed being “out there” by myself for several hours, and also working with a group – both of which are important parts of the Barkley experience. I definitely felt that by around half way through the loop that the navigation started to “click”, and I was able to make the map, instructions and terrain features sync up in my head. In terms of the race result, of course I hoped to go further than one loop. You never know until you’re actually there how you will stack up against the course, but I would have given myself 80% chance for doing >1 loop and maybe 25% chance at a fun run. The reality was far from that! In terms of physical preparedness, I was definitely able to keep up the with the lead group at the beginning until I went over on my ankle and even after that felt stronger than other runners around me until about two-thirds of the way round the loop when my legs started to lose the ability to push – I was still moving OK but just not able to keep up the same climbing intensity as earlier. That’s something that I could improve with longer to train for the race in future. The navigation I could certainly improve on, but I think that with the experience of doing a whole loop if I was to run the race again today there are at least two if not three hours I could shave off by simply knowing where I was meant to be going – so less time working it out on the way round and (hopefully) less time lost to mistakes. So there definitely enough there to give me a sniff of a chance that I could do a couple of loops (and maybe more)…
There was nothing really about the race that caught me by surprise, so my preparation seemed to have been good – at least as good as can be without actually being out there on the course. The climbs and descents were just as steep as expected and the leaf-carpeted forested slopes that I’d found to train on were a pretty good analogue of the actual course. Most of the climbs are in the 1,000-1,500 feet range, with varying degrees of rockiness, cliffs, ravines, loose footing and fallen trees – none are individually “that bad” but they just keep coming. On paper, one loop is precisely 20 miles, with 15,000 feet of climb (and descent). According to my calculations afterwards, the reality is about 20% longer, with only a little bit more climbing – so pretty much what others have already said. With the detours that I made, I added about another mile and maybe another 500 feet of climbing.
Aside from pace and navigation, all of the other aspects of the race went great. I had just about the right amount of food (only one gel left at the end of the loop), and my clothing choices were perfect. I started the loop in a jacket, which I took off in the mid-morning sun and then put back on as it started to cool again and rain at night. I did go through more water than expected – in total about 7 or 8 litres – and I only carried enough KMC powder to mix up an extra litre in addition to the 2L that I started with. Not only was I out there for a lot longer than planned, even though the pace is fairly slow, the effort is high and I was sweating and sucking down liquid rapidly. I refilled at the water drops, plus from two creeks (adding chlorine tabs just to be safe).
It was interesting talking to several people who had been in the race in the past as to just how hard it has become over time. Since the last finishers in 2024 a whole new section has been added, including a new climb which probably adds at least an hour. Given that no-one has completed five loops with more than about 90 mins to spare since Jared in 2014, it seems that the 100 mile finish is currently in the realms of the impossible to all but the super-elite. On the current course, only John Kelly (2025) and Sébastian Raichon (2026) have even completed a fun run, both well over the 36 hours cut-off to start the fourth loop. But a fun run seems like a good goal for me in the future…
Would I go back? Well first of all there’s no guarantees – I could keep applying and never get another slot! Selfishly, I would go back in an instant even just to do another loop as it was simply an amazing experience like no other I’ve ever had in ultra running. In reality, it’s a big commitment of time, effort, money and impact on the whole family (at least, I’d like to think they all miss me for 10 days 😉) so if I’m to do it again I’d like to be able to put in a much stronger effort to offset the impact on everyone else. So let’s see… but the itch is definitely there to be scratched!
I hope you enjoyed reading this race report, I did my best to give a real sense of the race without damaging the mystique that makes the Barkley what it is. Sorry again to everyone I misled or flat lied to in the lead-up to the race, but I’m sure you understand why – and honestly, it was worth it just to read all the excited messages and posts from everyone when you found out I was there 🤣 Thanks for all the support, and I look forward to seeing many of you later this year at some much less secretive events!