3 people have completed the race for the second time in history
How Do Nascimento Made It to the Finish Line at the Seoul Marathon, and Its Mistaken to Viola Cheptoo
Do Nascimento, who set a South American record when he finished third in the Seoul Marathon this year in 2:04:51, was the story in New York for much of the morning — until it all began to go poorly for him. Easily recognizable in his lavender tights and space-age sunglasses, he built a two-minute lead more than halfway through the race. But others in the field had seen him try that sort of bold strategy before.
In a warm November day, Chebet prevailed in the marathon in 2 hours and 13 minutes to complete a clean sweep of the world’s six marathon majors this year. Chebet won two of them and two of the toughest. Of course, considering what Chebet had done in Boston in April, no one was surprised to see him tackle New York with great composure.
Lokedi left an all-star cast in her wake. The fastest time in the field was won by an Israeli, who came to New York with the fastest time. Gotytom Gebreslase, an Ethiopian who is the reigning world champion, placed third. One of the most decorated marathoners in the world was fourth. And Viola Cheptoo of Kenya, last year’s runner-up, was fifth.
Lokedi is training for the Dark Sky Distance group in Arizona and said the weather was perfect. I didn’t think I’d win. I was expecting to run well. But it ended up being a good outcome.”
The leader of the team at the Tokyo Olympics, do Nascimento, had to pull out after collapsing in scenes that were vaguely horrifying.
On Sunday, his superhuman pace was beginning to slow when he pulled off the course for an 18-second stop at a portable toilet. He emerged with his lead intact, albeit narrower, but it was clear that he was in trouble. He sank to the pavement six miles short of the finish and was forced to abandon the race.
“I want to feel sorry for him when I saw him on the ground,” said Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands, who finished third. “But I was like, ‘Come on, man, this is the second time. You did that in the Olympics. ”
It was difficult for anyone to have a nice day. Galen Rupp, a two-time Olympic medalist for the United States who was making his long-awaited New York debut, dropped out about 18 miles into the race with a hip injury. Shura Kitata, who finished second in the competition and was about to speak at his news conference, stood up as if his legs were made of concrete. A race official handed Kitata a giant bag of ice, which he placed on his thighs.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/11/06/sports/nyc-marathon/nyc-marathon-chebet-lokedi
The 1986 New York Marathon Winner Scott Fauble and his sponsor, Aliphine Tuliamuk, finished in a warm finish line
It was the warmest marathon on record since the race was moved to its traditional early November date in 1986. The temperature in Central Park was 73 degrees Fahrenheit at 11 a.m., shortly before the elite runners began to cross the finish line.
Scott Fauble, 31, was the top American man, finishing ninth, and a good result after he signed a new sponsorship deal with Nike. Fauble, who was also the top American finisher in Boston this year, had been without a sponsor for months.
After agreeing to terms on a contract at dinner on Saturday night, Fauble took an Uber to the Nike store in Manhattan to pick up sneakers. The rest of his racing gear arrived at his hotel later that night.
On the women’s side, three Americans finished in the top 10. Aliphine Tuliamuk was seventh, Emma Bates was eighth and Nell Rojas was 10th. Tuliamuk, 33, who won the marathon at the U.S. Olympic trials in 2020 and gave birth to her daughter, Zoe, in January 2021, had not raced in a marathon since she injured herself at the Tokyo Games. On Sunday, she finished in a personal-best time of 2:26:18.
She had to overcome challenges. She said she took a couple of weeks off from training when she had swelling in one of her ankles.
“In the back of my mind, I wished that I had a few more weeks” to train, she said. “But I also decided to focus on gratitude because I didn’t know that I was going to be here. I was very thankful for the chance to be competitive, and the fact that I was able to do a lot of training.
The 2009 Barkley Marathons: Breaking the Thirty-five-Lapse Spectacular Penalty for Three Athletes
For the second time in the race’s history, a record three athletes have completed the grueling Barkley Marathons, an unusual and near-impossible competition held each year in Tennessee.
The famed ultramarathon is hosted by Gary Buford, better known as Lazarus Lake or “Laz,” in Tennessee’s Frozen Head State Park. The route was inspired by the 1977 prison escape of James Earl Ray, who assassinated the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
The race consists of five loops of at least 20 miles each through the mountains with a gain of between 100 and 130 miles. Athletes who run the course for three sleepless days and nights don’t have a phone, gps or aid station. Getting lost – as well as falling and getting injured in the brush – is par for the course.
A single map of the route is available at the start line for runners to study and copy down for themselves, and on the way around they must rip a page corresponding to their bib number from a selection of paperback books left on the course.
Because of the array of unique challenges the race presents, only 17 individuals have completed the race since it started in 1986. For the past five years, no one has finished the race.
But this year finally broke that streak: Three athletes, French Aurélien Sanchez, American John Kelly and Belgian Karel Sabbe, completed the hellish five laps within the 60-hour time limit on Friday.
How Did Aurélien Sanchez Complete Five Loops of the Barkley Marathon? A Brief Reminiscence on his Fourth Loop in the Woods
Kelly thank his followers for their support. He thanked everyone for the support and he hoped the experience was a shared one. “If we are all just idiots running around in the woods, that at least it is entertaining.”
Jasmin Paris, who did not complete the course but made history as the second woman ever to begin the fourth loop, also thanked her followers for their support on Twitter.
“Conditions couldn’t have been better, and I was lucky to share miles on the trail with wonderful people,” she wrote. “I knew from the start that training hadn’t been ideal (time out for fatigue, then injury), but I gave it my best effort and I’m proud of that. I think a woman can finish 5 loops, although I think Laz will make it even harder next year.
It’s a few days since he dragged his battered, sleep-deprived body to the finish line of the Barkley Marathons – one of only 17 people ever to do so – and Aurélien Sanchez is still being haunted by visions of the infamously punishing race.
The route is long and indistinguishable, and the terrain is rugged, but only if you can navigate the opaque entry system and get a spot on the start line.
Sanchez, after months of careful preparation and more than 58 hours of toil on the course, has now conquered all this, becoming the first Frenchman, and 16th competitor, to complete all five loops of the Barkley between March 14 and 16.
“I’m dreaming that I’m in my fifth loop but not focused anymore. I lost in the forest, it’s dark, and I need to finish, but I know I’m not focused.
Ultrarunning with James Earl Ray: The Barkley Marathons Intl: How It Was Hard to Run in the First Year of the Barkley Prisoner’s Escape
Inspiration for the race comes from James Earl Ray, the assassin of Martin Luther King Jr. who escaped from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in 1977.
Ray traveled eight miles in less than a day after he escaped from Brushy, prompting a local runner to say that he could cover 100 miles in the same amount of time.
During the first year of the Barkley a group of 40 runners were sent to Frozen Head State Park to fight the woods, hills and briars without the help of phones, gps, course markings or aid stations.
“You really have to learn the course during the race,” he tells CNN Sport. There are some sections that are not easy to remember. In the fifth loop I made a lot of mistakes and it was difficult to get around.
The final loop was made even harder this year after a day hiker removed one of the 13 books from the course. Sanchez decided to dismantle a stack of stones at the checkpoint to prove he had passed through, but he was nonetheless relieved to see Cantrell holding the missing book at the end of the race.
“Guillaume [Calmettes], my friend who was in camp at this time offered to replace a book because he had time to put it back,” says Sanchez. I had to deal with it because Laz didn’t want to, he said it was part of the race.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/24/sport/aurelien-sanchez-barkley-marathons-ultrarunning-spt-intl/index.html
Aurélien Sanchez’s first marathon in the Pyrenees: Running through the woods as a way to get off sleep deprivation
It’s one of the challenges of the Barkley to get off sleep deprivation. In the three days and two nights that he was on the course, he only slept for fifteen minutes between the third and fourth loops after 33 hours of running.
Desperate to find more energy, Sanchez swallowed caffeine tablets, took on more food and water, and even tried screaming into the woods in an effort to reinvigorate himself.
His fuel was mostly cheeseburgers, but he liked to eat candy, chocolate, cookie dough, cheese and fruit.
“It’s like starting a new race,” said Sanchez. “It’s almost like the exhaustion goes away and you start fresh again on a new loop. And new socks are very important to avoid blisters as well.”
He has accomplished a 12-day crossing of the Pyrenees mountain range and holds the shortest known time between the south and north of the John-Muir Trail in California.
He began researching the race in detail, reviewing race reports to learn how runners succeeded in the past, and reading up on how to deal with sleep deprivation, after he had finished training in the Pyrenees.
“In the park, it’s very silent; you can hear only the trees and the wind. And then after a point, just 100 yards from the finish, you hear the crowds, the yelling and screaming, and it’s such a big emotion.”
He adds, though, that the end of the race was bittersweet. Calmettes, his friend, training partner, and the former French record holder at the Barkley, had dropped out of the race on the third loop with an Achilles injury.
The experience has reinforced the fascination with the basketball player. He hopes to compete again in the future, but isn’t sure how to get into the race.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/24/sport/aurelien-sanchez-barkley-marathons-ultrarunning-spt-intl/index.html
Ultrarunning as a hobby and a learning experience for Sergio Sanchez: My first running experience in the Barkley, California, July 21, 2001
There is no website, email, or physical address posted, and part of the application process requires runners to write an essay about why they should be allowed to compete. They will get a letter ofCondolence from Cantrell if accepted.
It is your story, and you decide what you say in the application. I told him that he wanted to run it one day, and that I had been dedicating my time to the area for the last six years.
Sanchez, who had to use his annual leave to compete in the Barkley, maintains that he has no desire to be a professional ultrarunner, preferring a “normal life” with his girlfriend, Lucille, to preparing for a big race each weekend.
He sees ultra running as more than just a hobby, mainly due to the valuable lessons he has learned while exploring his physical and mental limits.
“It was very difficult, very tough to fail in some of the ways I failed, but I learned out of it. I learned that I was not the strongest person ever, that I had to deal with my weaknesses.”
