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Known starters for the 2019 Barkley Marathons

We're just hours away from the start of the Barkley Marathons

Super Mini Itsy Bitsy Barkley

The Barkley Marathons are rumored to begin sometime in the next 24 hours. There is no start list for the Barkley, with runners deciding for themselves if they’d like to announce their entry. Last year there were no finishers, thanks to the race’s notorious difficulty and to terrible weather. Spring weather can be unpredictable anywhere, and last year Frozen Head got walloped with a massive rainstorm, dense fog and cold temperatures on race weekend. Running five 20-mile loops in 60 hours with no course markings and no organized aid stations is hard enough–add bad weather to the mix, and any hopes of finishing were dashed for most people after a loop or two.

RELATED: Barkley Marathons and Frozen Head: just a jog in the park?

With only hours between now and the blowing of the conch, which signals that the race will start in one hour, here’s who we know is running:

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Known runners

(in no particular order)

Johan Steene–the Swede won Laz Lake’s Big Backyard Ultra in 2018, with 68 laps (to Courtney Dauwalter’s 67), which translates to an incredible 283.3 miles (453K)
Tim Hardy
Gareth Morgan–South Africa
John Kelly–finisher #15 (2017). Crewed for Gary Robbins in 2018, who completed a Fun Run in his third Barkley attempt.
Guillaume Calmettes–multiple Barkley attempter, originally from France, lives in Los Angeles.
Jamil Coury–returning to Barkley for his fifth attempt.
Pavel Paloncy–Czech ultrarunner who has won the Montane Spine Race three times.
James Elson–UK
Valéry Caussarieu–France
Benoit Laval–France
Rémy Jegard–France
Nicky Spinks–British ultrarunner who has completed both a double Bob Graham Round and a double Ramsay Round. Being touted as a strong possibility for first female finisher in Barkley history.
Maggie Guterl–American ultrarunner back for her second attempt this year.
Stephanie Case–Canadian based in Afghanistan who completed two loops in 2018, but not before the time cutoff. Has finished Tor des Géants three times, never worse than 6th place.
Morgan Mckay–Canadian OCR stud with a number of Spartan titles, plus the Guinness Record for fastest 10K (male or female) while carrying 100 pounds.
Isobel Ross
Jodi Isenor
Paul Giblin
Jared Campbell–the only three-time Barkley finisher
Santiago Pinto–Colombia
Harold Donnelly
Bill Reid
Carol Morgan–Ireland
Mikael Heerman–Finland
Greg Hamilton
Gavin Woody
Alan Holtz
Zach Gingerich

How to follow

The place to follow the action at Barkley is through the Twitter hashtag #BM100. Keith Dunn (who goes by the Twitter handle The Real Keith) offers the most reliable information.

 

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