The Barkley Marathons: A brief timeline
The first Canadian finisher? Gary, we’re counting on you. Let’s make history!
The Barkley Marathons is very quickly approaching now. Will we see a first Canadian finisher at this year’s event? Only time will tell. Here’s a brief history of this unique race this far:
READ MORE: Barkley Mad
1986
First ever Barkley Marathon takes place. 50 miles, no finishers.
1987
Still no finishers.
1988
Distance increases to 55 miles and “Frozen” Ed Furtaw becomes the first official Barkley finisher.
1989
A 110-mile route is added with a 50-hour cut-off, nobody ever finished it.
1995
The 20-mile lap system and the 100-mile route are introduced with a 60-hour cut-off. Mark Williams becomes the first 100-mile finisher in 59:28 2001 David Horton and Blake Wood finish together in 58:21.
2002
No race due to a temporary closure of Frozen Head National Park.
2003
Ted Keizer sets a new record of 56:57.
2004
Mike Tilden finishes in 57:25, closely followed by Jim Nelson in 57:28.
2008
Brian Robinson sets a new record of 55:42.
2009
Andrew Thompson finishes in 57:37.
2010
Jonathan Basham finishes in 59:18.
2011
Brett Muane finishes in 57:13.
2012
Brett Muane sets a new course record of 52:03. He’s followed by Jared Campbell in 56:00 and John Fegyveresi in 59:41. A record year with three finishers.
2013
Nick Hollon finishes in 57:39, followed by Travis Wildeboer in 58:41.
2014
Jared Campbell finishes again in 57:53.
2015
No finishers for the first time in eight years.
2016
Jared Campbell becomes the only person to finish the race three times. He finishes in 59:32.
2017
John Kelly becomes the 15th finisher of the Barkley. Gary Robbins gets lost and reaches the yellow gate six seconds after cut-off.
This story was published in 2017 and has been updated.
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