on Tuesday, relatively average Barkley conditions awaited. There were concerns that the earlier time slot could create more difficult weather challenges, but when the conch was blown at 5:54 a.m. Additionally, he scheduled the race for the middle of the week, on Tuesday, March 8. The 2022 edition was particularly heavy on international runners after the cancellation of the 2020 edition and pandemic-related travel restrictions for the 2021 race.įor this year’s race, Barkley creator Gary “Lazarus Lake” Cantrell threw one of the biggest curveballs in race history, holding the event three weeks ahead of when it normally runs, around April 1. Other runners, like Amelia Boone, Gary Robbins, and Johan Steene, were originally slated to compete in this year’s race but dropped out due to injuries, moving on, and testing positive at the airport for COVID, respectively.

This included a mix of Barkley veterans like Courtney Dauwalter, and 2017 and 15th-person-ever Barkley finisher John Kelly, and strong Barkley virgins like Big’s Backyard record holder Harvey Lewis, 2017 Big’s champion Guillaume Calmettes, and Appalachian Trail fastest-known-time holder and Belgian dentist Karel Sabbe. An incredibly deep field was lined up to face the beast. For the fifth consecutive year, there were no finishers at the infamous Barkley Marathons.

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