No Finishers, however Sébastien Raichon Completes Fun Run – iRunFar

The 2026 Barkley Marathons, which began at 6 a.m. on Saturday, February 14, had loads going for it by way of a tough course, a tough time of 12 months, and much more tough climate circumstances. Rain, chilly, mud, and fog — along with all the things else Barkley is thought for — all took a toll on the racers, and the occasion noticed a repeat of 2025 with no finishers and just one Fun Run finisher.

This 12 months, solely 4 runners made it out for a 3rd lap, and Sébastien Raichon (France) was the one one who accomplished it. His closing time was 38:05:46, which was throughout the allotted time to be credited with a Fun Run — three laps of the course in underneath 40 hours — however he missed the 36-hour cutoff time to exit for a fourth lap by over two hours. It was a Valentine’s Day date that racers and their crews will lengthy bear in mind.

France’s Sébastien Raichon completed a Fun Run on the 2026 Barkley Marathons. Photo: Jacob Zocherman

While nobody was anticipating a repeat of the 2024 Barkley Marathons, which had a file variety of finishers — 5 out of 40 starters, together with the U.Ok.’s Jasmin Paris, who grew to become the primary and to date solely girl to complete the occasion — racers held out hope that this 12 months’s outcomes can be considerably higher than the 2025 Barkley Marathons, the place there have been no finishers and just one Fun Run completion by three-time Barkley finisher, John Kelly.

Yet even with all of the hope on the earth, circumstances conspired in opposition to the racers. This was the earliest the race — which has a secret begin date and begin checklist — has ever been held. It’s the primary time racers have confronted February circumstances at Frozen Head State Park, Tennessee, and whereas circumstances began out chilly, they solely obtained worse as fog and moisture rolled in all through the race, making issues slippery and slimy. And then there was additionally the problem of considerably much less daylight in mid-February than on the regular mid- to late-March begin date, which comes into play on the largely off-trail, unmarked course. If that wasn’t sufficient, the conventional begin line on the notorious yellow gate was underneath building, giving runners a special begin and finish level for every loop.

Ultimately, circumstances obtained the very best of each runner, making it a 12 months to recollect.

We consider that is Séverine Vandermeulen of Belgium, who made her first try on the 2026 Barkley Marathons. She went the farthest for the ladies, however failed to finish her second loop. Photo: Jacob Zocherman

Bit of Barkley Background

The Barkley Marathons, which gained recognition after the discharge of the 2014 Netflix documentary “The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young,” is infamous not just for its problem, but in addition for its secrecy earlier than and throughout the occasion. Even the method for making use of for the race is a intently guarded ceremony. It’s a bit harking back to center faculty cliques, the place it’s a must to know the key password or put on the correct of denims to be a part of it.

The race, which has seen solely 20 finishers in its 40-year historical past — about 2% of individuals — consists of a 20-plus-mile loop across the state park that have to be accomplished 5 occasions. The route modifications every year there’s a finisher, and runners usually alternate instructions on every loop, although this 12 months each the primary and second laps had been counterclockwise. Racers should discover someplace on the order of 10 books hidden within the woods and tear pages out to show that they had been there. Much of the route is off-trail and takes in well-known landmarks, such because the Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary tunnel, Rat Jaw, and Meatgrinder. It’s typically accepted that the 20-mile measurement is considerably shorter than the precise loop distance, and whereas all of the runners go the identical path for the primary 4 loops, any remaining runners on the ultimate lap should go in reverse instructions. Racers get 60 hours to finish the entire occasion.

France’s Mathieu Blanchard “out there” throughout the 2026 Barkley Marathons. Blanchard failed to finish his third loop throughout his first try on the occasion. Photo: Jacob Zocherman

There’s no set begin time for the occasion, and racers are given a 12-hour begin window forward of the occasion. When the race group blows the conch, racers have one hour to prepare. They have a set period of time to finish every loop, and if a racer misses the cutoff or chooses to not exit for the subsequent lap, they “tap out” by having a bugle play faucets for them. If you suppose it sounds a bit contrived, you’re not fallacious.

While Gary Cantrell, aka Lazarus Lake, ran the present primarily alone up till 2025, Carl Laniak joined in final 12 months and has taken over a lot of the race group. Like final 12 months, anybody on website is held to a excessive stage of secrecy all through the occasion, and racer identities aren’t revealed by the “official” Barkley Marathons information channel — Keith Dunn’s Bluesky and X feed — till nicely into the race. When he studies, “Chiseled Jaw Guy, Knee Guy, Old Guy, Midnight guy, and The Path Finder are the first five in,” or “The first five through the tower all have French accents,” he gives loads of fodder for hypothesis. While American Max King’s sponsor, Kailas Fuga, shared that King was racing forward of the occasion, and Mathieu Blanchard (France) earned an entry by profitable the 2025 Barkley Classic 50k, the identities of the opposite entrants remained unknown to most of the people.

How the Race Played Out

When the conch was blown at 5 a.m. on Saturday morning, racers made their closing preparation and lined up on the mini yellow gate at midnight, clad in loads of heat layers. Laz lit his ceremonial cigarette at 6 a.m., they usually had been off. For one particular person, their race solely lasted three hours earlier than they dropped and needed to discover their means again to the beginning.

This 12 months’s 40-person area got here from 15 nations and had 10 ladies. Some of the highest contenders on the beginning line are believed to have included Sébastien Raichon (France), Blanchard, Damian Hall (U.Ok.), King, Aurélien Sanchez (France), and Kelly. The ladies’s area is believed to have contained Emma Stuart (Ireland), Megan Eckert, and Séverine Vandermeulen (Belgium), amongst others. Raichon gained this 12 months’s 268-mile Winter Spine Race within the U.Ok. solely a month in the past, Blanchard gained the 2025 Yukon Arctic Ultra and was second on the 2025 Hardrock 100, Hall reached the fifth lap of Barkley in 2024 however didn’t end, King was sidelined by a knee damage on the occasion final 12 months, Sanchez completed the race in 2023, and Kelly completed the race in 2017, 2023, and 2024. On the ladies’s facet, Stuart gained the 2023 Arc of Attrition 100 Mile, Eckert holds the ladies’s 6-day world file, and Vandermeulen is a profitable orienteer.

The U.S.’s Allison Powell making her first try on the 2026 Barkley Marathons. We consider she accomplished one lap however completed it over the time restrict. Photo: Jacob Zocherman

Reports got here by that, partway by the primary lap on the tower, the highest 5 all had French accents. Reports additionally indicated that the entrance of the sphere was made up of two bigger teams of 9 and 10, respectively, with the entrance group coming by with 2:40 on the clock, and the second about 45 minutes again. The complete area was by the spot by midday.

The first 5 runners — recognized as Chiseled Jaw Guy, Knee Guy, Old Guy, Midnight Guy, and The Path Finder — accomplished the primary lap in 9:47:08, and the quickest turnaround time to get again out heading in the right direction was 9 minutes and 22 seconds. Soon, a gentle trickle of runners, 30% of the sphere, headed out for lap two, which is when the rain began.

We consider Vandermeulen completed loop one someday round 12.5 hours elapsed and headed out for a second loop. We suppose she was the second-to-last of the 12 runners of the 40 starters who began loop 2, and the one girl to start a second lap.

With 16:05 on the clock, all 12 of the runners out on the second lap handed the tower partway by the loop, however the drops got here rapidly after that.

Raichon, Blanchard, and Hall all completed loop 2 collectively in 22:35:40. This was Raichon’s second try on the race, Hall’s third, and Blanchard’s first. Hall was the primary again on the path, opting to take the instant creek crossing barefoot with the intention to maintain his footwear dry. He was adopted shortly by Raichon and Blanchard.

King, on his third try on the race, completed his second loop in 24:06:38 and went out for loop 3 after a 36-minute pit cease. He was the ultimate runner to go out on loop 3 as the remainder of the 12 preliminary loop 2 runners both dropped or missed the cutoff to start out the subsequent lap.

As Sunday, the second day, started, fog joined the rain, limiting visibility and making circumstances much more difficult. Blanchard dropped mid-lap 3 due to the chilly, and King dropped after discovering simply 4 books because the fog continued to thicken.

As the clock ticked right down to the 36-hour mark, the cutoff for when racers want to go away to start out their loop 4, there was no signal of the 2 remaining runners — Raichon and Hall — heading in the right direction amongst the fog.

About two hours after the cutoff handed however earlier than the 40-hour Fun Run time restrict, Sébastien Raichon completed his three-loop Fun Run in 38:05:46. Not lengthy after, Damian Hall returned to the end line with out having accomplished the total third loop.

It was a 12 months that the climate and course gained — once more.

The U.Ok.’s Damian Hall together with his footwear off throughout the 2026 Barkley Marathons. He took the creek crossing close to the start-finish line barefoot to maintain his footwear dry. He completed two loops, however stop throughout the third. Photo: Jacob Zocherman