Canada’s Ihor Verys has completed his third loop on the Barkley Marathons, at 31:31:47, simply over midway by way of the race. Verys, 29, has reportedly been working in a lead pack that features multi-time finisher John Kelly, Damian Corridor of the U.Ok., France’s Sebastien Raichon and British athlete Jasmin Paris, who’s one in every of solely three ladies who began the race on Wednesday morning. Corridor and Kelly completed loop three moments after Verys, in 32:12:43, and Paris was shut behind in 32:15:53; Verys was first to move again out on loop 4.
Ukrainian Ihor Verys is the primary on loop 4 to guide on the #BM100
Photograph credit score: @howiesternphoto pic.twitter.com/orAckYJTCi
— Keith (@keithdunn) March 21, 2024
At 4:17 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Laz blew the conch, signifying one hour till the race begin, and runners set out on an try to complete 5 loops of the 20+ mile course (the race is regarded as about 120 miles, or 192 km) that includes hundreds of metres of elevation acquire, with a time restrict of 60 hours. GPS watches usually are not allowed; every runner is issued an inexpensive watch set to “Barkley time,” i.e., the 60-hour restrict. Runners should gather pages equivalent to their bib quantity from 13 books hidden on the course (they obtain a brand new bib for every loop); lacking pages imply disqualification. There’s water obtainable on the course, however no help stations. Runners could solely obtain help from their crew between loops, in camp, the place they’re on the clock. Within the 37-year historical past of the race, solely 17 runners have completed, all of them males.
Verys is comparatively new to the ultrarunning world, however has been topping podiums since he hit the scene 4 years in the past. In 2023, he took the help at Massive’s Yard Extremely World Championships, which was gained by fellow Barkley Marathon competitor Harvey Lewis, who ran a mind-boggling 724 km over 5 days; Verys set a Canadian report of 107 “yards,” smashing his earlier private finest by 267 km. (Lewis dropped out throughout loop 2, early Thursday morning, and was “tapped out” together with a number of different runners.)
Verys has some stable competitors on this 12 months’s race—that is Kelly’s seventh time (together with two finishes) making an attempt the race; final 12 months he was one in every of three finishers, together with Karel Sabbe of Belgium and French athlete Aurélien Sanchez. Sanchez additionally lined up this 12 months and completed two loops throughout the cutoff, however dropped out shortly after beginning the third. By the 20-hour mark, half of the 34 runners who began had dropped out; on the time of publication, there are 11 remaining.
“I don’t understand how I did that final 12 months.” – Aurélien. #BM100
— Keith (@keithdunn) March 21, 2024
Verys is the primary Canadian to check his capability on the Barkley Marathons since 2022, when Nova Scotia’s Jodi Isenor made his newest of a number of makes an attempt on the race—no runners had been in a position to full all 5 loops that 12 months.
The easiest way to comply with reside updates of the Barkley Marathons is on Twitter through @keithdunn.
