By George Mathias
A professional runner defeated by the “world’s hardest race” has revealed what goes into training for the Barkley Marathons.
Ultra-marathon runner Jeff Garmine trained by running up hills in the pouring rain at 2am to prepare for the 2021 Barkley Marathons.
The 100-mile race is held in the forests of Frozen Head State Park in Morgan County, Tennessee, US, and sees athletes attempt five back-to-back 20-mile loops through the forest over 60 hours.
Up to 40 people take part each year – but few finish – with the record number of finishers for a single year standing at just five.
Super-fit Jeff, 32, had completed the ‘Triple Crown of 200s’ – three 200-mile races run consecutively over four months.
He also holds the record for the fastest time on the Great Western Loop – a 6,875-mile route – as only one of two people to complete it.
Jeff did 17 hours of running per week on hills with a 30% gradient to train for Barkley Marathons, and would run up and down the same hill for hours at a time.
He managed to successfully complete two loops of over 40 miles and collect all the books during his first attempt, but ran out of time and was eliminated.
Jeff, from Bozeman, Montana, US, said: “I trained for six months – the key is to make it as miserable as possible.
“You need to be training in the coldest weather in the middle of the night on the steepest hills.
“I would go out at 2am in pouring the pouring rain and begin running up the steepest hills.
“You have to be comfortable with uncertainty and being miserable – it’s a mindset thing.
“We were just a bunch of idiots running around in the woods – it was most fun I’ve ever had while being most frustrated.
“Every step feels like you’re going the wrong way – it’s a rollercoaster of emotions, the highs and lows are so drastic.”
Jeff says those wanting to take part must write an essay entitled ‘Why I should be allowed to run in the Barkley’ and pay a $1.60 application fee to have a chance of being accepted.
If chosen to compete, each runner then receives a ‘letter of condolence’.
Each year organiser Gary Cantrell, known as Lazarus Lak, an endurance race designer and director, lights a cigarette to mark the start of the race – which can begin at any time during an eight-hour window.
Jeff said: “The whole thing is still pretty secret – part of the allure is how hard it is even to put an application in.
“It’s such a difficult endeavour and challenge even to just find out how to apply – you have to be 100 per cent invested.”
In March 2020 Jeff travelled to the camp where the athletes wait on call for the race to start.
Jeff said: “One hour before the race starts a conch shell is blown which means the race is due to begin.
“At 1am Gary Cantrell blew the shell so we all got up and had one hour to get ready and get to the start line. “
Competitors have 60 hours to complete the course – while searching for books hidden in the undergrowth of the forest which contain their race number.
They then have to rip out the corresponding page and bring it with them to the finish line.
Jeff said: “You have no cellphone or navigation – it’s just a map and a compass and very steep terrain.
“Slowly in the fog we all spread out, searching for the books hidden in the woods, there was 40 of us but that year only one person finished.
“You run for two kilometres and then turn right into the woods which is full of shrubs.”
Jeff says the event feels extremely surreal, as athletes scramble in the forest to try and find the books with their number on it.
“Every single step feels like you’re going the wrong way,” he said.
“There’s an overwhelming feeling of satisfaction when you find the book, it’s a rollercoaster of emotions.
“At one point there was a group of 10 of us searching for a book for an hour for one book, we finally found it, we had all been searching.
Jeff finished one loop of the course, but was timed out in the second one and said he felt an “overwhelming sense of disappointment.”
He said: “It’s a very unique feeling – it’s a very strange.”
Jeff, who is not married and has no kids, says he has devoted himself to ultra running and setting records.
“I ran cross country in high school but then I got bullied – I slowly took running back up once I found out you could do it on trails.
“I developed relationship with nature, I love it.”
As for the Berkley Marathons, Jeff said he hopes to come back in the future for a second attempt.
“You are called a “virgin” if it’s your first time, and virigins almost never complete the race – I’d love to come back again as a veteran,” he said.
Jeff’s training regime:
– 20,000ft of vertical gain on average per week along
– 13 – 17 hours of running at 30% gradient and higher
– Practicing eating while out running to simulate race conditions
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