The Barkley Marathons
The Barkley Marathons
Review of The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats It’s Young
2019
Film Review 12/18/19
The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats It’s Young is an exhilarating documentary about a “secretive” race that occurs in the Tennessee Woods every year. Released on October 26, 2014 and directed by Annika Lltis and Timothy Kane, the documentary follows Brett Maune, Jared Campbell, and John Fegyversei and other runners past and present as they attempt to run the 100-mile Barkley Marathon in 2012 through thick woods and a 12,000-elevation climb. It also follows the founder Gary “Lazarus Lake” Cantrell as he explains the reasons for every little detail and aspect about the race from the distance, to the names, to the bugle that’s sounded when a runner decides to quit.
This award winning 90-minute documentary follows all of the events that led up and occur during the 2012 running of the Barkley Marathon in Wartburg, Tennessee. It starts off following one of the co-founders Gary Cantrell as he explains his thought process and ideas of the race and how the distance, track, and area for the race came about. It also talks about previous races which at the time of the documentary there were only 10 total finishers of the Barkley Marathon in over 20 years. As we progress through the documentary, we learn more of the actual details that involve running the race and what the runners will have to endure to make it to the finish line.
A runner can stop running at any point of the race which is signified by Dave “Danger” Henn playing a bugle for every attendee to hear that someone has quit. If a runner completes three loops of the race it is called a “Fun Run,” but “You must complete five loops of the course to earn the title of Barkley Finisher. The distance for each loop is about 20 miles, according to Cantrell, though runners often dispute the claim saying it is roughly a marathon or 26 miles” (Dawson). With this secretive race having a 60-hour time limit to complete the 100-mile race, Gary Cantrell explains that the Barkley Marathons really starts before the race even gets started. The Barkley Marathon is limited to 40 runners every year and registration usually fills up the first day it opens. The application process is a secret with a couple of articles saying to email someone who knows someone who knows someone involved. Andrew Dawson also said, “The information that exists says that mailing in an application, which is subject to changing each year, and a non-refundable registration fee of $1.60 is all it takes to enter. However, when and how is a well-kept secret” (Dawson).
One thing that was interesting were the different food strategies that all of the runners decided to make. At the end of each loop if the runners decided they could use a “brief intermission period” where they could sleep eat and do anything needed to help continue their goal of reaching mile 100, but the clock still continued to tick on their time. Runners had to complete loops inside of 13 hours and 30 minutes, or they would not be able to have enough time to use their intermission periods based on the 60-hour time limit. Some runners decided to continue to just run, some decided to change out their shoes and socks, and some decided they needed to load up on food and calories or sleep. With all three of the finishers of this race deciding to use their rest periods to prepare for the next loops by changing their attire and eating food. Eating granola and what looked like pasta in a can and soup heated up in a handheld pot to go along with the people that were there to support them helping them at the same time.
It was confusing at first why they all chose the food items that they did, but upon reading some articles about running based nutrition from Nancy Clark and Jen Miller I understood it so much more. Nancy’s number one last minute nutrition tip for endurance athletes was “Carbo-load, don’t fat-load. Carbohydrate-rich foods include cereals, fruits, juices, breads, rice, plain baked potatoes and pasta with tomato sauce” (Clark). Jen said, “food is more than simple nutrition, food is fuel…you are burning many more calories than you were before, and you need to replace them” (Miller). Both of these statements made it clear to me that the goal of eating these certain foods were to intake the perfect amount of calories, carbs, and proteins to give the runners enough energy to continue on their goal of completing the Barkley Marathon. All of these items were visible throughout the camp set up for runners and supporters alike to set up everything need for these runners to succeed.
This is one of the most difficult races in the world to complete. Variety’s Dennis Harvey wrote, “An insanely difficult endurance race that few have ever finished is chronicled in the delightful documentary.” For every runner that continues down the course pushing their bodies to new limits, it seems that there is another runner struggling and barely able to continue that takes the attention of the audience to see if they will be able to continue onward through the race. Audiences see this when we are following Brett Maune who finished in the previous year on his loop and we then see Tim Hardy who was a first-year runner and who Gary Cantrell expects to be the first person to quit the race. This is evidenced when Gary says to Tim Hardy when he got his race bib, “I’ll give you number 1 to make you my “human sacrifice,” or the first-person Cantrell expected to quit. Later in the documentary Tim is the first person that “Danger” Dave has to play the bugle for to signal someone quitting. Dennis has a really good argument because as we’re shown throughout the film not only has there only been ten people to ever complete the race in twenty years, but this year looked like it would continue the trend of being an insanely difficult race with few having the chance to complete it.
For the first time in its 20-plus year history the Barkley Marathons had three people make it past loop 4 and the 80-mile mark, but to find out if any of those three people can call themselves a Barkley Marathon finisher you will need to watch the documentary yourself. If you have some interest in endurance running or enjoy a documentary that is absolutely captivating, then you should sit down and watch The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats It’s Young. You can get it on Amazon, watch it on YouTube, or rent it on their own website.
Film Review Draft
The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats It’s Young is an exhilarating documentary about a “secretive” race that occurs in the Tennessee Woods every year. Released on October 26, 2014 and directed by Annika Lltis and Timothy Kane, the documentary follows Brett Maune, Jared Campbell, and John Fegyversei and other runners past and present as they attempt to run the 100-mile Barkley Marathon in 2012 through thick woods and a 12,000-elevation climb. It also follows the founder Gary “Lazarus Lake” Cantrell as he explains the reasons for every little detail and aspect about the race from the distance, to the names, to the bugle that’s sounded when a runner decides to quit.
This award winning 90-minute documentary follows all of the events that lead up and occur during the 2012 running of the Barkley Marathon in Wartburg, Tennessee. It starts off following one of the co-founders Gary Cantrell as he explains his thought process and ideas of the race and how the distance, track, and area for the race came about. It also talks about previous races which at the time of the documentary there were only 10 total finishers of the Barkley Marathon in over 20 years. As we progress through the documentary, we learn more of the actual details that involve running the race and what the runners will have to endure to make it to the finish line.
A runner can stop running at any point of the race which is signified by Dave “Danger” Henn playing a bugle for every attendee to hear that someone has quit. If a runner completes 3 loops of the race it is called a “Fun Run”, but “You must complete five loops of the course to earn the title of Barkley Finisher. The distance for each loop is about 20 miles, according to Cantrell, though runners often dispute the claim saying it is roughly a marathon or 26 miles (Dawson).” With this secretive race having a 60-hour time limit to complete the 100-mile race, Gary Cantrell explains that the Barkley Marathons really starts before the race even gets started. The Barkley Marathon is limited to 40 runners every year and registration usually fills up the first day it opens. The application process is a secret with a couple of articles saying to email someone who knows someone who knows someone involved. “The information that exists says that mailing in an application, which is subject to changing each year, and a non-refundable registration fee of $1.60 is all it takes to enter. However, when and how is a well-kept secret (Dawson).”
One thing that I did find interesting were the different food strategies that all of the runners decided to make. At the end of each loop if the runners decided they could use a “brief intermission period” where they could sleep eat and do anything needed to help continue their goal of reaching mile 100, but the clock still continued to tick on their time. Runners had to complete loops by a certain time, or they would not be able to have enough time to use their intermission periods based on the 60-hour time limit. Some runners decided to continue to just run, some decided to change out their shoes and socks, and some decided they needed to load up on food and calories or sleep. With all three of the finishers of this race deciding to use their rest periods to prepare for the next loops by changing their attire and eating food. Eating granola and what looked like pasta in a can and soup heated up in a handheld pot to go along with the people that were there to support them helping them at the same time. I didn’t understand completely at first why they all chose the food items that they did, but upon reading some articles about running based nutrition from Nancy Clark and Jen Miller I understood it so much more. Nancy’s number one last minute nutrition tip for endurance athletes was “Carbo-load, don’t fat-load. Carbohydrate-rich foods include cereals, fruits, juices, breads, rice, plain baked potatoes and pasta with tomato sauce (Clark).” Jen said, “food is more than simple nutrition, food is fuel…you are burning many more calories than you were before, and you need to replace them (Miller).” Both of these statements made it clear to me that the goal of eating these certain foods were to intake the perfect amount of calories, carbs, and proteins to give the runners enough energy to continue on their goal of completing the Barkley Marathon. All of these items were visible throughout the camp set up for runners and supporters alike to set up everything need for these runners to succeed.
This is one of the most difficult races in the world to complete. Variety’s Dennis Harvey wrote, “An insanely difficult endurance race that few have ever finished is chronicled in the delightful documentary.” For every runner that continues down the course pushing their bodies to new limits, it seems that there is another runner struggling and barely able to continue that takes the attention of the audience to see if they will be able to continue onward through the race. Audiences see this when we are following Brett Maune who finished in the previous year on his loop and we then see Tim Hardy who was a first year runner and who Gary Cantrell expects to be the first person to quit the race. This is evidenced when Gary says to Tim Hardy when he got his race bib, “I’ll give you number 1 to make you my “human sacrifice,” or the first person Cantrell expected to quit. Later in the documentary Tim is the first person that “Danger” Dave has to play the bugle for to signal someone quitting. We have to agree with Dennis because as we’re shown throughout the film not only has there only been 10 people to ever complete the race in 20 years, but this year looked like it would continue the trend of being an insanely difficult race with few having the chance to complete it.
For the first time in its 20+ year history the Barkley Marathons had three people make it past loop 4 and the 80-mile mark, but for you to find out if any of those three people can call themselves a Barkley Marathon finisher you will need to watch the documentary yourself. If you have some interest in endurance running or enjoy a documentary that is absolutely captivating, then you should sit down and watch The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats It’s Young. You can get it on Amazon, watch it on YouTube, or rent it on their own website.