North Vancouver’s Gary Robbins came agonizingly close to completing The Barkley Marathons Monday, a competition regarded by many as the toughest foot race in the world.
According to Canadian Running magazine’s onsite reporting, Robbins missed the cut-off for the 60-hour race by six seconds, and arrived at the finish line from the wrong direction.
John Kelly from Washington, D.C., became the 15th finisher in the race’s history, completing the course in 59 hours and 30 minutes.
The diabolical ultra-marathon involves completing five loops of a course set through thick brush in Frozen Head State Park in Tennessee, a total distance that equals at least 100 miles. The full course contains an elevation gain that is approximately equivalent to climbing Mount Everest twice.
Video posted on the Canadian Running website shows Robbins sprinting to touch the famous “yellow gate” that marks the end of the course and collapsing to the ground. Robbins had collected all of the book pages that are used to mark progress on the course but got disoriented in fog and snow near the end of the final loop.
“I took the wrong side of the mountain in the fog,” Robbins can be heard explaining. “I went the wrong way.” Race organizers at the finish line indicated that even if Robbins had made the 60-hour cut-off he would not have been an official finisher because he did not arrive by the correct trail.
Robbins, a highly decorated ultra-marathoner, first attempted the race last year and finished 4½ laps before a navigation error made it impossible for him to complete the course in the allotted time. It was the best ever finish for a Canadian racer and third best for a rookie.
At the conclusion of this year’s race Robbins was once again serenaded by a bugler playing “Taps,” a tradition carried out for all who fail to finish the race.
For more information about Gary Robbins and the devious Barkley Marathons check out our feature story about last year’s race. In it Robbins vows to return until he conquers the race.
