The world’s most secretive and punishing ultramarathon has begun. At approximately 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Valentine’s Day, runners set off into the brutal wilderness of Frozen Head State Park in eastern Tennessee after the traditional lighting of a cigarette by race director Gary “Lazarus Lake“ Cantrell signaled the start of the 2026 Barkley Marathons.
The conch shell — the race’s iconic one-hour warning — was blown at 5:00 a.m., as confirmed by Keith Dunn (@keithdunn) on X, a well-known figure in the Barkley community. With that, a small and carefully selected field of runners began what many consider the hardest race on Earth.
The cigarette was lit at 6:00 a.mm EST, signaling the start of the race.
The conch was blown at 5:00am. The 2026 Barkley Marathons begins in one hour. #BM100
— Keith (@keithdunn) February 14, 2026
What Is the Barkley Marathons?
For the uninitiated, the Barkley Marathons is not your typical race. It is a roughly 100-mile ultramarathon consisting of five loops through the rugged, unmarked terrain of the Cumberland Mountains. Each loop covers approximately 20 miles with around 12,000 feet of elevation gain — meaning runners must climb and descend the equivalent of two Mount Everests over the full course.
There are no aid stations. No GPS devices. Runners navigate using nothing but a compass and printed maps of the course, which changes every year. At designated points along the route, they must find hidden books and tear out the page corresponding to their bib number as proof of passage.
The race was inspired in part by the 1977 escape of James Earl Ray from nearby Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary. When Cantrell learned that Ray had only covered about eight miles in 54 hours of freedom in those woods, he reportedly thought, “I could do at least 100 miles.” The rest is ultrarunning legend.
A History of Failure — By Design
The Barkley Marathons is designed for runners to fail, and they overwhelmingly do. In nearly four decades of the race’s existence, only a handful of runners have ever completed all five loops within the 60-hour cutoff. There are many years where we even see zero finishers. The course’s combination of steep climbs, dense undergrowth, briars, navigation challenges, sleep deprivation, and unpredictable late-winter weather in the Tennessee mountains makes it arguably the most demanding footrace ever conceived.
Jasmin Paris made history in 2024 by becoming the first woman to ever complete the Barkley Marathons, finishing all five loops with just 99 seconds to spare in an agonizing final stretch that captivated the running world.
Secrecy and Selection
Everything about the Barkley is shrouded in mystery. The application process itself is a puzzle — prospective runners must figure out how to even submit an entry, and the methods change from year to year. The field is limited to roughly 40 runners, selected at the sole discretion of Cantrell. The exact start date is never announced publicly in advance; runners are given only a rough window and must be ready when the conch sounds.
There is no live tracking, no official social media account, and no television broadcast. News of the race filters out through a devoted community of followers, journalists, and the occasional social media post — much like Dunn’s today.
What to Watch For
With the race now underway, the ultrarunning community will be glued to whatever fragments of information emerge from the Tennessee wilderness over the next 60 hours. Runners have until sometime Monday to complete all five loops.
Updates will be sporadic. That’s by design. In an age of constant connectivity and live-streamed everything, the Barkley Marathons remains a beautifully stubborn throwback — a race that asks everything of its runners and reveals almost nothing to the outside world until it’s over.
The conch has blown. The runners are in the woods. Now we wait.
This is a developing story and will be updated as information becomes available.
Very excited as ever to hear who is running ! Looking forward to Keith’s news! LET’S GO!