Canada’s Ihor Verys has finished his third loop at the Barkley Marathons, at 31:31:47, just over halfway through the race. Verys, 29, has reportedly been running in a lead pack that includes multi-time finisher John Kelly, Damian Hall of the U.K., France’s Sebastien Raichon and British athlete Jasmin Paris, who is one of only three women who started the race on Wednesday morning. Hall and Kelly finished loop three moments after Verys, in 32:12:43, and Paris was close behind in 32:15:53; Verys was first to head back out on loop four.
Ukrainian Ihor Verys is the first on loop four to lead at the #BM100
Photo credit: @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 until the race start, and runners set out on an attempt to finish five loops of the 20+ mile course (the race is thought to be about 120 miles, or 192 km) featuring thousands of metres of elevation gain, with a time limit of 60 hours. GPS watches are not allowed; each runner is issued a cheap watch set to “Barkley time,” i.e., the 60-hour limit. Runners must collect pages corresponding to their bib number from 13 books hidden on the course (they receive a new bib for each loop); missing pages mean disqualification. There is water available on the course, but no aid stations. Runners may only receive aid from their crew between loops, in camp, where they are on the clock. In the 37-year history of the race, only 17 runners have finished, all of them men.
Verys is relatively new to the ultrarunning world, but has been topping podiums since he hit the scene four years ago. In 2023, he took the assist at Big’s Backyard Ultra World Championships, which was won by fellow Barkley Marathon competitor Harvey Lewis, who ran a mind-boggling 724 km over five days; Verys set a Canadian record of 107 “yards,” smashing his previous personal best by 267 km. (Lewis dropped out during loop 2, early Thursday morning, and was “tapped out” along with several other runners.)
Verys has some solid competition in this year’s race—this is Kelly’s seventh time (including two finishes) attempting the race; last year he was one of three finishers, along with Karel Sabbe of Belgium and French athlete Aurélien Sanchez. Sanchez also lined up this year and finished two loops within the cutoff, but dropped out shortly after starting the third. By the 20-hour mark, half of the 34 runners who started had dropped out; at the time of publication, there are 11 remaining.
“I don’t know how I did that last year.” – Aurélien. #BM100
— Keith (@keithdunn) March 21, 2024
Verys is the first Canadian to test his ability at the Barkley Marathons since 2022, when Nova Scotia’s Jodi Isenor made his latest of several attempts at the race—no runners were able to complete all five loops that year.
The best way to follow live updates of the Barkley Marathons is on Twitter via @keithdunn.
