02/16/2026
Tough race course!
🚨 BREAKING: The 2026 Barkley Marathons has done it again. For the 26th time since 1986, there are no finishers.
Brutal winter conditions turned Barkley Marathons into a survival test rather than a race. An early start, a frozen creek crossing, relentless rain, thick fog, and plunging temperatures transformed Frozen Head State Park into a nightmare.
Out of 40 starters, only a dozen completed the first loop. Just four elite ultrarunners made it through two loops within the 26:40 cutoff: Damian Hall, Sébastien Raichon, Mathieu Blanchard, and Max King.
But the mountains had the final word...
As the weather worsened, Blanchard and King were forced out by the cold. Hall and Raichon pushed deep into loop three, chasing history. Yet neither reached the cutoff to start loop four.
The result? The course wins. AGAIN.
They may still complete a 40 hour “fun run,” but the full five-loop finish remains unconquered in 2026. In a sport obsessed with times and records, Barkley reminds us of something raw and humbling: sometimes nature decides.
And this year, it decided no one was getting through.
📸 Jacob Zocherman
