With solely an hour and 37 minutes to spare earlier than the ultimate cutoff at 9:54 p.m. Thursday night, Aurélien Sanchez arrived again in camp at Frozen Head, changing into the primary finisher of the Barkley Marathons since 2017, in his debut. Nineteen minutes later, John Kelly additionally returned, scoring his second, much-anticipated end and changing into solely the third runner with a couple of end to his title. And with lower than seven minutes remaining on the clock, Karel Sabbe, the Belgian dentist, arrived in camp to deliver the whole variety of finishers to an unbelievable three (and a sigh of aid to his crew).
A fast water refill on the tower and Aurélien disappeared within the wooden … working !!! 50h10 on the race clock. @keithdunn, he doesn’t look nice, he seems to be improbable!!! #BM100 #AllezAllez pic.twitter.com/kXtKQxZ5Ik
— Guillaume Calmettes (@gcalmettes) March 16, 2023
That is solely the fourth time within the historical past of the five-loop model of the course (which began in 1995) that there was a couple of finisher, and the primary time there have been three finishers since 2012. Sanchez and Sabbe deliver the whole variety of Barkley finishers to 17.
4 males began loop 5 earlier Thursday; Damian Corridor dropped out and returned to camp someday thereafter, having turn into misplaced on the course and with out gathering any e book pages.
Followers’ hopes to lastly see a lady end the race had been dashed when the clock ran out on Jasmin Paris’s fourth loop; she returned to camp nicely after the 48-hour cutoff on Thursday.
Dwell motion on the #BM100 course, John Kelly arrives on the tower on loop 5 !!! Strategy to go @RndmForestRunnr, go get that 2nd end !!! pic.twitter.com/HQZ4nUhoUa
— Guillaume Calmettes (@gcalmettes) March 16, 2023
Sanchez apparently was unable to search out considered one of his books, since, based on a tweet by Keith Dunn, a day hiker had eliminated it, pondering the race was over; the e book was ready for him upon his return to camp.
As the primary finisher of loop 4, Kelly was allowed to decide on which route he needed to run loop 5; he selected clockwise, which is mostly most well-liked as a result of it’s the first route runners travelled on Tuesday morning when the race started. (If there may be a couple of runner on loop 5, they have to run in numerous instructions. Sanchez ran counterclockwise, and Sabbe is working clockwise, however a long way behind Kelly.)
And now Karel is on the tower!! 55h39 race time pic.twitter.com/D76oyEavWA
— Guillaume Calmettes (@gcalmettes) March 16, 2023
Finishers’ splits
Loop 1 Loop 2 Loop 3 Loop 4 Loop 5
Sanchez 08:48 21:13:06 32:55:48 45:57:09 58:23:12
Kelly 08:17:57 20:07:02 32:04:01 45:50:23 58:42:23
Sabbe 08:22:15 20:48:21 32:46:31 46:36:57 59:53:33
From what now we have gathered, Sanchez, 32, is from France however now lives within the U.S.; he has raced a couple of U.S. ultras, in addition to final 12 months’s Diagonale des Fous 100-miler on Reunion Island. On his Instagram web page, he has a narrative about visiting Frozen Head for the primary time in Could 2018 and discovering a walnut shell on a pillar by the yellow gate, which he has carried with him in each race since then, as a sort of good luck attraction. (It seems to have been efficient.)
Kelly famously completed the Barkley in 2017, working by way of to loop 4 with Gary Robbins, now of Chilliwack, B.C. They had been the one runners to try a fifth loop, and ran in reverse instructions, as per Barkley guidelines; Robbins took a improper flip and failed to complete.
For Sabbe, this end is redemption for the 32-year-old ultra-trail runner, who needed to drop out final 12 months on his fourth loop after he was introduced again to camp by the police for wandering round in the midst of the evening.
