“I It’s mid-April and just over three weeks since Paris made history, completing the final loop of the Barkley Marathons and touching the famous yellow gate for the fifth time – the first woman to do so – before collapsing with exhaustion. She had gone to the Barkley determined to give it her all and had come away knowing that she had done all she could. “I understand now why Barkley becomes an obsession; in fact, I suspect I’m already firmly in its grip,” she wrote afterwards.
The entry process itself is shrouded in mystery and intrigue. In addition to an essay on ‘Why I should be allowed to run in the Barkley’, entrants must pay a $1.60 application fee and complete other requirements subject to change.
If accepted, an entrant receives a ‘letter of condolence’ from race organiser Laz (Gary ‘Lazarus Lake’ Cantrell). Paris returned to the beautiful wilderness of Frozen Head State Park in Tennessee in March 2023 and completed four loops. “When I reached the gate Laz looked at me enquiringly and asked whether I still thought I could do five loops,” she wrote on her blog.
“I looked at him and replied honestly that I thought I could. He smiled.” The beautiful yet haunting images of Paris after she had collapsed at the yellow gate tell an emotional story very few can even begin to comprehend.
e 40-year-old is no stranger to success. She has won major international titles, including the 2016 Skyrunner World Series, in addition to setting records for.
