If John Kelly said it, I'll go with it. He, as one of the 15 finishers ever, would know better than any of us.
This whole comment about Laz not putting a woman in who might win is absolute sh*t. You obviously have no clue what you are talking about.
There has only been two women (I believe) SO FAR to complete the fun run of three loops. Heck, I think only one woman has started a fourth loop.
Not sure if she is in this years Barkley, but a name to look out for is Liz Canty. She's a beast and has wins at some pretty gnarly races to her name.
I feel like you'd have a fighters chance if you just stuck with the more experienced Barkley runners for the first three loops. Of course this also means you'd need damn perfect weather, a solid group of experienced runners who made it to the third loop and some luck. I've read stories where people have tried this strategy only to look down for a second, be engulfed in fog and all of a sudden the other runners are nowhere to be found. (Of course you, by this point at 3 loops are also dealing with sleep deprivation that is only going to get worse on 4th and 5th loops).