Barkley Marathons (no female will ever finish)

Banana Bread wrote:

They are pretty easy. The course record isn't hard to beat. Even I could do it. It would be fun to see how much Bekele could smash it. I'm sure some women could if they were bothered. Ayana Almaz would laugh at the current men's course record.

Hasn't it been settled that world class running talent doesn't necessarily translate to world class ultra talent?

Meghan Hicks could do it, only woman to finish Nolan's under the cutoff. Everyone always talks about how Barkley is the hardest 'race' but it really isn't a competitive event. Nolan's seems harder, no idea how many have attempted it but it is open to literally anyone and around the same amount of finishers as Barkley. Whereas Barkley with its convoluted entry process and very small field of runners, it will never be a competitive event and that is not what Laz is going for anyway.

I think a lot of it is appeal. The Barkley is really only appealing to a very niche group of people within a niche sport. Sure it has reached the masses now as far as awareness goes, but I have a hard time thinking even half of people who run ultra's ever actually want to run Barkley. Speaking as an ultra runner myself I have almost no desire to ever line up at that race. Theres so many other races I'd rather do than Barkley.

Interested bystander wrote:

Entirely agree that there are lots of great women navigators including Tove, but the Ring of Steall is a marked course so not a good example.

You seriously didn't get my argument for Tove? Her orienteering credentials, likely better than anyone, male or female, who have ever attempted Barkley, prove her navigation ability. Her Ring of Steall performance shows her running ability is likely better than some Barkley finishers. With both those things, she would be a potential finisher if sufficiently motivated to train for it.

OK. I thought you were giving another example of navigation but this makes sense. The Ring of Steall is a good fit for Barkley too with a big amount of ascent/descent and some very technical sections. It's the hardest half marathon I've done ;).

Camille Herron will crush the record soon. She just won the "technical" 100 miler in New Zealand in record time.

What many of these gender/sex arguments ignore, although they ironically exemplify, is the estimated 4:1 male:female ratio of autism prevalence. Thus, the handicap or relative scarcity of a female being sufficiently on the ASD spectrum to care about a hillbillyu scavenger hunt is greater than any running or endurance differences seen between the sexes.

this aged poorly

sometimes it is just so rewarding to see someone proved wrong! She finished, barely in the time limit, but did it. Will there be a rush of women signing up for it in the next few years? Probably not, that type of race can only appeal to a few people. Good on her though.