More mean-spirited than Jose Mourinho protecting a 1-0 first-leg lead, more devious than an Eddie Jones press conference. In an early reflection on the race, he simply says: “It’s not going to be the way you planned.” We discover Laz sends the successful entrants letters of condolence, while they must pay $1.60, supply an item Laz needs and a licence plate from their home.Īs we get ready for the race to start, Laz declares: “You can’t accomplish anything without the possibility of failure.” He describes the Barkley as “a ball-buster of a race” and “right at the limit of what people can do”.Billing itself as the “Race That Eats Its Young”, the Barkley Marathons is the most evil event in sport. Laz is wonderfully understated throughout and delivers all the best lines. You can’t accomplish anything without the possibility of failure. Its other stars are 2011 finisher Brett Maune, ultra-running champion Jared Campbell and Antarctica based postgraduate student John Fegyveresi, while there are many other enjoyable cameos. Gary Cantrell (Lazarus Lake) and Karl Henn (Raw Dog) are identified as the race’s co-founders, but the documentary focuses far more on Laz. The movie is set at the 2012 race, but don’t worry this review won’t give you any spoilers. Indeed, it is shot in such a compelling way that you don’t need to have the faintest idea about trail or ultra-running to be thoroughly engrossed.Ģ5 entrants disqualified from 2023 Comrades Marathon for ‘cheating’ As a result, this film is just as relevant an insight into the race as it was back then.
Since then, the Barkley has grown in stature as ‘bigger names’ such as Courtney Dauwalter, Jasmin Paris and John Kelly have taken part, but the race remains as raw and quirky as ever. It is no surprise that it won a series of awards after its release in 2014. It feels like a handheld camera documentary as we get up close and personal with ‘Laz’ and those taking on his fiendish race without the film ever looking and sounding like one. The movie is warm and endearing while offering a genuine fly-on-the-wall perspective of what many regard as the world’s toughest race. The Barkley Marathons documentary – The Race That Eats Its Young – does a brilliant job of capturing the uniquely crazy Barkley experience.
After all, even entering the race is hard enough. Race Director Gary ‘Lazarus Lake’ Cantrell revels in its obscurity and the near impossible challenge the course presents to even the best runners. In an age when publicity and slick marketing have increasingly come to the fore in trail and ultra-running, the Barkley is unashamedly the opposite. The Barkley Marathons is an iconic yet elusive race like no other.
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