who escaped from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in 1977. Inspiration for the race comes from James Earl Ray, the assassin of Martin Luther King Jr. The race – between 100 and 130 miles long with 63,000 feet of elevation – has a dropout rate of 99% prior to this year, there had been no finishers since 2017. It can hardly be the first time the Barkley has left an imprint on a runner’s brain. I’m lost in the forest, it’s dark and I’m waking up in a panic because I know I’m not focused, and I need to be focused to finish.” “I’m dreaming that I’m in my fifth loop but not focused anymore.

“I’m still having nightmares,” says Sanchez, who has now returned home to Toulouse and resumed his work as an electrical engineer. Sanchez, after months of careful preparation and more than 58 hours of toil on the course, has now conquered all this, becoming the first Frenchman, and 16th competitor, to complete all five loops of the Barkley between March 14 and 16. The route is long and indistinguishable, the inclines are steep, and the terrain unforgiving, but that’s only if you’re able to navigate the opaque entry system and earn a spot on the start line in the first place. Held deep in a forest in eastern Tennessee – home to towering pines, bulging mountains and a former maximum-security prison – the Barkley Marathons is thought by many to be the hardest, most brutal foot race in the world. It’s a few days since he dragged his battered, sleep-deprived body to the finish line of the Barkley Marathons – one of only 17 people ever to do so – and Aurélien Sanchez is still being haunted by visions of the infamously punishing race.

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