British ultra runner Jasmin Paris made history over the weekend when she became the first woman to complete the grueling 100-mile race known as the Barkley Marathon.
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In videos, you can see her run with big, agonizing steps with trekking poles in her hands and then after crossing the finish with 99 seconds to spare.
“I was just telling myself if you don’t finish it now, you’ll have to do it again,” Paris told Singletrack after the race, adding that she couldn’t believe that she was still running after five days of running.
“I couldn’t believe I was still going,” she said. “It was like everything was screaming for oxygen and it was just making it go harder and harder and then I thought I’ll either pass out or I’ll finish and then I got to the gate and it was … really amazing.”
By finishing the Barkley Marathon, Paris joins the ranks of an elite group of athletes. Since the annual race started in 1986, only about 20 people out of the approximately 1,400 who have attempted it.
Unlike most races, the Barkley Marathon is shrouded in secret. While the race takes place in Tennessee’s Frozen Head State Park each year and the racers have 60 hours to complete it, everything from registration to the actual course varies.
