Could You Be The Next Barkley Marathons Finisher?

1. It's the night before the race, what do you prioritize?

Getting in that last revision of your pack and materials

Ensuring that your last will and testament are in good order

Sleep...O the precious Z's

Facebook posts! #methlabhill #fykes #lost #ogodsolost

2. It's midnight or somewhere dang near it...Your in the bowels of the defunct Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary and you hear a noise come from behind you...Is it...

A giant rat

The ghost of James Earl Ray

Another competitor

Your mind slowly melting because it's actually nothing at all

One of Laz's rescue dogs

3. Your lost. Yet again. And deep into the hollow depths of sleep deprivation 40+...No 50+ hrs deep into this race. Staring at the tree's ahead of you, what happens next?

The Gordon Fishstick Fisherman appears ahead of you but starts leading you off course and you know it! That liar!

You see Deer in the forest, and they're, yup, they're laughing at you.

You forget everything and pretend that you are Garbage Man, going for his rounds in a quiet suburban neighborhood.

You consult your compass and map, go back to..wait where is my compass??

50hrs? Hah..I left that park yesterday and already on my flight back home!

4. The first edition of Barkley was held in...

1987

1904

1986

1985

1988

5. The Barkley Marathons, different to almost all other ultra-marathons, becomes more difficult each year someone finishes.

True

False

6. Frozen Head State Park and the wilderness surrounding the region lie on top of the geological feature known as the Cumberland Plateau. What (geological) age are these sedimentary layers?

Mississipian

Devonian

Jurassic

Permian

Neogene

7. You're doing great, and you've made it to the start of the fourth loop of the race! It's 6:00pm in the afternoon and there is still a sliver of light piercing through the forest. You are 1.5hrs ahead of the cut-off and your feeling tired but not too bad-off do you...

Load-up & get going. You'll need that "time cushion" just in case.

Throw some peaceful tunes on, get a fuzzy blanket, smell something calming & sleep for 15min's then get going! still saving "some cushion"

Sleep for 45min's, as you know the extra adenosine blockers are only produced in REM

Grab an extra bag of expresso beans just in case and hope that those college "all nighters" taught you something

Try to steal Laz's bugle when he's not looking, so he can't drop anyone else!

8. It's nighttime. The fog is rolling in and your lost. In what order do you go about things?

Sit. Wait. Sleep. Wait. "Hey search and rescue!"... "Squeal like a pig boy!!" "Oh no!!!!"....Silence...

Pull out the map & compass, go back to a distant but known point and reorient from there.

Pull out the map. Trace back to where you were last reorient from there.

Pull out the map & compass, aim towards a prominent but nearby unknown landmark, reorient from there.

The map? What map? O shoot! I left that at camp!

9. True or false: If on a clockwise loop, I should head southwest from Indian Knob to Beech Tree.

True

False

10. Which rare bird is a neotropical migrant with a strong breeding population within the Frozen Head State Park boundaries?

Tufted Titmouse

Cerulean Warbler

Nutmeg Mannikin

Red-headed Grosbeak

Black and White Warbler

11. Barkley is 33.33% Navigation and orienteering, 33.33% sleep deprivation & nutritional strategy and only 33.33% physical.

True

False

12. You're 4.5hrs into your third loop and headed up to Frozen head tower, the first of the counter-clockwise loops. The conch blew at 4:30am. Your first loop was 10hrs and 15min's and you took a 15min break, before loop 2. Loop 2 was 12hrs and 30min's. IF the rest of the third loop takes you 7.5hrs how much time do you have at camp to turn around for the fourth loop before the 5-loop time cut-off?

F-it, that's "quitter's math" I don't need to calculate anything.

30min's flat.

1hr flat.

1hr 15min's at most!

13. In 2006, how many people finished the "Barkley fun run"?

3

0

1

4

2