Laz can hardly blink without having a camera documenting it these days - at least on the weekend of the Barkley Marathons.Īnd this weekend proved once again that all the commotion is for good reason.Ī few minutes after cracking open the drink, Laz picked up the shell, stepped to the front of his elevated campsite and puffed. 'But I could never have predicted all this.' 'I wanted a race that people got excited about,' he continued. 'People ask me all the time if I expected this,' Laz said as the assembled people bounced their eyes between the bearded 60-something and a conch shell nearby on the wooden table. But it measures more than just speed and endurance.įor decades, the race has lived below the radar of general public awareness, its location and date known only to its inner circle and a group of devoted fans who anxiously await its arrival each spring.īut on a recent Friday morning, dozens of cameramen and spectators descended on a small state park near the old Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary to witness the spectacle that is the Barkley Marathons.Ī small crowd surrounded Gary Cantrell, known as 'Laz,' as he sat down at a picnic table Saturday, popping the top on a can of soda. Deep in the rugged mountains of rural East Tennessee, a foot race is pushing the limits of human capability.Īt close to 130 miles and with 65,000 feet of climbing, some say it's the world's toughest trail race.

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