Scottish Jasmin Paris became the first woman on Friday to complete the Barkley, an ultra-trail challenge contested in an inhospitable forest in Tennessee (United States), the organizers relayed on their social networks.
Unprecedented, five runners completed the 160 km (20,000 m elevation gain) this year, divided into five loops to be covered in less than 12 hours each.
Since its first edition in 1986, only 20 people have completed the course.
According to the organizers, Jasmin Paris narrowly completed the challenge in 59 hours and 58 minutes.
Paris, aged 40, is a regular at ultra-trail races: she finished 6th in the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc in 2016 and above all won in the scratch (men's and women's rankings combined) the terrible Spine Race (420 km in the north of the UK in winter) in 2019.
The fastest in 2024, the Ukrainian Ihor Verys finished the Barkley in 58 hours and 44 minutes, ahead of John Kelly, finishing for the 3rd time, Jared Campbell, for his 4th success, and Greg Hamilton.