![]() And while Barkley has gotten harder over the years, Hardrock’s and Nolan’s objective has remained simple and the same, which is part of the reason why they’re so cool. Nolan’s and Barkley are more about self-sufficiency and planning things out. But they’re widely different in terms of why they’re difficult-Barkley has a lower elevation, but a lot more gain and steeper hills than Hardrock or Nolan’s. While Hardrock is fantastic and beautiful and has been a big part of my life, Nolan’s and Barkley are in a different league than Hardrock in terms of difficulty and effort. I love all three of those races for different reasons. You’re one of the few people who’s done Hardrock, Nolan’s and Barkley. Campbell running the Hardrock 100, which he’s finished 10 times. So it’s a fair bit harder.Ĭantrell does that, adding another wacky twist in an effort to throw in some more adversity. I wasn’t there last year, so I didn’t see the changes he did for 2015 or the changes he made from 2015 to 2016. But every year someone finishes, the race director, Gary Cantrell, changes about 10 percent of the course. Easier in some regards, in that I know the course. Having fun is every bit as important as logging miles.ĭoes Barkley get easier every time you finish it? I always recommend doing 20,000 to 50,000 feet of gain a week if you can, but most importantly-because it can easily become monotonous just slogging up and down hills-try putting in a couple of really fun adventures that are a long time on the feet and not super fast.Ībout three weekends before Barkley, I ran from Badwater Basin to Telescope Peak and back, in Death Valley National Park, with weight on the back. In March I participate in an endurance fundraiser that consists of 24 hours of ups and downs on Grandeur Peak, which equals about 40,000 feet in a day and is great training. A lot of repetitive stuff, multiple laps on peaks, like Grandeur Peak and Mount Olympus. So I think it spans three really different experiences. Pretty early on in the first loop, there was a group of four to five with me that were all new, and it hit me that this is what I want more than a third finish-to be able to give back. But what I learned this year was that I hadn’t yet played the role of the guide-the veteran who’s helping someone out. It seemed like a worthy objective to be the first person to do it three times. So I went back in 2014 and wanted to prove to myself I could do it on my own, including all of the navigation. You’re almost at the mercy of having to follow someone. For anybody’s first time out there, there’s a very pre-defined experience. I’ve actually thought about that a lot lately. But you finished the challenge in 2012, and then came back twice more. ![]() The appeal of trying an extreme challenge like Barkley makes sense, and so does going back if you don’t finish at first. He recently took some time to talk about the races he’s done, his training and upcoming goals, and whether Barkley ever gets easier. “I’ve always felt that my body is not built for flat, fast running, and I get injured when I try to focus on it.”Ĭampbell, 36, lives in the Salt Lake City area, where he is a mechanical engineer, husband and father. “I have never been a road runner and didn’t compete in college or high school,” he says. He is also one of under 15 people to have ever finished Nolan’s 14, a sub-60-hour linkup of 14 14,000-foot peaks in Colorado’s Sawatch Range that involves a good deal of off-trail running and navigation. He is a 10-time finisher (and one-time winner) of the Hardrock 100, a Colorado race with around 34,000 feet of gain and an average elevation above 11,000 feet. It’s fitting that Campbell would be the first to accomplish that feat, as he’s known for completing some of the country’s toughest mountain-running challenges. Only 14 people have completed it since it began in 1986, and Campbell is the race’s only three-time finisher. Barkley, a 100-mile race in Frozen Head State Park, Tennessee, gains more than 60,000 feet (this year was close to 67,000) over five loops on an unmarked course. This April, Jared Campbell was the only finisher at the 2016 Barkley Marathons. Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |