 Jasmine Paris becomes the first woman ever in the history of the Barclay Marathons to complete all five loops. The Barclay Marathons was created in 1986 by Gary Cantrell, otherwise known as Lazarus Lake. It was originally a 50 mile race but soon became the 100 mile race and over that we know now. Five loops of the frozen head state park in Tennessee. There had only been, up until today, 17 individual finishers of that race. Just about 60 hours ago, 40 or so runners headed off from the yellow gate at the frozen head state park at the start of the Barclay Marathons 2024. A friend of mine was taking part, Henrik Buri, you might remember him from the Suffolk Backyard Ultra in the UK here last year where he was the assist with 81 yards. He also took part in Biggs Backyard Ultra and he was invited to take part in the Barclay by Lazarus himself. Henrik managed one loop, which is absolutely amazing for your very first Barclay. I'm sure he'll want to go back and try and better that next time, but one loop is amazing. Some people start the Barclay, don't even get that far. Other people who've done backyard ultras who were involved in this year's Barclay, well, there was Harvey Lewis, who's the world record holder, who set that world record at Biggs Backyard Ultra last year. He didn't make it to the end, didn't make it past the fourth loop. So Harvey tapped out quite early on, but the other person was E.O. Verries, who was Harvey's assist at that world record. And E.O., in fact, was the very first person back having completed five loops and finished the Barclay Marathons this year. So essentially, E.O. was the winner of the Barclay Marathons this year. So congratulations to Henrik and E.O. fantastically well done, amazing finish by E.O. to come in first. However, there were two other runners who have done this event multiple times, coming back for another crack at it. Friend of the channel, John Kelly, you may have seen the interview a few years ago. He was back for another try. He's done two Barclay Marathons, completed two Barclay Marathons before. He was back for a third finish and he got it. Amazing work by John Kelly. Jared Campbell has completed all five loops three times and he was back again to see if he could be the first person to complete Barclay four times. And amazingly, this time having had a DNF last year, he did finish it. He was the third person back, incredibly well done to Jared. He is the first person ever to complete four Barclay Marathons. But the big stories for us here in the UK were those of Jasmine Parris and Damien Hall. Both huge ultra running stars here in the UK and around the world, both of whom were at the Barclay in 2023. Damien Hall made it past loop four and started the final loop. Unfortunately, some nav issues, finding a book, cost him time, he didn't make it back on loop five. Jasmine Parris made it further than any other woman has ever done in the Barclay Marathons. She made it past loop three and started loop four. She didn't finish loop four. She and Damien were both back to try again in 2024. Now quite often the Barclay Marathon course will not take any prisoners. The weather can be brutal and quite often runners have come back and not completed the Barclay Marathon simply because of torrential rain or freezing conditions. On this occasion this year, the Barclay Marathon weather was kind and the runners had a clear run and a clear stab at getting to five loops. As runners dropped throughout the 60 hours and we got to loop five, incredibly, seven runners were still in the game. We've never had that many runners starting loop five before. And two of those were Damien Hall and Jasmine Parris. Remarkably the first 46 hours of the Barclay this year were relatively uneventful. The weather was kind. All the runners looked comfortable and in control. But it is that last loop which often catches people out. The problem being that a lot of the runners have gone around together, helping each other out, helping each other find the books, keeping each other's spirits up, keeping each other on the right navigation. However, on the last loop, runners have to go in opposite directions and often runners will find themselves on their own for the first time in the race having to navigate in the dark or in poor weather by themselves, having not done so for the entire race. However, as we got closer to 60 hours, the first of those seven runners made it back. Eeyore from Canada and Ukraine made it back to the Yellow Gate in 58 hours and 44 minutes. Congratulations to Eeyore. We just had to wait a few minutes longer before the second runner made it back. John Kelly touching the Yellow Gate in 59 hours 15 minutes for his third Barclay marathon finish. But then the news that none of us wanted to hear or see from Keith Dunn's Twitter feed. Damien Hall comes back in the wrong direction, having not completed Loop 5. Something must have happened out on Loop 5. He knew he wasn't going to make it back in time and he's come a shorter route back to camp. He didn't make it and I'm absolutely gutted for him, especially as just before that I had tweeted, I am very confident that Damien is going to make it back. I'm so sorry for him, but Damien will live to fight another day. He will be back, I am sure. He's got it in his bones now. He wants to finish the Barclay marathons next to touch the Yellow Gate in 59 hours and 30 minutes. Jared Campbell made it four finishes of the Barclay marathons and he's the first person to do that. So congratulations to Jared. Amazing effort after a DNF last year. He made it back this time four finishes for the amazing Jared Campbell. The next runner to make it back and the fourth finisher of this year's Barclay marathons was Greg Hamilton who finished in 59 hours, 38 minutes from New Zealand. Congratulations to him. And then we had another DNF, another person not making it back on the fifth loop. Sebastian Raikkon from France didn't quite finish the Barclay marathons 2024. Maybe he'll be back again for another crack next year. So that just left Jasmine Paris as the sole competitor out on the Barclay marathons course with just minutes remaining. We were constantly refreshing our Twitter X feeds. We were constantly seeing if Keith Dunne was going to do another update. We were constantly trying to contact our friends if we had any on the Barclay marathons campsite to see if they knew any news. Could we see a light in the distance? Well, no, we couldn't because even though it's dark here in the UK, it's daytime in Tennessee. It's just easier to imagine it in the dark. It seems somehow more dramatic to imagine it in the nighttime. Nevertheless, with just two minutes to go, less than two minutes to go, a tweet came from Keith Dunne. Jasmine Paris has touched the Yellow Gate, the first woman to finish the Barclay marathons ever in the history of the Barclay marathons. It's been going since 1986 and no woman has come close to finishing it. Jasmine was the closest ever last year and this year she's gone one better. She's touched the Yellow Gate after completing five loops of the Barclay marathons. Absolutely outstanding, unbelievable, completely brilliant, but also, also overdue, overdue. Congratulations to Jasmine Paris. This opens the door for women at the Barclay marathons and in ultra running everywhere. You know it can be done. Jasmine finished in 59 hours, 58 minutes and 21 seconds. That is cutting it fine. Absolutely full congratulations to all the finishers of the Barclay marathons 2024. Incredible work by Jared and John. Unlucky Damien, so sad for you to Greg. Well done to Jasmine. Absolutely amazing. And Eor who came in first, incredible. Well done to everyone who took part and I just cannot wait to see what happens at the Barclay marathons in 2025. Till next time, we'll see you on the start line.