The Barkley Marathons :: Description Place Essays

I. Course DescriptionThe Barkley Marathons be occur in the Frozen Head State Park and inseparable Area near Oak Ridge in Tennessee. The park is touch by two prisons and a coal mine and is thirty quintette minutes away from closest the city. The course consists of a twenty dollar bill grayback intertwine, which for the most part t bunks the border of the park. The actual length of the course is an retort of large debate however. The twenty mile figure was derived by the race director from a topographic map. Most that have quarter the loop feel that it is longer, since the distance associated with elevation change and winding trails isnt taken into account. any(prenominal) feel that the loop could be as long as twenty six miles. At the other end of the argument is the distance that was derived from a survey crew in who measured the park to make a new map in 1993. The distances they got for many portions of the course were actually shorter than Gary Cantrell had listed them to be. On any account the distance assumes that the pull outner does non get lost, which is a rarity at the Barkley. The course is run on a compartmentalization of surfaces, none of which come close to ideal . Around 10% is run on rough dirt roads while 10% is run on old dirt roads which ar now surpass with grass. Approximately 20% is run on rough trails with 40% beingness on old cast aside trails which are said to be slow mistaken for the deer trails that are actually better. The remaining 20% is run on no trails at all but is actually ambush through the forest. To add to the difficulty of the trails is the extreme elevation changes. The re are ironically enough thirteen hikes which result in more than 10,000 feet of climb per loop. This is obviously accompanied by an equal amount of descent. One kickoff described it as climbing 100 floors of stairs in your prime(prenominal) mile, going back down on second mile and chronic this for twenty miles. The course amasses an avera ge grade of over 20% and surrounded by 50 and near 100 percent grade on the abandoned trails and bushwhacking sections. The grade is the reason that the trails have been abandoned or not built in the first pace. Each climb bears a rum name which in many cases gives a good idea of their nature.