Taking on the ‘Barkley Marathon’ – Pavel Paloncy

When Pavel Paloncy received the confirmation that he had been accepted to take part in the 2021 Edition of the ‘Barkley Marathon’, the endurance runner had to quickly adjust his schedule and scour the search engines to find a COVID safe way to make it into the USA during a global pandemic.

Determined to reach Frozen Head State Park, Tennessee and take on the gruelling ultra-marathon, Pavel made his way through Ecuador, stopping off to attempt the climb of the Cotopaxi Volcano at 5897m along the way. Pavel sat down with Ultrarunner Magazine to discuss the Barkley Marathon from his perspective and the adventure he embarked on to make it to the start line of the race that ‘eats its young’.

“Just being accepted into the Barkley Marathon is an achievement in and of itself. I received the confirmation that I had been given a place to compete in the 2021 edition, while cycling through Gran Canaria with my girlfriend. The ultra-marathon was going ahead two weeks earlier than I had expected and so it was a rush to adjust plans and find a safe way into the USA.

Due to the travel restrictions, I was not permitted to enter the states directly from Europe. I had to find a way to fly around the issue. I had a couple of options but going through Ecuador made sense. I had visited the country in 2017 and absolutely loved it. As my girlfriend went through a logistical nightmare to travel back with all our equipment from Gran Canaria, I made my way to South America and took the opportunity, during my two weeks (required) stay, to climb the Cotopaxi Volcano.

The Cotopaxi mountain is the second highest summit in Ecuador. Reaching a height of 5,897m and so overall was probably not going to have a positive effect on my training because those peaks are a bit too much, right before a race. I had planned to stay at a stable 3,000m, figuring such heights would be gentle enough just before the Barkley marathon. Although, creeping upwards towards 4,000m things were going well, until the skies dumped huge snowfall on the route. With all that fresh snow we had to divert and change course which led me to 5,700m of the elevation. Almost at the top but coming up against an impassable traverse we quickly realised there was no way through or around, and we turned back.