![]() And yeah, once I did get in, it was to be honest quite a bit of a surprise for me that first year. It very much has to be a conscious decision to figure out how to apply and to get in. He explained: “No one accidentally gets into that race. Reflecting on the decision to try and enter the Barkley, Kelly points out that the very nature of the entry process for the race, which is a challenge in itself, means nobody ever suddenly finds themselves at the start line in Frozen Head State Park completely unawares. ![]() ‘No one accidentally gets into that race’ “The race was a huge appeal to me beyond the normal reasons as well, because it was essentially on my home turf, and it would allow me to represent the local community and go and explore some of the mountains that have been right outside my back door and I’ve never got a chance to see.” Then I started to run and progressively got better and my thoughts kind of progressed from that initial place to eventually, well, maybe I could do that. “It was kind of in my mind that it would be really cool to do, but that I’d never be able to do that. Whilst the idea behind the race intrigued Kelly and planted a small seed in the back of his mind, the American admits that when he first heard of the race, it was something that he never thought he would be able to do. “I think it was later, when one of my friends showed me an article on it on the thru-hike to the John Muir Trail, which was actually about 10 years ago now, that I learned a little more about it.” ![]() ![]() That there were these people that came and did this thing out of the park each year but we didn’t know much about it beyond that. He said: “It’s one of those things me and my family kind of knew about. Growing up in Morgan County, which is just down the road from Frozen Head State Park in Tennessee, Kelly shares that the Barkley Marathons was an event his family was aware of, but that it wasn’t until the early 2010s that he was fully introduced to the concept of the race by a friend whilst hiking in California. ‘My plan was always to push a little bit’ – Tom Evans on Ultra-Trail Snowdonia win
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