Who is Jasmin Paris? The Manchester runner and first woman to complete the Barkley Marathons
A British Ultrarunner has become the first woman to finish the Barkley Marathons, one of the world's toughest races that spans for 100 miles.
Jasmin Paris, from Hadfield in Derbyshire, was one of five ultrarunners to compete in the annual race, which took her over mountains and deserts in Tennessee's Frozen Head State Park.
The 40-year-old finished the race in 59:58:21 with just 99 seconds to spare before she reached the 60-hour cut-off, which would have disqualified her from the race.
Who is Jasmin Paris?
Jasmin Paris was born in Manchester, but grew up in Hadfield in Derbyshire. It wasn't until she left the University of Liverpool in 2008 that she began running professionally.
Alongside training to be a vet, Paris spent the next decade racking up wins in ultramarathons across the world. In both 2014 and 2015, she won the annual Scottish Hill Running Championships.
In 2019, she set a new race record in the Spine Race along the Pennine Way, finishing the 268 miles in 83:12:23. As well as setting a record, she also became the first woman to win the event.
In March 2023, Paris made her first attempt at the Barkley Marathons, and was only the second woman to ever make it to the 80-mile mark. However she did not finish the race after failing to reach the final 20 miles within 48-hours, disqualifying her.
Having now completed the race, she is only the 20th person to finish within 60 hours as well as the first woman. In almost 40 years, more than half of the races have seen no finishers.
As well as being a record-breaking ultra-runner, Paris has a doctorate from the University of Edinburgh, and works as a small-animal vet and as a senior lecturer.
She is also the co-founder of Green Runners, a running club that focuses on sustainability and encouraging race organisers to make marathons more environmentally friendly.
What are the Barkley Marathons?
The Barkley Marathons have been run annually since 1986, and the event was inspired by the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr nine years earlier.
After killing King, James Earl Ray attempted to escape the authorities by running for almost 60 hours through the woods before being caught.
The race is made up of five 20 mile loops of the Frozen Head State Park, with no aid stations along the way or markings to indicate the route. Instead, runners are expected to study and copy a map before the race begins. Once they have set off, they must rely entirely on their own notes.
It was finding her way through the park that caused Jasmin Paris to fail her first attempt. After she got lost during her fourth lap of the park, she was disqualified for running out of time.
Not only must runners complete each lap in time, but also find up to 14 books scattered along the course and rip out the page that matches their race number as proof of completion.
Given the challenging conditions of the race, entrants are sent a "letter of condolence" by organisers once their applications are approved.
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