Jasmin Paris has been described as many things over the last few days after her incredible achievement of being one of only 20 finishers and the first ever female finisher in the nearly 40-year history of the Barkley Marathons. Superhuman. Unreal. A machine. From another planet. But Jasmin Paris isn’t superhuman, she is a damn good female athlete.
Not heard of the Barkley Marathons? The gruelling 60-hour race isn’t like any other event you might have heard of. The entry process is shrouded in mystery but if you manage to work out how to apply and pay your $1.60 entry fee, you have to write an essay to explain why you should be allowed to run it. Once at the start line over in Frozen Head State Park in Tennessee, the start time of the race can be anywhere from midnight to noon on race day with the blowing of a conch signifying 1 hour until the race start. Race Director Gary “Lazarus Lake” Cantrell then sets the assembled runners off by the lighting a cigarette. The route of the race changes from year to year but is fundamentally 5 loops of an approximately 20-mile course, most of which is on very rough terrain through dense woodland, thick briars, steep rocky outcrops and with a huge amount of ascent and descent. There are no aid stations, just a couple of water stops. Runners must collect the pages from books hidden around the course that correspond with their race number and hand these in at the end of each loop.
For anyone to start let alone finish this event is an unbelievable achievement, the gruelling nature of the race cannot be overstated enough. Everything about it is designed to be brutal. Laz has been asked many times over the years if a woman could complete the race, and he has often been quoted as saying he didn’t think women were strong enough. Whether he meant it or was just trying to provoke a reaction was never certain, but it has taken until 2024 for a woman to prove him wrong. For us to finally have a successful female finisher, and a British female for us over in the UK, is truly ground-breaking. But to describe what Jasmin has done as superhuman to me actually diminishes her achievement. In order to truly celebrate what Jasmin has achieved, the media needs to drop this narrative that her talent must be from another world.
Women achieving great things, things that were thought to be beyond the reaches of the sex, should not be labelled as only belonging to those who have characteristics that are herculean or god-like. This almost shrugs off what Jasmin has done; she succeeded because she is not like the rest of us, she must have superpowers. The reality is that Jasmin earned this historic win because of her incredible dedication, training, mental fortitude, ability, strength, will-power and the thousand other reasons that contribute to managing a feat like this.
Jasmin herself has said in post-race interviews that if what she has accomplished inspires other women and girls to believe that they too can achieve great things then that is a brilliant legacy, but for this to be happen then we must see Jasmin as a woman like us. The 40-year old athlete has a career as a vet and researcher, she is the mother of two children and a wife and no doubt has a myriad of other commitments and complications that go along with all of those aspects of her life. Jasmin is not a professional athlete and has to fit her training in around everything else in her busy schedule. What Jasmin has shown us is that it is possible to be all of those things, but to also accomplish goals that might feel unattainable or unrealistic, challenging or tough. Now I’m not saying we should all go off and enter the Barkley Marathons, but that if inspirational women like Jasmin are out there triumphing in arenas that were thought beyond the capabilities of a woman, then we too can feel encouraged by this to chase our own dreams.
Thank you Jasmin for proving the world wrong and making women around the globe believe anything is possible.
Happy running x
Photo Credit: Howie Stern
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