Image: 2024 Barkley Marathons course / Sarah Smith

By Fraser Valley Today Staff

Ultramarathon runner

UPDATE: Chilliwack ultramarathon runner makes Canadian history

Mar 22, 2024 | 9:58 AM

UPDATE at 1:50 p.m. Mar. 22 — Chilliwack ultramarathoner Ihor Verys has become the first Canadian to complete all five loops in the Barkley Marathons. Verys completed the event with one hour, 15 minutes and 1 second under the allotted time of 60 hours for the five laps. Sarah Smith’s social media account captured Verys’ finish in the exhausting event, as he quipped “Maybe you should add a sixth loop.”

Ihor Verys approaching the finish of the #BM100. pic.twitter.com/vDiJdEgJcu

— Keith (@keithdunn) March 22, 2024

CHILLIWACK — Chilliwack ultramarathon runner Ihor Verys is hoping to make Canadian history by completing five loops in the prestigious Barkley Marathons Friday (Mar. 22) in Tennessee.

If he can finish the final 20-plus mile lap through the woods of Frozen Head State Park, he will accomplish something that only 17 other men have accomplished since the event began in 1986.

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The unique race consists of five laps or races of more than 20 miles, over five days. The courses wind through thick woodlands, with trees often strewn across the path. Runners face about 12 thousand feet of elevation changes including some brutally steep inclines.

Each lap must be completed within a designated time to allow the runner to continue with the next lap of the race, on the following day. All five laps must be completed within a combined 60 hours. Each lap can be run in both daylight and darkness with only a small headlamp to guide the competitors.

Verys won the Canadian Death Race last year and was second in the Big’s Backyard Ultra World Championship in 2023.  He was the first runner to complete three laps and continued to run strong in the fourth lap. He has nearly 14 hours to complete the gruelling fifth lap. If successful, he will become the first Canadian to complete the five lap event in less than 60 hours.

The event began with 40 runners this year. Jasmin Paris is among the final seven runners to make it to the fifth lap. She is trying to become the first woman in history to complete the Barkley Marathons.