World’s craziest race – the Barkley Marathons

by Meg Nesterov on


Would you be tempted to enter a race that covers 100 miles, has no set trail, and only nine people have completed? How about if you add a cumulative elevation of over 59,000 feet – that’s twice that of Mount Everest, natural obstacles of all varieties including thorns and rats, and no aid or resting stations along the way? Hundreds have entered and attempted the Barkley Marathons in Tennessee each spring, known as one of the world’s most challenging races. Even if you “only” complete the 60-mile “fun run,” chances are you’ll come out bleeding, sleep-deprived, and a little insane (though perhaps no more so that when you agreed to enter this run) and if you give up, you still have a few hours’ walk back to camp.

This month, Believer Magazine has a fascinating account of the people behind this insane race and the culture that has developed along with it. Gary Cantrell – known as Lazarus Lake or just Laz – started the race 25 years ago, inspired by the prison escape attempt of James Earl Ray, Martin Luther King Junior’s assassin. Ray ran around the same woods for 55 hours during his attempt and made it only 8 miles, prompting Cantrell to imagine he could do at least 100 miles in that time. Now, Cantrell begins the race each year not with a starter pistol or bullhorn, but a lighter and a cigarette. Runners depart from Frozen Head State Park in Tennessee, about 50 miles from Knoxville. There’s no set start time (runners camp out the night before and await the warning via conch shell from Cantrell) and runners have to chart their own course from a map made available the day before the race. Participants have 12 hours to complete each of 5 loops, and have to tear out a page matching their race number of a book on each loop to prove they made it.
You can read another account of the race on Runner’s World, and the author’s post-script is another amazing story: after attempting the Barkley and making a documentary about running across the Sahara Desert, he’s now serving prison time for mortgage fraud.

Still want to enter? Hope you have good Googling and writing skills – there’s no official website or entrance instructions and only 35 will be allowed in each year, after completing an essay called “Why I should be allowed to run Barkleys Marathons.” The race is held in late March or early April each year, giving would-be runners a head start on figuring out how to enter.

Photo courtesy Flickr user Michael Hodge

Starwood makes checking in a social affair

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Starwood Preferred Guest, the rewards program for such brands as Sheraton and Westin, just took “checking in” from the front desk to the iPhone, BlackBerry and Android. The hotel company is launching a new program with social media company foursquare to increase member benefits.

According to foursquare’s blog, this partnership is “the first truly global loyalty integration of its kind,” an appropriate statement for a corporate blog, of course. Here’s the upside for you: when you check in (on foursquare) while checking in (at a Starwood), you can pick up more points, get free nights and win contests.

In the past, foursquare has worked with Heineken, American Express and others, but this appears to be its first foray into travel, a natural fit for a company that has built its business around location.

Travel spending from abroad jumped almost a billion dollars

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Visitors from outside the United States are bringing plenty of cash with them. In February, they spent $11.6 billion on travel to the country and on tourism-related activities once they got here. That’s an increase of $970 million over February 2010. To top things off, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, this is the fourteenth month in a row that foreign visitor spending has increased.

On average, the cash that visitors from outside our borders being spent has grown more than $1 billion a month, on average, this year. It looks like people are traveling – and spending – again!

Foreign visitors spent $2.7 billion on travel to the United States in February, up close to 15 percent year over year. Spending on travel- and tourism-related goods and services in the United States hit $8.9 billion in February, up 7 percent. This includes “food, lodging, recreation, gifts, entertainment, local transportation in the United States, and other items incidental to foreign travel.

In January and February, foreign visitors spent a total of $23.3 billion on travel to the United States and once here, up 10 percent year over year.

Meanwhile, Americans have spent $17.4 billion outside the country this year (including travel), representing an increase of 4 percent from the first two months of 2011.

No long tarmac delays in March 2011

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Good news! For the past six months, there have been no tarmac delays of greater than three hours, says the latest Air Travel Consumer Report. There were none in March 2011, a drastic change from the 25 reported by the U.S. Department of Transportation in March 2010. Year over year, for March, there was also a decline in the rate of canceled flights.

And, despite airline industry concerns, the world hasn’t come to an end.

From May 2010 through March 2011, there were a mere 16 tarmac delays of more than three hours, down precipitously from 689 from May 2009 through March 2010.

It’s pretty clear that all the industry alarmism ahead of the rule that promises stiff fines for keeping passengers stranded on the tarmac was self-serving … and ultimately meaningless.

The best part of this, of course, is that we’re now in a position to enjoy flying more. Who even thought that was possible a year ago?!

Video of the Day – Cruise ship time-lapse

by Stephen Greenwood on

We have a lot of great cruise coverage here on Gadling, and today’s Video of the Day is a must-see for all of our cruise ship fanatics out there.

Captured onboard a series of ships such as the Splendour of the Seas & Majesty of the Seas, YouTube user radiofreebc was able to capture some incredible scenes from both inside and outside the ships along the coasts of Alaska, Uruguay, Italy, Turkey, and more. For most of the videos, radiofreebc shot with a Sony Handicam (DSR-SR12) and altered the speed while editing with Final Cut Pro. The fitting soundtrack is by a now-defunct 90’s band called Slide Five.

Do you have some amazing clips or photos from your latest cruise? Share them with our community! Upload photos to our Flickr Group or post a video link in the comments below; it could be our next Photo/Video of the Day!