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Runners from 66 countries and 22 time zones signed up to run across the state of Tennessee, a 1,000-kilometer event hatched by Barkley Marathons creator Gary Cantrell.

The Barkley Marathons, like many major road races and distance events, were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.



Cantrell, who goes by the name Lazarus Lake, set out to offer the 621-mile run as a means of motivation and to help feed both needs of runners hungry to compete and those in his home state hit hard by financial loss during the pandemic.

“We were expecting about 200 to sign up,” Cantrell told Field Level Media on Friday, the official start date of The Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee. “I thought we’d surely get 100. There’s been a lot of scrambling.”

While walking Friday morning near Short Creek and logging the first of his miles in the race, Cantrell said he pulled an all-nighter to deal with the uptick in registrations for the event. Twenty-four hours earlier, just over 6,000 had paid $60 to participate in the run — entrants can also walk or cover miles on foot in manners of their choosing — but that number was over 10,000 by Friday morning.

The end result will be more than a six-figure donation to Tennessee food banks and a “significant” donation to an animal shelter or organization to be determined.

“It seemed like a pipedream,” Cantrell said. “We said if we can get $100,000 for the food bank, that would be awesome. We’re going to do that.”

The race uses an online registration — RunSignUp — and customized form specific to each runner to track daily mileage.

The race ends on Aug. 31, giving runners four months to complete 1,000 kilometers with the option to do an “out and back” for double that distance.



Friday morning, Cantrell was stretching his legs for a 12-mile walk, well ahead of what participants need to average (around 5 miles daily) to finish before the race ends.

“It’s a clear day,” he said. “I’m going to get a long one today.”

Long is relative to Cantrell, considering he walked across the United States in 2018. He said his daily walks are generally the time he hatches ideas such as the virtual race across Tennessee. Of all the runners in the field, fewer than 1,000 are from Tennessee, and Cantrell proudly represents the state.

The route visible on the race site will also include short personal essays and experiences from Cantrell’s time in the area runners would be crossing that day on the map. The only part of the course he hasn’t covered is the portion of Virginia you’d have to enter to reach the upper right corner of the state.

“There’s very little I haven’t done,” he said. “I’ve run across all 95 counties, a lot of them multiple ways. When we open back up, I’m going to make it to all of the county seats.”

Individuals are racing the field in the Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee, but Cantrell also is organizing a team competition for any state or province with at least five runners entered. Tiny Tremont, Ill., has four runners, for example.



United States service members around the globe were pooled into one entity that will compete with other states, provinces and locales.

Winning the team competition means your top five finishers completed the course the fastest — in total days — a statistic being tracked by each individual entry, which is pooled by Cantrell’s team; Mad Mike in Michigan and Kumar in India.

The 10,000-plus entry list includes a number of pets. That came as a surprise to Cantrell and was part of his sleepless night on Thursday. The animals are welcome to run or walk all 621 miles, but they’ll now be pooled into their own division and their entry fees will directly benefit shelters in Tennessee.

The event is a welcome addition to the calendar for runners who will miss out on other events — major marathons in all corners of the globe have been canceled and others are in peril — including ultramarathons.

Cantrell has not yet pulled the plug on Vol State, a race scheduled to begin July 9 and covering 1,000 kilometers from Missouri to Kentucky. Because the start of that race includes a ferry ride across the Mississippi River in Missouri, Cantrell pointed out Friday that the social-distancing protocols — including whether shuttle buses will be in service — could force his hand in staging the sufferfest only a running glutton could love.

The Barkley Fall Classic, a shortened but brutal replica of the Barkley Marathon, is also still on as of Friday.

“It’s so satisfying to see so many people dedicate to the discipline it takes to spend the summer chasing this goal,” Cantrell said. “What will be exciting in August is watching people fight to get their last miles in and reach the finish.”



–By Jeff Reynolds (@ReynoldsJD), Field Level Media