On the 10th June 1977, the man responsible for the assassination of civil rights talisman Martin Luther King Jr - James Earl Ray - escaped from the maximum security Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary nestled within the Frozen Head State Park in Tennessee.
Three days later he was apprehended after making it only eight miles.
Mocking Ray’s meagre attempt at an escape, Gary ‘Lazarus Lake’ Cantrell devised a race so difficult that some have accused him of being a sadist; a 100 mile race comprised of five 20 mile loops, across unforgiving terrain and over 60,000 feet of elevation, all within the allotted 60 hour time limit.
As well as being known for its grueling physical aspect, with only 20 people finishing since its genesis by Cantrell in 1986, the ultramarathon is also known for its quirky traditions.
Wannabe entrants for the race who have obtained a little-known email will have to fill out an essay on why they should be allowed to participate in the event, to be sent at a specific time on a specific day to have any chance of a successful entry.
The race has no official start time, rather a one hour warning by the sound of a shell conch, before the race officially kicks off by the sight of Lazarus Lake lighting a cigarette, at the iconic yellow start/finish gates.
The idealistic few who set off from those gates will have to negotiate tricky conditions of the unmarked route, along with no GPS navigation, as they look to collect 14 pages of books scattered along the route corresponding to their contestant number to prove they followed the course.
While these contestants have two and a half days to come to terms with the fact that the majority of them, if not all, will fail to reach those yellow gates within time, they can perhaps take solace in completing the smaller, and somewhat affectionately termed ‘Fun Run’, in which participants must complete three of the loops within 40 hours.
The 2026 edition saw Lazarus Lake light his cigarette earlier than ever before, with the race beginning promptly at 6am on Valentines Day, amid adverse weather and challenging course conditions. ‘The Race That Eats Its Young’ did exactly that, with the race yielding zero finishers for the second year in a row, and only one finisher of the Fun Run - Sébastien Raichon of France, with a time of 38:05:46.
The 40 foolhardy contestants, blinded by either ego or cultish commitment to the cause, undoubtedly faced increased strife due to the adverse and peculiar nature of the race’s early start; taking place in February instead of the typical start date of mid-March or April. With the majority of the race taking place across unmarked trails and built up wilderness, the already treacherous and borderline sadistic footrace was suddenly transformed into something out of a grim horror story.
Some place this down to Lazarus Lake seeking revenge against the runners for their successes against the course in the 2024 edition of the event, in which Briton, Jasmine Paris, became the first female finisher of the course, along with 4 others - thus forging the notion that Cantrell has designed the subsequent editions to restrict the chance of the runners triumphing again (at least for now).
As the wait for a finisher enters its third year, it’s no wonder why the event is affectionately nicknamed ‘The Race That Eats Its Young’.