Many years ago, I watched a documentary called “The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young”. It tells the story of Lazarus Lake, and his very strange, brutally tough ultramarathon trail race. As Wikipedia notes, the race is “known for its extreme difficulty and many peculiarities”.

At the time of that 2014 documentary, only 10 people had ever finished the race, and none of them were women. A decade later, that’s finally changed.

Newly added to the group of finishers, which now numbers a grand total of 20, is the very first woman: Jasmin Paris. Paris finished in 59 hours, 58 minutes, and 21 seconds, which means she had just 99 seconds to spare before the race cut-off. She left it all out there on the course.