Mark Williams

About

Mark Williams is an English ultrarunner who became the first person to officially finish the full 100-mile course of the Barkley Marathons, completing the notoriously punishing race through Frozen Head State Park, Tennessee, in 59 hours, 28 minutes, 48 seconds in 1995 — within the race's original 60-hour cutoff. His finish, six years after the event's founding, proved the 100-mile distance was survivable and prompted race founder Gary "Lazarus Lake" Cantrell and course designer David Horton to acknowledge that Williams had fundamentally changed what the race's finishers list could become. He returned to complete a shorter "Fun Run" (three-loop) finish in 1996. Away from Barkley, Williams built his ultra career around Greece's Spartathlon, the 246km road race from Athens to Sparta, which he finished twice — making the 100-mile Barkley course, by his own account, tougher than any edition of that race.

Notable Wins

• — Barkley Marathons 1995 (1st official 100-mile finisher
• — 59:28:48); Barkley Fun Run finisher 1996; Spartathlon finisher 2x

Race History