UK runner becomes first woman to complete sadistic torture race designed to make sure you don't finish

A runner from the UK has become the first woman to complete a gruelling torture race designed to make you give up.

Running a marathon (26.2 miles) is an incredible achievement, but beyond that there are ultramarathon events which people take part in all around the world.

Any race more than 42.195 km qualifies and over in the state of Tennessee, the Barkley Marathons may well be the toughest in the world.

The yearly event at Frozen Head State Park in Morgan County is not only 100 miles long, it features 60,000 feet of ascents and descents which are twice the height of Mount Everest from sea level.

The race is as unique as they come as it does not have a website or listed email address.

Instead to enter, you have to send over an email to director Gary Cantrell and explain why you should be allowed to compete.

If successful, first time participants also have to send $1.60 and bring a licence plate from their home state or country.

Those who are returning but did not finish previously, must bring a specified item of clothing, while finishers coming back for another go need to have one pack of Camel cigarettes with them.

Applicants receive a letter of "condolence" beforehand and normally around 35 take part in the unmarked five-loop course with no checkpoints.

And this year Brit Jasmin Paris, hailing from Midlothian, Scotland, made history by completing the horrific-sounding race.

Image: Gary Robbins / Facebook

It was her third attempt at the challenge and she did so with just 99 seconds to spare, collapsing after finishing.

"I only had like a few minutes to get up that hill," she told the BBC.

"So I ended up sprinting at the end of the end of 60 hours of burning through the forest, which felt really hard.

"It still hasn’t really sunk in that I’ve finally done it.

"This year I had a strong feeling in the months of training and run up to the race that I could do it. Those final moments have redefined for me what I am capable of."

Paris was left with scratches aplenty from the brambles she ran through but became the 20th person to complete the Barkley since it became a 100-mile event in 1989.

Image: BBC

The race can happen anytime between midnight and noon, with just one hour notice given on the day.

It starts with the lighting of cigarette and there is an even a presentation of a cake with the words, "Good luck, morons."

Next up for the 40-year-old is the Scottish Islands Peaks Race in May.