In a 2015 YouTube video, an interviewer asked Gary “Laz” Cantrell why no women had finished his race, the infamous Barkley Marathons in the rugged mountains of Tennessee. “The race is too hard for women,” he replied with a sly grin. “They are simply not tough enough to do it, and I get to say that for as long as it goes that no one proves me wrong.” Since the inception of the race—which consists of five consecutive 20-plus-mile loops, hence “marathons”—in 1986, only 20 runners have finished. Until this year, all of them were men.

　　On March 22, a crowd flanked a tree-lined road at a campground in Frozen Head State Park. Spectators aimed their cameras at a woman in a red shirt and black capris running as fast as she could. Jasmin Paris, 40, was covered in dirt and scratches, and she could barely keep her eyes open. When the Brit touched the chipped yellow gate—in doing so becoming the first woman to ever finish the Barkley Marathons—she folded in half and then crumpled to the ground. The clock read 59 hours, 58 minutes, 21 seconds. Paris had attempted the Barkley on two previous occasions; in 2023, she became only the second woman ever to make it to the fourth lap. This year she completed all 100 unmarked, mostly off-trail miles, including approximately 65,000 feet of elevation gain, with just 99 seconds to spare before the 60-hour cutoff. Photographers closed in around her as her chest heaved and she gasped for air, capturing the soon-to-be widely shared images of the moment her life changed.

　　While the Barkley finish supercharged Paris’s notoriety—she made headlines in numerous media outlets and received an honor from the British royal family—she’s no stranger to long-distance success. In 2019, Paris became the first woman to win the 268-mile Montane Spine Race in the UK, breaking the course record by 12 hours even after stopping to pump breast milk for her 14-month-old daughter. Paris is a mother of two young children and a lecturer in the School of Veterinary Studies at the University of Edinburgh, where she specializes in small-animal internal medicine. Her training for the Barkley took place during Scotland’s cold, wet winter in the early hours before her kids woke up.

　　Paris told the BBC that she ran her race for women around the world: “Not just runners but any woman that wants to take on a challenge that maybe doesn’t have the confidence. The idea that I might have inspired them to believe in themselves and have a go—that’s huge.”