PARK BARNER IS 2012 INDUCTEE INTO THE AMERICAN ULTRARUNNING HALL OF FAME
Park Barner
(December 2012)
Park
Barner is the first Ultra Hall of Fame inductee who could legitimately
be called a "legend in his own time." In the late 1970's he was
the first American ultrarunner to become broadly known for his ultra
exploits outside the ultrarunning community. In today's age
of celebrity ultrarunners who make the rounds on national TV talk and
entertainment shows, it is worth noting that Barner received an
invitation to appear on The Tonight Show, hosted by the late Johnny
Carson, 33 years ago (he turned it down because he preferred to save
all of his vacation days for traveling to ultras). And this
unique stature--remarkable so early in the sport's history--was
certainly not achieved by self-promotion. Barner, from a small
Central Pennsylvania town, was shy, disarmingly humble, a man of few
words. He was not a talented athlete (his fastest mile was 5:19),
and he had an unusual, multi-faceted athletic career. He almost
never became an ultrarunner because he almost became a professional
bowler. To celebrate his 39th birthday he bowled 39 straight
games, averaging 199. Much later, in his 60's, after retirement
from serious bowling and serious ultrarunning, he became a serious
practitioner of the art of pitching horseshoes. At the age of 63
he pitched 1,000 ringers in 8 hours. One might detect in this
introverted, obsessive personality the key ingredients of a successful
ultrarunner--and one would be right.
Barner began his ultramarathon career in the early 1970's, when there
were barely a dozen ultras in the country (and not a single 100 mile
trail race). At 6'2" and 175 pounds, his physique was uncommon
among the sport's elite. He ran mostly 50 mile races because that
was the longest distance he could find. In 1974 he finished
second to Max White in the AAU National 50 Mile Championship. The
JFK 50-miler, the oldest ultra in the country, just celebrated its 50th
running in 2012. Barner ran the mixed trail/road course when it
was only 10 years old and only one man had ever broken 7 hours on
it. Barner won it in 6:29 (he would later run 6:23 there).
In a span of eight years he broke 6 hours for 50 miles nineteen times,
and ran between 6:00 and 6:15 another 12 times. In two of the few
100-mile races known to have been held in the U.S. prior to 1980 (both
in New York City), Barner ran 13:41 (#3 on the U.S. all-time list at
the time) and 13:57.
By the mid-70's the 100km distance had emerged as the universal global
benchmark event. The first certified 100km event in the U.S. was
held at Lake Waramaug, CT in 1974. Park Barner won it (beating
none other than Ted Corbitt) in 7:37:42, and that time became
recognized internationally as the "American Record" for the
distance. Over the course of the next 3 years Barner kept
possession of that record, lowering it in three times until it came to
rest at 7:11:44.
In October 1978, at Glassboro, NJ he entered one of the first 24-hour
races held in the U.S. He ran steadily throughout to win with a
total of 152 miles, 1599 yards. It was an astounding, world-class
performance, over 18 miles further than what was generally regarded as
the "American Record," Ted Corbitt's 6-year old mark of 134 miles, 782
yards. Eight months later he entered an invitational 24-Hour Race
in Huntington Beach, CA. He improved by almost 10 miles, covering
162 miles, 537 yards and besting Englishman Ron Bentley's World Record
by almost a mile. His metronomic, even pacing was unprecedented
for this distance range. No one in history had ever run for 24
hours the way he did it. His 50-mile splits were 7:14, 7:15, and
7:21. It took 12 years for an American (Rae Clark, last years'
Hall of Fame inductee) to run farther in 24 hours, and still today, 33
years later, Barner's distance has been bettered only by 4 Americans.
Park Barner continued to run ultras through the mid-1980's, then
abruptly retired from the sport at the age of 40. In extending
his racing range in his final racing years, his highlights included
winning the Weston 6-Day race twice, with a best of 445 miles in 1982,
and then three months later winning a 500 mile race across the state of
Michigan (including a mandatory 8-hour curfew each night) in 6 days, 6
hours.
But it wasn't just his record-breaking performances that made Barner a
"living legend." He had a unique depth of constitutional strength
and resiliency. The stories of his "outside the box" exploits are
nearly as impressive as those of his greatest races, and have
contributed to his almost mythical status in the history of the
sport. He was tolerant of all ranges of weather, but thrived in
extreme cold. He commuted to and from his job by running along
the Susquehanna River, never wearing more than a t-shirt and shorts,
even in single-digit temperatures. His final American 100km
record was run on a windy, bitterly cold day, with snow blowing
sideways across the course and the temperature plummeting through the
day. As the race progressed, most of his competitors added extra
layers of clothing with each passing lap of the 10km course. But
Barner did the opposite. He started with a jacket, hat, and
gloves, but by the end of the race he was wearing nothing but racing
shorts and a mesh singlet. To prepare for one of his 24-hour
races, he did a training run from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh (203 miles),
stopping only briefly in a diner for a piece of pie. In amongst
his frequent ultra races he ran a marathon personal best of 2:37, then
followed it the next day with a 2:39. His landmark 152+ mile
24-hour run in 1978 in New Jersey was a Friday-Saturday event.
From there he took a bus to Baltimore and ran 8:16 to take 6th place
(out of 13) in a 50-mile race on Sunday of the same weekend. In
1974 there was a 3-day, 300km stage race (100km each day) along the
C&O Canal gravel/dirt towpath from Washington, DC to Cumberland,
MD. Barner was the only finisher, with daily splits of 7:52,
8:12, and 7:48. Two years later, seeking a greater challenge, he
asked the race director to include a straight-thru, continuously timed
division. He ran the 300km nonstop (with nighttime temperatures
below freezing) in 36:48. For the size of his physical frame, he
was remarkably light on his feet, with impeccable form and an enviably
graceful, loping stride. He was frequently referred to by his
competitors as a "human metronome."
We proudly welcome Park Barner into the American Ultra Hall of Fame.
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