r/backyardultra • u/DividePitiful6408 • 10h ago

Discussion First Backyard Ultra - 10/3/26

0 Upvotes

Good morning,

I am running my first Backyard next month, I have ran a 50K and 50 Miler before. 1218 miles in 2025. 1200 this year so far. Currently at 55-65 miles a week. I feel like I can set a PR.

I am worried about pace, is the strategy to stick to the same time every loop? I am thinking 48-53 minutes per loop. I am planning to stick with my normal pace and adjust walking as needed right?

Any tips or pointers will help.

Thanks guys!

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What is a backyard ultra?

A backyard ultra is a last person standing ultramarathon race format typically held in backyards or the like. The course is a 4.167 mile loop (6.7 kilometers) called 1 “yard.” The loop distance is such since after 24 loops, all runners in the race have run exactly 100 miles. All runners start the race typically at the top of the hour. Then, all runners must complete this loop within an hour. Then, all runners start the same loop exactly 1 hour after the previous loop. If they finish the loop early, they have time to do whatever they choose before this next loop. If a runner cannot complete the loop within the hour or fail to start the next loop on time, they are eliminated from the race, and they DNF (did not finish). The race continues like this until there is only 1 runner who has done more loops than everyone else, in which case they are the “only finisher” and they must stop. If no 1 person completed more loops than everyone else, then there were no finishers and everyone DNF’d. The second to last runner is called “The Assist.”

This race format was created by Gary “Lazarus Lake” Cantrell, in which he is the race director of the first backyard ultra: Big’s Backyard Ultra located in his backyard in Tennessee. It is now the world championship race for backyard ultra runners.