Big's Backyard Ultra

Big's Backyard Ultra
StatusActive
GenreTrail racing
DateOctober
FrequencyAnnually
LocationsBell Buckle, Tennessee, U.S.
Inaugurated2011
FounderLazarus Lake

Big Dog's Backyard Ultra, often simply referred to as Big's Backyard Ultra, is the original backyard ultra, invented by Gary "Lazarus Lake" Cantrell of Bell Buckle, Tennessee. Participants run a 4.167-mile loop every hour, and are eliminated if they fail to complete a loop in an hour. The path of the loop is on trails during the day and along a road after dark. The distance of each loop is equal to 100 divided by 24, so that a competitor runs 100 miles for a full day of competition. There is no predefined finish. The winner is the competitor who completes a loop that no other competitors complete. If no competitor outlasts every other competitor, there is no winner.[1]

Past results

Year Winner [2] Laps Assist Notes
2011 Tim Englund 18 Dave Carver
2012 Joe Fejes 28 Marcy Beard
2013 Tim Englund 35 Keith Knipling
2014 (no winner) 49 Johan Steene / Jeremy Ebel Both runners dropped out after 49 loops.[a]
2015 (race not held)
2016 Babak Rastgoufard 29 Andy Pearson
2017 Guillaume Calmettes 59 Harvey Lewis
2018 Johan Steene[4] 68 Courtney Dauwalter
2019 Maggie Guterl[5] 60 William Hayward First female winner.
2020 Courtney Dauwalter[6] 68 Harvey Lewis U.S. winner.[b]
2021 Harvey Lewis[7] 85 Chris Roberts
2022 Piotr Chadovich[8] 76 Harvey Lewis
2023 Harvey Lewis[9] 108 Ihor Verys World record.[10]
2024 Scott Snell[11] 88 Megan Eckert Female world record.[12]
2025 Phil Gore[13] 114 Ivo Steyaert Female world record.[14]
  1. ^ When Steene dropped out to catch his flight back to Sweden, Ebel chose to drop out as well.[3]
  2. ^ In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic precluded international competitors from travelling to Tennessee, so the race was replaced by satellite events in various countries. The world title winner was Karel Sabbe in Belgium, with 76 laps.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Goulding, Justin (April 21, 2021). "Big Dog's Backyard Ultra: The toughest, weirdest race you've never heard of". BBC Sport. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
  2. ^ "Backyard Stats". Retrieved March 28, 2020.
  3. ^ Pearson, Andy (October 25, 2017). "Big's Backyard Ultra: A Race With No End". Trail Runner Magazine. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
  4. ^ "Big's Backyard Ultra, 10/20/2018-10/25/2018". my.raceresult.com. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
  5. ^ "Big's Backyard Ultra, 10/19/2019-10/25/2019". my.raceresult.com. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
  6. ^ "Big's Backyard Ultra, 10/17/2020-10/23/2020". my.raceresult.com. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
  7. ^ Potter, Alex (October 20, 2021). "Harvey Lewis is the Last Person Standing at the 2021 Big Dog's Backyard Ultra". iRunFar. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
  8. ^ Mock, Justin (October 24, 2022). "This Week In Running: October 24, 2022". irunfar.com. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
  9. ^ "Big's Backyard Ultra, 10/21/2023-10/25/2023". my.raceresult.com. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  10. ^ Brady, Sarah (October 25, 2023). "2023 Big Dog's Backyard Ultra Results: Harvey Lewis Wins After 108 Hours, 450 Miles of Running". iRunFar. Retrieved October 26, 2023.
  11. ^ "Big's Backyard Ultra, 10/19/2024-10/22/2024". my.raceresult.com. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
  12. ^ "Superstar Meg Eckert Crushes Ultra Running Race with World-Record". Adventure On SI. November 8, 2024. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  13. ^ "Big's Backyard Ultra, 10/18/2024-10/26/2024". my.raceresult.com. Retrieved November 23, 2024.
  14. ^ Turner, Jonathan (October 22, 2025). "Britain's Sarah Perry sets ASTONISHING new Backyard Ultra world record of 95 hours". RUN247. Retrieved October 23, 2025.
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