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ETA: Backyard/"laps for time" format does NOT make it an Ultra - you have to exceed 26.2 miles/42K to call it an Ultra, so someone would have to complete 9 x 5K laps to claim
Agreed re 9 x 5km laps, as per post #14.
Backyard format is an ultra for the large majority of participants. The format just takes an unusually long time, almost 7 hours, for everyone to get into ultra territory.
Backyard events are designed to be ultras in the manner as other time-based ultras are.
Someone can enter a 24 hour race and finish on the race results with 22 miles; they've entered and run in an ultra, but its hard to argue they actually ran an ultra marathon. But that doesn't change whether the race itself is an ultra or not.
Same applies to Backyard ultras.