I just came across this race going on, remember watching the end of it last year and it was addicting. They are on lap 88 at the moment with 14 folks left in the race. This makes Ironmans seem like a sprint, it hurts me just to watch the pain and suffering these folks go through for their crazy sport.. Have a look, wait for some lap finishers and see if you dont get hooked too:
What’s amazing is that 75 starters and there are so many countries represented. Nice to see two women in the final 14.
What’s amazing is the total race time. The guy heading the table has done his 91 laps in 68:36:39 vs the guy at other end has done his 91 laps in 81:54:17. 13 hours difference having run the same distance. Getting an average of 15 minutes of rest per lap vs 6 minutes must make a world of difference over the race. Insanity!
I’m a little out of the loop here, but why is that? I guess backyard ultras aren’t really following rules per se, but usually it’s one loop of 6.706 km with a start every hour, right? So how come someone can be in front?
Yeah they’re not in front per se, but the leaderboard is ordered by total race time so you can see the difference in how long the runners have been running for.
Well , it IS the World Championship
Laz’s team put up a chart a while ago, showing all the qualifying events - these weirdos are everywhere!!!
#MakeRunningWeirdAgain
#MakeRunnersWeirdAgain
Unfortunately both are now out. Megan Eckert dropped at 92 laps (616km) and Sarah Perry just dropped at 95 (637km). Mammoth effort. 9 overall runners still left standing (having just completed lap 97 at the time of this post)
That live leaderboard is worth checking at the top of each hour, when the next loop goes off. My friend Harvey Lewis is at 400 miles now with six minutes left in the hour, and as soon as he completes the lap he’s on, he’ll be at 404 miles and change. He’s a former winner of the Badwater ultra marathon and of Big’s Backyard Ultra and a frequent podium guy at both those races and many others.
We both used to be on the Clif Bar Pace Team, traveling the country to pace big marathons, where he often led the 3:05 group of runners. And he has a many-year streak of doing only human-powered commuting (run, bike, kayak) to the high school where he’s a history teacher. There’s a bus he sometimes races to his job. He also made an attempt to set the fastest known time on the Appalachian Trail. He came close, and the documentary “Like Harvey, Like Son” was done, and worth watching.
In the minutes I’ve been writing this, Harvey finished his loop and is now at 404 miles and ready to go for one more loop.
You know Harvey??? He’s amazing!
Both surpassed the previous women’s mark of 88
Yes that is the rule they follow…Total time is what is different for the runs..
And, in the end, the time doesn’t really matter
All that matters is who answers the last bell, and does that final lap
Everyone else gets a DNF
I explained the Backyard Ultra to D’Wife once
“Don’t you fucking DARE to try that”
At face value it looks like that, but when you dig deeper it is the folks that take their rest is the actual running that do well in these races. Look at all the low 30 minute lap runners from earlier, all gone now. And you have Harvey Lewis who certainly could run faster, but doesnt. And hard to argue with last years winner and a real contender once again. That extra rest comes at a cost, but sometimes you dont pay it until later.
So the top 8 just went through 100 laps, many still looking pretty good too..Any guesses on how many this year?
I guess it also depends on just personal preference. I think a 15min break sounds like a lot. I’ve done one 100miler, and i took some 5x 5min powenaps about halfway in. Just enough to fall asleep, but any longer than that, and I would get cold, and starting up again was hard.
But maybe with a crew and all, 15min is enough to zone out completely, and get the blood out of the lower body…
The record is around 120-130, if I recall correctly. So I’ll guess someone has an own goal of 150, and from there on, I don’t know.
Just based on that Stine Rex did 1000+ km in 6,5 days, and 150 laps is a little more than 1000.
Now that we are at the pointy end of the race, no one is getting 15 or even 10 minutes rest. So the real survivors are those that can work after 100 hours with 2 to 8 minutes of rest. For some it is nearly a continuous run with a few minute feed and eye close..It is so fucking brutal, and now the end games begin with the others, trying to look great or sandbagging and fainting quitting every lap..
I’m going to say it takes 111 laps this year. With so many still left, guys are going to get pushed further than ever before. Harvey went 108 a couple years ago, so we will see if he actually has more in the tank than that race..Guys going 51/52 are looking good too..
