The second annual Big's Backyard Ultra is going on as we speak (started October 20th) and will continue for about another 24 hours or so.
What is it you ask? It's a loop race with a 4.17 mile course around the race director's property that you have 1 hour to complete, every hour, until you can no longer finish it in an hour. There is no race distance, you just go until you can't. Last year the winner ran for 245 miles, which is one more loop than second place could manage. That's 59 laps of the course in 59 hours, with never more than about 15 minutes to rest between each lap.
Last year just three men made it beyond 150 miles...with first and second battling for 90 miles farther than 3rd could manage.
Right now we are 40 hours into the race (166 miles) with 8 runners remaining, so the quality of the field has substantially increased. The winner is given entry into the Barkley Marathons. There are 6 men and 2 women still on the course, and one of the women may be a darkhorse to win it outright. That's Courtney Dauwalter of course who would need to beat last year's champ Guillaume Calmettes and a few other stud athletes and Barkley alumni.
Hourly updates seems excessive but I'll continue to check in with info on who is keeping it consistent and if anybody stops.
live lap times and info can be found here: