Big's Backyard Ultra 2018 Updates - the elimination race letsrun deserves

Greg Salvesen cutting it close. At the line 26 seconds after getting back in. Probably not much left in him.

Greg Salvesen cut the last loop really close. 59:33. Meanwhile, Courtney ticked off another 50 minute loop, like clockwork.

Oops. I need to refresh the thread more often.

ultras rock your socks off wrote:

Guillaume going out is surprising, although he's only within a few hours of his miles from last year. Someone is definitely getting the record.

It was reported to be an injury on the trail.

Any further news on this? What a bummer

guillaume, save some for barkley round 2 wrote:

Any further news on this? What a bummer

Nothing yet. All info and latest pics posted on Big Dog's Backyard Ultra group on Facebook.

I am very curious about the sleep aspect of this. After long enough, that probably gets to be as much of a limiting factor as anything running / muscular related. Are runners taking 10 minute naps? Maybe taking 20 minutes (cutting into the start of the next hour) and then trying to make it up on the run for the next loop? What's the strategy? In no way am I interested in doing an event like this, but it's fascinating to follow.

courtney likes the darkness wrote:

Courtney is insane - loves to push herself to the limit. I wonder if she's had any of those power naps that "reset" things for her? 55+ hours in, I'd hope so...

The fatigue aspect is definitely brutal. A runner can’t “cut into” the next race, because failure to be at the start of the race is a DNF. Definitely agree, takes more than athleticism to run this race. Entirely psychological.

to clear up what you just said - they have to be AT the starting line at the top of the hour to continue. There's no taking 20 minute naps, etc. At most at this point they get 5-10 minutes to chow or nap.

Down to 3. Greg out.

Would be interesting to see Courtney win this thing and give The Barkley Marathons a go.

They're 57+ hours in... at some point you'd think they'd start to have hallucinations.

On the general topic of sleep and ultras, I did find this recent paper:

Courtney is IMO the most interesting runner in the world right now. Just on another level of existence. Way more fun to read about than another 2:25 Marathoner.

Unbelievable effort here... although it ultimately does not matter she is currently in "1st Place" with the fastest time overall for the 57 laps. Unreal. Just clocking an avg 49.09 loop over and over and over again. I love this race.

Incredible to witness in person. Sad to see Guillaume have to drop. The other runners seemed saddened and surprised when he wasn’t there to start the loop.

Unfortunately I had to leave.

Courtney and Gavin look the strongest. It’s amazing that Johan is still in it after having to drive all night Friday/Saturday just to get to the start.

Courtney just through lap 58 first... in under 50 min. Holy shi* what a machine.

Courtney Dauwalter just turned in another perfectly average loop. 49:22. Her average? 49:09.

she's a machine wrote:

Courtney Dauwalter just turned in another perfectly average loop. 49:22. Her average? 49:09.

The 12 night hours are run on the road. Anybody have her average splits between night and day?

MeHereYouWhere?! wrote:

Would be interesting to see Courtney win this thing and give The Barkley Marathons a go.

I love her win too but man I don't know about her participating at Barkley's. That's just a crazy 'race'... More like an orienteering ultra survival and sleep deprivation run... LOL

Night and day average wrote:

she's a machine wrote:

Courtney Dauwalter just turned in another perfectly average loop. 49:22. Her average? 49:09.

The 12 night hours are run on the road. Anybody have her average splits between night and day?

The race started around 6:40 AM on 10/20. Sunrise this time of year in Bell Buckle, TN is right around 7 AM, while sunset is at 6 PM. Based on that, I'm guessing loops 1-12, 25-36, and 49-59 (so far) were on the daytime course.

Daytime average: 50:38

Nighttime average: 47:01