hour 5

as we roll along watching the runners coming in with easy yard after easy yard i like to look at the faces and think about how we came to be here. every one of them has a story worth telling. rene romualdo cunha is here because he won the brazilian championship last...

hour 4

ritvars kalnins of latvia just ran a 31:59 yard on the third loop… . the fastest yard ever run at big’s. even including the road loops at night. having ritvars here is a special treat for me personally. ritvars is one of the last of the original generation...

hour 3

if anyone is following the big dog’s race on my pagei will not be posting there any more.you can follow my hourly updates on big dog’s backyard ultra group: link at the bottom.unfortunately posting to my personal account and sharing to the group opens up a...

hour 1

at last the long wait is over. two years of qualifying two years of preparation. and the greatest field in the brief history of backyard running is on the trail… . these are the best of the best. 75 runners every one a champion. . some are running really fast...

wait, it is not over yet!!!

recurring dream the past two days/nights. nightmare actually, in it i wake up to find out there are still runners going. somehow i had not noticed they were there and now they are just running by them selves, and we dont have any count on their yards. . well turns out...

All World Team

as we had discussed going in each member of each team was seeded 1-15 according to their best qualifying result. the runner from each seed with the highest number of yards in the actual competition was named to the all-world team. this recognizes the contribution each...

hour 102

welcome to the backyard family . how do you sum up a weekend like this? it is impossible to even start a list of the accomplishments. the number of records set; world, national, and personal. . the number of runners who went out for one more yard, not to add to their...

what’s on my mind?

what’s on my mind? . so many thoughts are racing thru my mind right now. every year when the championships happen we think the ultimate winner is feeling no pain that they can go forever. and then they finish… . only then do we become aware of the...

hour 90

. i am just making a quick post for those who might want to see history equaled, only 2 runners remain. the belgians; ivo and meryjn are now out on their 90th yard. when they come in they will equal the world record of 90 hours currently held by meryjn. this is coming...

hour 84

. and the beat(ing) goes on. . the satellite championships is down to 4 runners. as it has been for hours now. a pair of belgians are in pursuit of the 100 hour barrier. 17 hours of running is all that stands between them and infamy. . a pair of japanese runners are...

76 hours

two coins left in the us. one gold one silver . it looks like harvey will get the silver. he went out but it was obvious he was in trouble… . even now he is hiking back slowly not on course. now it is up to piotr to complete the yard and claim the gold… ....

hour 72

. 300 miles. it is simply mind boggling. that may not sound like much, but it is really far! it looks like i will see on the next scoreboard that a dozen runners have completed 300 miles in these races. what an incredible achievement for those athletes! . one thing...

hour 71

. some history was made tonight. we believe all 13 runners made it to yard 70, a mark that had only been surpassed 7 times in history! . we lost yovichin after that so we are continuing on with 4. i know both belgians went on, am pretty sure all 3 australians. and the...

hour 69

. we have some sort of issue with the leaderboard. both the guys who know how to work it have gone to bed, so we are a little uncertain of the scoring at the moment. . what we do know, belgium got within a single yard of australia before losing their extra runner....

hour 65

. tighten the screws . it comes on slowly sometimes. sometimes things happen with startling speed. other times it just sort of creeps up on you… . we now officially have a dogfight going on for second place. . belgium is now only 2 yards back and still making up...

hour 63

. it aint over till its over. and in the backyard satellites it ends when you run out of runners. then all you can do is sit and watch, wondering just how long your active pursuers can go. . many hours ago it seemed that mexico had caught the last team they could...

60 hours – death spiral

watching the runners come inn off the trail loop all day i started to feel a little concern as the afternoon wore on. now on their third day of running they are not as chipper as they once were. and as the yards kept adding up the times kept getting slower. by the...