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Where’s the finish line?
There Is No Finish Line. These are not the words you want to read as you’re running for a third day in a row, with no end in sight. “Big Dog’s Backyard Ultra” is a race like no other. Justin Goulding writes about it in this BBC article here.
Since its launch in 2011 Gary Cantrell stages Big Dog on his farm in rural Tennessee. Competitors run round (and round and round) his woods during the daytime. And at night? Well, that’s back and forth on the road so they don’t trip up on roots and die. Each lap is just over four miles long. If competitors are fast they get to sit, eat, sleep (and perform other bodily functions) for 10–15 minutes before they set off again, at the start of the next hour. If they are too slow, then it’s a continuous hamster wheel with no time off at all.
Goulding notes that “‘ultra’ is surely the most apt title for a race in which someone can run for 300 miles yet still be classed as a Did Not Finish.” Tenacity is the middle name of the wild-eyed folks who take part. As there’s no set length, the winner is the last woman (or sometimes man) standing.
Speaking of which, men and women compete fairly against each other. “When you remove speed and strength from the equation, you have women competing head on with the men” says Cantrell. For example, the 2019 winner Maggie Guterl, ran 250 miles in 60 hours. Her prize? A gold coin and the…
