Last weekend I raced my first ‘last man (woman) standing event‘,  a USWA event, dubbed Birdy’s Backyard.  ( https://ultraserieswa.com.au/ ) The concept comes from the Big Dog Backyard Ultra described below by the Guardian. Our version is called Birdy’s Backyard named as the owner of the land on which Shaun staged the first event in 2019, the name will of course stick. It is the same distance as it’s big brother in the states thereby allowing for the possibility of a qualifying event for the Big Dog in the future ?  As described below the concept is simple, you have an hour to run a 6.7k loop (4.16667 miles) on the hour , every hour,  meaning the field all start together , on the hour, until there is only one person left, he , or she, is the winner while the rest of the field are all DNF’d (Did Not Finish)

It’s a simple conceit – a slightly more than four-mile loop that you run once an hour until all your competitors have dropped out. All very straightforward, until you hear how far the winner ran ….

Run a single loop measuring 4.16667 miles within a single hour. Now do it again. And again. Now keep doing it – starting a new loop on the hour, regardless of how fast you finish the previous one – until there’s only one runner willing or capable of doing so. Welcome to the simple – some might say sadistic – concept of the Big Dog Backyard Ultra in Bedford County, Tennessee.

“The apparently weird loop-distance has in fact been carefully chosen so each 24 hours equals running a perfect 100 miles,” says Guillaume Calmettes, the Frenchman who is the current Big Dog Backyard Ultra champion. “Another twist is that every 12 hours you change between a daytime trail loop to a night-time road loop, and because the road loop has less elevation gain – and is of course less technical – than the trail loop, then reaching the road loops gives you the opportunity to get a bit more rest time in between loops, and more time to take care of yourself before starting the next one.”

Calmettes winning distance was an incredible 246 miles. That’s 59 loops over 59 consecutive hours.

Obviously the Bad Dog Backyard Ultra isn’t for everyone. It’s leftfield events like this and the infamous Barkley Marathons – both devised by the savant of suffering, Lazarus Lake – that attract a certain breed of ultra runner. The 2017 edition had one of the deepest fields to date, or as Calmettes puts it, “everything you want for good entertainment: Barkley finisher; 24hr world championship medalist; Badwater champion; Vol-State 500k champion; six-day running specialists; 100-mile winners, and so on. It was pretty humbling being surrounded by greatness everywhere,” he says.

So how to approach a race with no discernible end – a race where your competitors dwindle as the physiological and psychological torment picks off victim after victim? Quite easily, it seems, if you’re Calmettes. “Because there is no predefined finish, you cannot think in terms of ‘how many miles do I have left before this thing is all over’, so in fact, I found it very easy mentally. I just had to think about the next loop. The next loop, always the next loop, it’s very easy thinking,” he says. “You’re never overwhelmed by what you have left to run, because you simply don’t know what you have left to run.” In this case ignorance is, without doubt, bliss.

Another unique aspect of the Big Dog that turns the traditional race experience on it’s head is position. It doesn’t matter if you finish a loop quickest or slowest. Once you finish it within the given hour, every runner begins the new loop tied for first place. In fact, it almost sounds easy. Until it sinks in once again that Calmettes ran for almost two and a half days straight – through storms and rain – to take the prize. It’s a measure of his character that the race’s highpoint for him wasn’t, in fact, winning but a moment when his last surviving rival, Harvey Lewis, finished loop number 56 with only two seconds to spare. The two took off into the next loop like a couple of sugared up school kids – ticking it off in just 41 minutes. “Pushing on a muddy and slippery trail loop with a friend after 57 hours is something special and pretty fun,” he says.

The end came soon after, Lewis quietly dropping out during the 59th loop – leaving Calmettes to unknowingly complete what was to be his final, winning lap.

“The problem when you win Big Dog Backyard Ultra is that it means that you did not really reach your limits; your race stopped because all the others runners called it quits, not because you decided that it was enough,” he says. “Now that I know that I can cover at least 246 miles and stay awake for 59 hours straight, I am even more curious of what I can really do. So yes, I am definitely coming back, and hopefully we’ll hit a third night next year.”

As a final, devious twist, the prize for winning is a starting place at the Barkley Marathons. Will Calmettes take up the offer? “Of course! You cannot say no to a Barkley entry,” he says.

Right, off we go. The race was due to start on Friday at 10am and being a 3-4 hour drive (from Perth)  (depending if you let Amy navigate !) most runners left Perth Thursday and slept the night at the race location.  This wasn’t a hardship for a number of reasons. One, I traveled with Adam who has a caravan so we cocooned ourselves in van luxury for the evening and the race, and two the race itself is  around a beautiful lake which was resplendent for the whole event, albeit a tad on the cool side for my liking especially in the evening.

After an nervous evening meeting all the other runners and mentally preparing ourselves for the adventure ahead we all settled down for the last good nights sleep for at least a few days. In the morning we awoke to the lake in its full glory, a magnificent view presented itself to us and we knew we would run in perfect conditions. How does Shaun Kaesler do it? In my view a small price to pay for a soul Shaun and thanks buddy.

A few of the usual suspect had made the journey down with me, namely Adam, Rob, Rhys, Neil, Justin, Amy, Rob, Jon to name but a few. We all got ourselves ready and ambled up to the start with the rest of the 120 or so starters. The lap itself was pretty cool, luckily because we were about to do quite a few laps on it. The first kilometre was good running before you ran through what looked like a graveyard of old caravans. There must have been well over a hundred. Speaking to the owners of the caravan park it seems the water skiers tow their boat to the lake but leave the caravan and just ask the owners to tow them to their site when they turn up for their annual holiday. After the caravan graveyard there’s another kilometre or so of track before you run on the side of the lake, cross a small bridge and then a few kilometres of meadow running  before finishing running though a , dry, swamp area.  Throw in a couple of small water jumps and some challenging terrain under foot and you have the making of a great loop.

So what was everybodies goal ? We all had differing expectations. Jon wanted to win it, Adam wanted to get to use his head torch for at least one lap, (he was carrying a knee and back inury!) Rob was targeting an Ultra PB, beating his current 51k record,  while Amy and I were looking at 24 laps and our first 100 miler distance. None of us knew what to expect of course never having ran a race where you are continually stopping and starting so we made sure we all packed our massage guns (you do have a massage gun right?) and these were to prove invaluable as the race progressed, as the image below shows..

In the image below you have a few shots of our camp setup. Myself and Adam were in the business class section in his caravan, while the rest of the crew suffered outside in the freezing conditions or scuttled off into their tents. Trust me that caravan was worth it’s weight in gold later in the evening when the temperatures plummeted. While I was embracing the vans heater the guys outside where cocooned outside wrapped in sleeping bags and thermal jackets but still freezing. It can be a cruel world running ultras but I feel they learnt a valuable lesson and one they will take with them next year, I’m expecting to see a lot more caravans and Winnebago’s next year.  Jon , as always, was very well prepared but I feel this time he may have outdone himself. I reckon he had more food on his aid station that the event’s version and I’m sure a few runners found themselves at Jon’s table assuming it was the event one , only to be sent packing by Jon ! Truth be told he didn’t really make a dent in his tukka as he was also visiting the events aid station for fear he would run out. ! Bottom right of the image below you can see the coffee van which also did some really nice toasted sandwiches. I had one before the event but none on the day as I never got it together to either queue or ask someone to arrange a coffee for my return. No worries, next year I’ll get some support. (Jeff did promise to come along this year but he saw the temperatures predicted for the event and thought better of it ! Can’t blame him really, 30- 40 hours of watching runners run round and round in circles, in freezing conditions,  is not that enticing funnily enough?)

Below, starting from top left,  you have me and Rob enjoying the daylight on the first day. Then Adam and Rob relaxing after setting new PB’s and now keeping warm and encouraging us runners who were left,  before scuttling off to bed. The rest of the shots are of the local crew at various times during Friday morning and afternoon and the bottom middle shot is the last 13 runners about to set off on lap 24, 100 miles.

Right back to the race. What’s it like running a ‘Last man standing event‘ that will probably last longer than you’ve ever run before with numerous stops before starting again on the hour, every hour ? It is ace. That about sums it up, it really is the best fun you will ever have in a running event. but there is a caveat of course. If you decide to see how far you really can push yourself than fun soon disappears and you enter the dark world of the ultra runner,  pushing themselves to depths of despair that any normal person cannot imagine and, in this case , you do in on the hour, every hour. Yep, this event can become an evil mistress and the rewards are great but the price you need to pay will be a big one. This is the real point of the event, it allows each runner to go to places they will have never been before and may never go again, in the relative safety of only ever being a few kilometres from safety. No running alone , kilometres from help and facing many more  kilometres to even get to an aid station to DNF. In a looped event you have the relative security and comfort of being a maximum of roughly 3km, in any direction, from the start or finish.  There is also the added benefit of support every 40-50 minutes and a rest before starting again, this is what allows the runner to go further than a normal event. Did I put myself in that dark place only an ultra runners knows ? Unfortunately not , ok,  there were a few Goggin’s moments between  midnight and the sunrise but once the sun was up the last few hours were probably the easiest as I could smell  the finish. Would that have been different if I had decided to run until I dropped ? Definitely,  but this target was 24 hours of running and entry to the elusive 100 miler club and also a big tick of kudos before I faced the Delirious West again in February.  ( http://deliriouswest200miler.com.au/  ) Finishing strong after 24 hours was more important than  pushing myself to exhaustion,  this year anyway, next year it will be a different story.

Other positives was the camaraderie of the event. The start and finish area would be a hive of activity for 20 or so minutes when all the runners stumble in, refuel, re-hydrate , change their clothes etc (the list is endless) and then at a minute past the hour it’s back to being a very big campsite with the support crew left to their own devices and the coffee van, probably?   In that hub of activity everybody is on a runners high because they have finished another loop, another mini event really. How good is this race ? Rather than one runners high, which is the norm, this event you get one every hour for as long as you can keep on going. Birdy’s really is the event that just keeps on giving, hourly.  It is also great to see your fellow runners on the hour , every hour and , in my case, tell the same sheep jokes at the same location to the same runners, hourly. I’m not sure if Rhys and Neil dropped out through fatigue or they just couldn’t stand my jokes again? Probably a bit of both.

As I mentioned earlier all the crew performed outstandingly and all achieved their personal goals. The image below shows me and Justin entering the 100 miler club (give or take a few hundred metres apparently?) and we both decided this was enough for 2020. Personally I felt great and could have gone on but maybe that feeling was linked to my finish target, the mind allowing my body 24 laps before turning to his good friend fatigue if I decided to sneak in a few more laps.  I’m hoping I haven’t sacrificed the opportunity to go further and break through the 200km distance but if I can continue training the way I am  I’m confident I’ll be better prepared next year and I’m sure I’ll have some company with the current crop of finishers,  all set to return in 2021.

Unfortunately during the race I did manage to probably pull my Achilles tendon , and maybe tear it ?, and my ongoing fractured big toe played up at various times. Voltaren and Rock Tape got me through the event but I’m paying the price now.  No running for a week and a few rides on the Bionic Runner, stand up bike, is all I have to show since Birdy’s. It’s a price I’m willing to take but I have another one of Shaun’s events coming up mid September that I need to be ready for.  ( http://lighthorseultra.com.au/ ) The Light Horse ultra is another looped course but this time dictated by time. I’m going for the 12 hour event which last year kicked my backside and handed me my first ever DNF. Determined to give it a good tilt this year and I’m helped by the starting time moving to 6am , so most of the race (if not all?) will be in daylight. Supper excited about this one but my good friend Voltaren will need to pull his finger out to get me to the start line.

Michael Hooker won the event finishing 40 laps and doing it with ease, truth be told. Phil Gore was magnificent in second place staggering to the finish of lap 39 before collapsing over the start line, leaving Michael to his own devices.  Jon ran a perfect race for third spot, his walking, sprinting, snoozing, eating tactics obviously worked.  For the ladies the deadly duo of Margie and Jen yet again were far too strong for the women field and 99% of the men’s field. They both ran to exhaustion and proved they are a real threat when Delirious comes along again in February.

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