One More Lap

Quite possibly the most unique running race on earth takes place this coming weekend in the backwater town of Bell Buckle, Tennessee. A race like no other. A race that has very little to do with racing at all. A race that isn’t about speed or about rewarding the fastest runner. It is a race where every hour upon the hour participants run a 6.7km lap of race founder Gary "Lazarus Lake" Cantrells “Backyard.” Each time they do so, they earn the right to line up at the start again, where they reset, the playing field is levelled once more and they head out for one more lap.

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Welcome to the Backyard Masters where the very best from around the world will converge in this small village to see how many 6.7km loops one person can complete. An event that has no predefined distance or finish line and a format that has little care for anyone but the ultimate winner. You see, as each hour that passes and kilometres are racked up, slowly but surely, runners will earn themselves the DNF title (did not finish) as they decide not to head out for another lap. Once all bar one runner have accepted this title, the remaining runner must complete one more lap solo to be declared the ultimate winner. In a brutal twist, failure to complete this final loop will result in no winner and a 100% DNF rate.

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It is a race that came onto my radar in 2017. I wanted to see what it was all about, so I took myself off to the middle of the desert as the sun was setting to run the 6.7km distance every hour on the hour through the night. 45 mins per lap, 15 minutes to eat and rest the eyes before lining up to go again.

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At the end of this training session I realised two things. One was that this style of race could literally last for days on end and participants will become addicted to the thought of just one more lap. Secondly, that from what I’d experienced through the night, this race had very little to do with the running.

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Fast forward 6 years and I have the honour of coaching both the top male and top female Backyard runners in the UK & Ireland. Keith Russell and Karen Nicol. It is Keith, whom after completing 89 hours at a Backyard event in Germany in 2022 that earned him a starting place in this weekends World Championship race, the ultimate test. Since Keiths 89 hour feat, runners have gone on to complete 100, 101 and the current record of 102 hours in Australia earlier this year, a total of 683.4km over the course of 4.25 days.

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No weakness this weekend my friend. Just one more lap.

Marcus