Defending team champions with three 110-yard runners in 2024
Page published September 11, 2026 · Selection lists checked September 11, 2026
Team championship · 17 October 2026 · 73 national sites
Backyard Ultra World Championship
One 6.7 km yard. One start every hour. Fifteen runners per country, all scoring, all starting at the same moment on home soil.
The 2026 World Team Championship is the satellite edition of Big Dog’s Backyard Ultra. Belgium defends the team title it won in 2024, world-record holder Phil Gore leads Australia, and Germany’s selection list is headed by national record holder Hendrik Boury. The 2027 individual championship follows in Bell Buckle, Tennessee.
Reviewed 11 September 2026 · Pre-race guide
WTC26
Defending championBelgium · 2024
Start17 Oct · 07:00 CT
Germany starts14:00 CEST
Team size15 · all score
Yard6.706 km / hour
Countdown
World Team Championship 2026
36 days until the first bell
National teams start simultaneously on Saturday, 17 October 2026. Selection lists are published; final start lists and live tracking links follow from the organizer.
National sites73listed for 17 October 2026
15runners per team
110best 2024 team-race yards
119world record · Phil Gore
Selection lists
Teams and leaders to watch
Best qualifying performances from the official selection lists, published as rosters subject to change. Runner links open source-checked profiles on this site.
- BELBelgiumRetie
Ivo Steyaert 113 · Merijn Geerts 110 · Kenneth Vanthuyne 100 · Brecht Vandamme 98
- AUSAustraliaPerth, Western Australia
Phil Gore 119 (world record) · Jonathan Ash 100 · Dan Camac 93
- USAUnited StatesBell Buckle, Tennessee · 07:00 Central
Harvey Lewis 111 · Jon Noll 111 · Mark Dowdle 94 (Silver Ticket) · Megan Eckert 92 · Jennifer Russo 76
- GERGermanySimmerath, North Rhine-Westphalia · 14:00 CEST
Hendrik Boury 100 (national record) · Norman Mascher-Aspensjö 80 · Martin Stiller 66 · Niko Langner 61 (Silver Ticket) · Hubert Karl 45
- GBRUnited KingdomVenue not yet published
Sarah Perry 95 (women’s world record) · Dave Phillips 65 · Matthew Blackburn 63
- NEDNetherlandsLeersum, Utrecht
Kanter Eefting 54 · Nick Leeuwenhoek 54 · Roman Packbier 53
- AUTAustriaSeekirchen am Wallersee, Salzburg
Stefan Wilfinger 75 (Silver Ticket) · Sandra Gasser 41 (Silver Ticket)
Team Germany · Simmerath
Boury leads, the Last Soul finalists are absent
Germany runs at the TuS Lammersdorf sports ground near Simmerath from 14:00 CEST. The selection list is headed by Hendrik Boury, whose 100 yards at Big’s in 2025 are the German national record, and Norman Mascher-Aspensjö with 80. Hubert Karl, whose 45 yards at Last Soul were a provisional German M65 best, holds the fourteenth place.
Not on the published list
Kim Gottwald and Ayyoub “Ello” El Osrouti, the two most-searched German backyard runners of 2026, do not appear in the German selection list or its reserves as published on 11 September. El Osrouti’s 93 yards at Last Soul Ultra came on 14 August, inside the at-large window. The organizer marks rosters as subject to change, so this page will be updated if the list changes.
2025 individual world champion with 114 at Big’s
01 · The essentials
Two championships, one alternating cycle
Big Dog’s Backyard Ultra runs a two-year cycle. In even years the World Team Championship is decentralized: every qualified country stages its own satellite race on the same day, and the national totals decide the title. In odd years the World Individual Championship gathers a small invited field at Laz Lake’s property in Bell Buckle, Tennessee.
The 2026 team edition therefore doubles as the qualifier for 2027. The top 50 national champions from the satellite races earn a place in the 75-runner individual championship that starts on 16 October 2027, joined by 25 at-large runners selected from performances between 16 August 2025 and 15 August 2027.
Team lists published in September are selection tables sorted by each runner’s best performance in the qualifying window. They are not confirmed start lists: withdrawals and reserve call-ups are normal, which is why the organizer marks every roster as subject to change.
02 · Format and scoring
Every yard is one point for your country.
00:00
Simultaneous start
All national sites start at the same moment: 07:00 Central in Tennessee, 14:00 in Germany. Every runner starts a 6.706 km yard on the full hour.
Before 60:00
Finish and score
Each completed yard adds one point to the national total. All 15 team members are scoring members; there are no discards.
Next hour
Answer again or drop
Miss a start or fail to finish in the hour and your race is over. The last runner at each site to drop is the assist.
The end
Two titles decided
The country with the most points is World Team Champion. The last runner standing at each site is national champion and, if in the top 50 nationally ranked champions, qualifies for Big’s 2027. Read the official race listing.
Depth beats a single star. A team with fifteen runners at 40 yards scores 600; one 110-yard runner and fourteen early drops does not. That is why Belgium’s 2024 win came from three runners at 110 and a deep middle order, not from one performance.
03 · Qualification
Silver Tickets, at-large lists and reserves
15 Aug2026 · end of the two-year at-large window
Each country fills its team in two ways. Winners of designated Silver Ticket races earn a direct place. The remaining places go to the best at-large performances recorded anywhere in the qualifying window, which opened on 16 August 2024 and closed on 15 August 2026.
The split differs by country. Team USA lists six Silver Ticket winners plus the top nine at-large runners; the United Kingdom lists four plus eleven; Switzerland three plus twelve. Published selection tables also list places 16 to 21 as reserves, which is where withdrawals are covered.
Editorial note
A 93-yard performance is not automatically a team place. The window closed on 15 August, and it is the organizer’s published list, not a database ranking, that decides who runs.
Official results pages
2024 results Team championship history
| Year | Team champion | Notable performances | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Belgium | Merijn Geerts, Ivo Steyaert and Frank Gielen all completed 110 yards at the Belgian site. Phil Gore won the Australian site with 96 and Scott Snell the US site with 88; Megan Eckert’s 87 was the best women’s total. | Official |
| 2022 | United States | Team USA took the team title while Geerts and Steyaert set a then-world record of 101 yards for Belgium. | Official |
| 2020 | Belgium | The first team championship. Belgium won ahead of the USA and Mexico; Karel Sabbe’s 75 loops were the best individual total and Courtney Dauwalter’s 68 the best by a woman. | Official |
Media reports put the 2024 team totals at 1,147 yards for Belgium, 971 for Australia and 969 for the United States. Those totals are not shown on the official results page, so they are reported here as attributed figures rather than official ones.
Bell Buckle, Tennessee
2025 leaderboard Individual championship history
| Year | Winner | Yards | Assist | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Phil Gore | 114 | Ivo Steyaert · 113 | Sarah Perry set the women’s world record with 95; Hendrik Boury’s 100 became the German record. |
| 2023 | Harvey Lewis | 108 | Ihor Verys · 107 | Both finalists passed the previous world record during the race. |
| 2021 | Harvey Lewis | 85 | Chris Roberts · 84 | Courtney Dauwalter and Maggie Guterl shared the best women’s total with 42. |
The 2025 figures are reported by Canadian Running and match the best-performance values in the organizer’s 2026 and 2027 selection tables. The 2021 and 2023 figures come from the official results pages.
04 · Records in play
The marks every team site is measured against
The organizer’s national record table lists Phil Gore’s 119 yards at Dead Cow Gully in June 2025 as the world’s best-known backyard performance, with New Zealand’s Sam Harvey the assist at 118. Sarah Perry’s 95 yards at Big’s in October 2025 is the women’s best, and Hendrik Boury’s 100 from the same race is the German national record.
A 123-yard result from a June 2026 event in Russia has been reported by running media, together with a 96-yard women’s result from the same race. The same outlets report that the organizer will not recognize that event’s results because non-competitors were on the course. The official record table does not list those marks, and this page follows the official table.
119Phil Gore · world best
95Sarah Perry · women’s best
100Hendrik Boury · German record
05 · Where the race happens
Published 2026 venues
Venues are taken from the organizer’s satellite race listings and the German team site. Several listings still carry 2024 text, so confirm details with the national organizer before travelling.
Bell Buckle, Tennessee
Team USA runs on Laz Lake’s home course from 07:00 Central, the same site that hosts the individual championship in 2027.
Simmerath, Eifel
Team Germany starts at 14:00 CEST at the TuS Lammersdorf sports ground, organized by Biberteam with race director Michael Schlamann.
Retie and Leersum
The defending champions run in Retie under Tim De Vriendt; the Netherlands run in Leersum, Utrecht, under Chris van Beem.
Perth and Seekirchen
Australia runs in Perth, Western Australia. Austria runs at Seekirchen am Wallersee near Salzburg. The UK and Swiss venues had not been published at review time.
Remote race hub
How to follow 73 races at once.
The organizer links a YouTube livestream channel from its homepage and posts written hourly updates during the race. Previous editions used raceresult leaderboards for live standings; the 2026 links will be added here as soon as they are published. German fans can also follow the national team site.
Zusammenfassung · Auf Deutsch
Backyard Ultra Team-WM 2026: Termin, Ort und Team Deutschland
Die Backyard Ultra Team-Weltmeisterschaft 2026 startet am Samstag, 17. Oktober 2026, um 14:00 Uhr deutscher Zeit, zeitgleich mit allen anderen Nationalteams weltweit. Der Veranstalter listet 73 nationale Austragungsorte. Team Deutschland läuft am Sportplatz des TuS Lammersdorf bei Simmerath in der Eifel.
Regeln: Jede volle Stunde starten alle verbliebenen Läufer eine Runde von 6,706 km. Jedes Team hat 15 Läufer, und jede beendete Runde zählt einen Punkt für das Land. Das Land mit den meisten Punkten ist Team-Weltmeister. Zusätzlich wird an jedem Standort ein nationaler Meister ermittelt, der sich für die Einzel-WM 2027 in Bell Buckle qualifizieren kann.
Die veröffentlichte deutsche Auswahlliste führt Hendrik Boury an (Bestleistung 100 Runden, deutscher Rekord), gefolgt von Norman Mascher-Aspensjö (80), Martin Stiller (66) und Niko Langner (61, Silver Ticket). Kim Gottwald und Ayyoub „Ello“ El Osrouti stehen Stand 11. September 2026 nicht auf der veröffentlichten Liste. Die Aufstellungen sind laut Veranstalter vorläufig.
Titelverteidiger ist Belgien, das 2024 mit drei Läufern bei 110 Runden gewann. Den Weltrekord hält Phil Gore mit 119 Runden.
Deutsche Team-Seite ↗Offizielle Auswahllisten ↗Last Soul Ultra 2026 →
06 · Quick answers
World Championship FAQ
When is the Backyard Ultra World Team Championship 2026?
It starts on Saturday, 17 October 2026. Each national site starts at a local time chosen so that all teams run simultaneously: the US site in Bell Buckle, Tennessee starts at 07:00 Central, and the German site starts at 14:00 CEST. The race has no fixed finish and ends when only one runner at each site can still complete a yard.
Where is the 2026 championship held?
Everywhere at once. Each qualified country runs its own satellite race on home soil. Published venues include Bell Buckle, Tennessee for Team USA, Simmerath in North Rhine-Westphalia for Team Germany, Retie for Belgium, Leersum for the Netherlands, Perth for Australia and Seekirchen am Wallersee for Austria. The official 2027 roster page lists 73 national sites for 17 October 2026.
How is the team championship scored?
Each national team has 15 runners and every member scores. Each completed yard counts as one point, and the country with the most points is the World Team Champion. Each runner also competes for the individual national title at their site.
How do runners qualify for a national team?
Winners of a country’s Silver Ticket races earn a place directly. The remaining places go to the best at-large performances in the qualifying window, which ran from 16 August 2024 to 15 August 2026. The published selection lists also name reserves.
Who is on Team Germany for 2026?
The published selection list is led by Hendrik Boury with a best of 100 yards, followed by Norman Mascher-Aspensjö (80), Martin Stiller (66) and Silver Ticket winner Niko Langner (61). Last Soul Ultra finalists Kim Gottwald and Ayyoub El Osrouti do not appear in the list published on 11 September 2026. Rosters are marked subject to change.
How can I follow the race live?
The organizer links a YouTube livestream channel from its homepage and publishes written race updates during the event. Live leaderboards have used the raceresult platform in previous editions; the 2026 tracking links were not yet published when this page was reviewed and will be added here.
Who won the last team championship?
Belgium won the 2024 edition. Merijn Geerts, Ivo Steyaert and Frank Gielen each completed 110 yards at the Belgian site. Media reports put Belgium’s team total at 1,147 yards ahead of Australia and the United States; the official results page lists individual totals only.
What is the backyard ultra world record?
The official national record table lists Phil Gore’s 119 yards at Dead Cow Gully in June 2025 as the best-known performance, and Sarah Perry’s 95 yards at Big’s in October 2025 as the women’s best. A 123-yard result from a June 2026 event in Russia has been reported in running media, and the same media report that the organizer will not recognize that event’s results.
When is the next individual world championship at Big’s?
The individual championship returns to Bell Buckle, Tennessee on 16 October 2027 with a 75-runner field. The top 50 national champions from the 2026 team championship earn places, plus at-large runners selected from performances between 16 August 2025 and 15 August 2027.
Sources & method
What this guide is built on
Dates, rules, venues and selection lists were read from the organizer’s pages on 11 September 2026. Historical results use the official results pages where they exist; the 2020 and 2025 details and the 2024 team totals are attributed to the media reports linked below. Runner links lead to source-checked profiles on this site. Read the backyard ultra guide for training, strategy and nutrition, or the directory record for the calendar entry.
- Official 2026 World Team Championship rosterSelection lists by country, sorted by best qualifying performance
- Road to Big’sDate, qualification routes, scoring members and the championship cycle
- Team USA satellite race listingTeam size, 07:00 Central start, one point per yard, top-50 rule for 2027
- Team Germany satellite race listingSimmerath venue, 14:00 start and race director
- Backyard Ultra Team WM DeutschlandGerman team site: date, 14:00 start and the Lammersdorf sports ground
- 2027 individual championship race listing16 October 2027, 07:00 start, Bell Buckle, 75-runner capacity
- 2027 individual championship roster page16 October 2027 date, 73 national sites and the at-large window
- Official 2024 team championship resultsIndividual totals and winner/assist markers by country
- Official 2022 team championship pageTeam USA title and the 101-yard Belgian record
- Official 2023 individual championship resultsHarvey Lewis 108, Ihor Verys 107
- Official 2021 individual championship resultsHarvey Lewis 85, Chris Roberts 84, women’s best 42
- Big’s national record holdersPhil Gore 119, Hendrik Boury 100 and other national bests
- Canadian Running: 2025 individual championshipPhil Gore 114, Ivo Steyaert 113, Sarah Perry 95
- Gone.run: 2020 team championshipKarel Sabbe 75 loops and Belgium’s first team title
- run247: 2024 team totalsMedia-reported 1,147 / 971 / 969 yard totals, not shown on the official page
- Marathon Handbook: voided records reportMedia report on the organizer’s position on the June 2026 Russian results
- backyardultra.de 2026 previewGerman-language preview, field size and livestream pointer
- Backyard Ultra livestream channelYouTube channel linked from the organizer’s homepage
- 2025 individual championship leaderboardraceresult platform used for live standings