Big’s Backyard Ultra

Results: 2025

72 runners started.

Only Gore is a finisher under backyard rules; everyone else is listed with a stop status (RTC, INC, OVER or DQ). The official results list 72 runners, four of them women, with bibs up to 75. DUV also lists 72 but gives 764.484 km for Gore because it uses 6.706 km per yard; Yardlore counts 74 participants. Other site profiles in this race: Brecht Vandamme 98, Dan Camac 93, Merijn Geerts 88, Christophe Baud 67, Scott Snell 65, Sam Harvey 24 and Łukasz Wróbel 17.

Source: Official 2025 results (RaceResult, timing by MCM Timing and Results). Checked October 19, 2026.

Next edition: October 16, 2027. The organizer’s race page and 2027 qualifying page list the next individual world championship for Saturday, October 16, 2027 at 07:00 in Bell Buckle, with 75 places. Fifty go to national champions from the 2026 World Team Championship and 25 to the At-Large list. Big’s in October 2026 is the team championship, which has its own guide on this site.

Event Overview

The original backyard ultra, run by Lazarus Lake on his land near Bell Buckle, Tennessee, and now the individual world championship in odd-numbered years. A field of up to 75 qualified runners starts a 4.167-mile yard every hour, on trail by day and road by night, until one runner is left.

Course & Terrain

Backyard ultra on Laz’s property: a 4.167-mile (6.7056 km) yard every hour, on a single-track trail loop by day and a soft-base asphalt road loop at night.

Key course features to know before comparing this race:

• Day loop: single-track trail with about 475 ft of climbing per yard
• Night loop: soft-base asphalt road with about 100 ft of climbing per yard
• The official results show 11 trail yards and then 13 road yards in each 24 hours
• Starting corral and camp on Laz’s farm at Short Creek

The trail loop is the harder of the two and is run in daylight. Runners switch to the faster road loop for the night, so shoes and pacing change twice a day.

The race runs in mid to late October in middle Tennessee. Yardlore’s edition summaries show a wide range: 2°C to 18°C in 2018, 11°C to 23°C with heavy rain in 2019, and 6°C to 27°C with rain in 2025.

Format & Support (as run)

Why This Race Matters

Big’s is where the backyard format started. Gary “Lazarus Lake” Cantrell first held it on his land in Bell Buckle in 2011, and it is named after his dog, Big. It is now the individual world championship. In odd-numbered years the strongest backyard runners from around the world come to Tennessee as national champions or from the At-Large list. The winning total has grown from 18 yards in 2011 to 108 in 2023 and 114 in 2025. In 2019 Maggie Guterl became the first woman to win, with 60 yards.

Historical benchmark notes in the directory record (verify current records with the linked official sources):

• Course record: 114 yards (764.438 km), Phil Gore (Australia), 2025, past Harvey Lewis’s 108 from 2023.
• Women’s best at Big’s: 95 yards, Sarah Perry (United Kingdom), 2025. It broke the women’s backyard record of 87, and Megan Eckert also passed it with 92 in the same race.
• Harvey Lewis and Jon Noll share the US national record of 111 yards, both set at Big’s in 2025.
• National records still listed from Big’s include Kazuhiro Kawahata’s 106 (Japan), Nicolas Cointepas’s 105 (France), Hendrik Boury’s 100 (Germany), Sarah Perry’s 95 (United Kingdom) and Ihor Verys’s 107 from 2023 (Canada).
• Most individual titles: Harvey Lewis (2021, 2023) and Tim Englund (2011, 2013) have won twice each.

Preparing for a Race Like Big’s Backyard Ultra

The backyard ultra race guide covers the format as a whole. These guides go deeper:

• Backyard ultras explained: Rules, distance math, current records and how a race ends.
• Backyard ultra training plan: A 16-week framework with hourly-loop rehearsals and a printable worksheet.
• Backyard ultra race strategy: Loop pacing, the routine between loops, sleep and knowing when to stop.
• Backyard ultra nutrition: A tested fueling routine for eating and drinking between loops.

Best Fit

• National backyard champions and runners high on the At-Large list
• Athletes who can hold steady yard times for four days or more
• Followers who want to see the deepest backyard field in the world

Planning Notes

• Practice the exact hourly routine: loop, eat, foot check, bottle refill, and back to the start. The format rewards repeatability.
• The directory does not mark this as having simpler logistics. Confirm qualification, terrain, support, registration, medical, and withdrawal requirements before planning around it.

Event FAQs

Related Preparation

• Open the Backyard Ultra format guide
• Compare all race formats
• Use the timed-race pace calculator
• Build a backyard yard and rest-time schedule
• Build a crew and drop-bag plan
• Build a race-specific gear checklist