Michitaro Mizuno

Michitaro Mizuno is a Japanese backyard ultrarunner based in Hadano, Kanagawa. His best is 94 yards, or approximately 630.3 km, at Dead Cow Gully in June 2025, where he placed sixth in the race Phil Gore won with a then-world-record 119 yards. Yardlore lists it as the Japanese M30 benchmark. A Trail Running NZ recap of that race called him a crowd favourite, nicknamed Bagman.

The nickname comes from how he runs: he carries a bag in his hand through the race instead of wearing a vest. The Running Voyager podcast says he carried a shopping bag for the whole of Dead Cow Gully. In his own RUNNET column he describes himself as running the world’s backyards “with a tote bag in one hand” and known as BAGMAN, and his website carries the name too. None of these sources lists what is in the bag. Mizuno, born in 1995, left a salaried job for backyard racing; he also organizes races, hosts a podcast and writes a backyard ultra series for RUNNET.

His first recorded backyard was Last Samurai Standing in Tokyo in November 2023, where he and Tetsuo Kiso both stopped at 70 yards, leaving no outright winner but a new course record. In February 2025 he won the first Last Samurai Standing Big’s Challenge Cup with 63 yards. He has since raced Big Dog’s Backyard Ultra in 2025 and three backyards in Poland and Australia in 2026. DUV also lists road and journey races, including a win at the Little Edo Oedo 230k in 2023.

Mizuno was second on Japan’s pre-race selection list for the 2026 Backyard Ultra World Team Championship, using his 94-yard Dead Cow Gully result as the qualifier.