Thanks to Conversations by the Woodpile for Livestream footage. Follow here - / @conversationsbythewoo... Check the documentary here - • Video Absolutely ridiculous
The winner, vegan ultrarunner Harvey Lewis, is a school teacher in Ohio who famously run commutes to and from work. After finishing the 450 miles on Tuesday he traveled home to Ohio on Wednesday and then the 47yo ran (run commuted) to school like normal on Thursday. Legend.
Yeah, and the commute is no short distance, like 15 miles one way or something like that. And he runs it with a big backpacking pack with his gear for work and food. To rinse and repeat that everyday is just incredible
Go Harvey ! I am a fellow teacher and cycled over 200miles a week commuting and racing for a decade before I got a chronic illness. I just recovered from the illness and accompanying addiction to pain meds after an eight year battle and am back at it. Harvey is a big inspiration - I had given up all hope of even cycling again, let alone racing, but to see him crush this at 47 gives me so much hope. Legend indeed!
The race is over as soon as he completes one lap beyond 2nd place. He's not allowed to continue. Thus, we know Ihor Verys reached his limit at 107, but we have no idea how much farther Harvey could've gone. I love how the results board on Ultra Signups lists everyone but Harvey as a DNF--Cruel.
Harvey is an absolute legend and all-round great guy. Had the pleasure of being on his crew when he came over to Australia for our National championships where he ran a then PB of 90 yards before he broke the world record set at the same event by Phil Gore (102 yards)
This was a unique event in it was the best of the best running. One thing key about a backyard ultra is you can only go as far as the assist (2nd last one to bow out) can go, so if you don't have a strong field then you may not be able to push to your limits.
True, because at the crazy distances these guys are capable of, it would be almost impossible for a person to motivate themselves to keep going after they have one.
You laugh… I started ultras when I hit 40 and got tired of competing with my faster younger self. Wish I’d swapped 5ks for 50ks/miles DECADES ago, so much more fun! 😂
This is a really tough form of ultra - the constant stop-and-start means you're always either getting cold or warming up. Not to mention, it's a killer mentally to get yourself moving again. Massive kudos
Irish runner Keith Russell managed 74 yards (nearly 500), then travelled back to Ireland, landing home on Saturday morning, and ran the Dublin Marathon Sunday morning (yes, one day later), in a personal best time of sub 3 hours… absolutely nuts!!!!
was that the race in australia where the guy from new Zeeland's lungs gave up, but he pushed just so the other guy could beat the record. Absolutely epic shit !
Even though everyone else is listed as DNF, Ihor Verys is in fact credited with the "assist", since you cannot run more than one loop more than the assister.
imagine putting this on strava. Just every hour you post a 4 mile run. People would see the first few and be like "ok". Then they'd see them keep coming and be like "what?" Then "Holy cow"
Anyone interested in this please go watch "BREAKING POINT | A DEAD COW GULLY DOCUMENTARY" here on youtube, it's one of the best sport documentaries i've ever seen and I'm not even a fan of running, theres a part at the end where a man called Sam Harvey is about the break the world record, he is wrecked, sleep deprived, starving, has pneumonia and probably a million other things wrong and he is slumped in a chair waiting for the next loop to start, his mother stroking his face and begging him not to put his health at anymore risk and he just keeps telling her "it's okay". He has just ran 420 MILES! and STILL has the determination to push on. It's one of the most inspiring things i have ever seen. It had me in tears.
Cool to see this on your channel. I will just mention... since you stated that Big's Backyard is unlike any other race in the world... there are currently more than 400 Backyard Ultras around the world that have sprung up since Laz originated the concept.
I can't do this format. I've run a few 100km races, have sleep-ran during 3-day "sleepmonster" adventure races, completed the Hawaiian Ironman. and once did 200k within 24 hours, but this... the constant stopping and cooling down then getting up again, over and over... I've never been able to get more than about 12 loops.... But I'm keen to try again. Unfinished business. But still.... 108 laps. My God - that's off the charts. Never in my wildest.
In 1996 I ran the NYC Marathon in around 3:52 minutes. I then walked across town to get to my health club to shower . Then I went to my NYC taxi and went to work picking up passengers. I was wearing my finishing medal around my neck. I met during the night a group of people , one of which had also run the marathon. He said he was also an ultra marathoner. That the second time he attempted a 100 mile race they had to pull him off the desert. Maybe he had attempted the Death Valley ultra 135 mile race.
Not to diminish Harvey's phenomenal accomplishment, I still find it kinda sad that runner up Ihor Verysll is rarely if ever mentioned. I feel that all backyard ultra records should be shown WITH the second place runner who effectively "assists" the winner for all but one loop ... Ihor ran 107 loops with Harvey after all = 446miles!!!!
Explanation is wrong: you do not finish before the hour and then rest for an hour. No my friend. Every hour you must complete the loop and start the next one. Just rest the time spared from the hour (10 minutes if it takes you 50 to finish).
1:41 - I’m confused by the 24hr = 100 miles calculation … if its 4.167 miles every second hour, isn’t that 50 miles (12 x 4.167) per 24hr period? Still incredible!
Check the original thumbnail: 450 miles in 4.5 days looks a lot like 100 miles/day, right? Laz came up with the concept due to all the 100 mile Ultras that have a 24-hour cutoff: This was a Covid-compatible way for a small group to have their own 100 mile Ultra without having to travel or meet up with a lot of other people. Laz being Laz he also didn't put any actual limit on the total time/length, just that the winner has to stop after running one extra loop when the assister gives up.
@@TerjeMathisen - cheers, its poorly worded in the video, saying that there’s one hour to complete a loop then after the one hour mark competitors can do as they please before starting again on the following hour mark.
@@Boppo101 Agreed - it should say you have 1 hour to complete a loop, and then a new loop starts on the next hour, and so on. If you finish any one particular loop in less than an hour, then whatever time remains until the next hour starts, yes, you can rest/eat/etc.
Good old question of why anyone does anything. Just because. Like why would you do a 400m race on a track? You're racing to a spot where you already are.
