Back Yard Ultra, 11th April 2026

Nina Jensen (who else?) took on the challenge of the Heart and Soul Racing Last Standing Distance Backyard Ultra this weekend – a new challenge, even for her:

“A backyard ultra (BYU) is a simple concept, designed by Lazarus Lake of Barkley Marathons fame. In a BYU a ‘yard’ or loop is exactly 4.167 miles long and entrants must complete this distance within one hour, starting a new loop every hour on the hour. Doing this 24 times equals 100 miles in a day. There is no 2nd or 3rd place and the event continues until the last person is standing. The person is the winner and everyone else DNFs regardless of if they’re completed 1 or 200 ‘yards’.

There are some crazy miles done by athletes, with Phil Gore holding the men’s record (119 yards/495 miles) and Sarah Perry (95 yards/395 miles) and it’s always been a concept I’ve fancied trying. So when I saw one being held at West Benridge Farm just a couple of miles from home, I was in. As many of you know I’m no stranger to lapped events having completed many marathons and 50k around the town moor and Ashington woods so that wasn’t going to phase me. My original plan had been to do as many laps as I could until failure but after winning the coveted Claremont London Marathon place, my goal changed to being sensible with a maximum of 10 yards but just to enjoy it and preserve the legs for 2 weeks later.

After picking my friend up from the station, in the rain, early Saturday morning we registered, got our race bib which had our name rather than a number, and stood for a Polaroid which was pinned on a board. We then picked a spot to pitch our tent and sort out our spare clothing (many pairs of socks) and our massive bags of snacks.

Reports from those who had done a recce run the evening before suggested the route was hard under foot and very rutted from tractor tyres. We went to have a look. First big mistake! The ground had softened from the rain but the crops we ran alongside soaked our shoes and socks. Luckily I had spares.

After a race briefing at 10.45 (main info, you must be in the start corral on the bell, there will be a 3,2 and 1 min warning) we headed of for our first yard at 11am with 90 other runners. The course was similar to a cross country route with, mud, rough trail, fields, and woodland, bits of road, and a rave barn full of settees and a live DJ and disco balls! The yard was going well until we missed a flag and ended up doing an extra half a mile down then back up a hill along with 2 other runners who had followed us. However we got back on course and still managed to get back with just under 20 mins to spare. I decided that was too fast and need to slow down as, once we’d refueled etc, we were just hanging around stiffening up and avoiding sitting down as that might mean missing the next start. ‘Beware the chair’ was my new mantra. Although we did get interviewed by the BBC so that filled in a bit of time!

2nd yard was better as we didn’t get lost and finished with around 15 mins spare. And repeat, through 3, 4 and 5 hours. Yard 6 I stumbled and hurt my back meaning running was becoming increasingly more painful apart from one downhill stretch where I got some relief. I took some painkillers when back at the tent and set off for lap 7. Still not much better so decided I would do 1 more then drop out. Anna Round’s husband, Richard made a lovely surprise appearance to send me good luck wishes from Anna and ask how I was doing which spurred me on.

And so to lap 8, my final yard. By now the field was down to around 50 and there were lots of people walking so I stuck with them. The mood was still positive. Walking parts of the route seemed to help my back so I used a run walk strategy and got back to base with 8 mins to spare. One of my friends from Ashington, Fabrizio had turned up with Italian coffee and pasta too which was a big boost. Maybe just 1 more, my strategy was to walk the majority but run the easier bits to keep my overall pace down. At 7pm I set off on my last yard and enjoyed the scenery as the sun was coming down and my pockets were full of snacks! I finished with another runner I’d caught up in the rave barn and we both ran the bell to DNF, my first one ever. I finished with about 6 mins to spare and feeling like I maybe could have adopted the same strategy again, but it was starting to get dark and likely that would more difficult due to the terrain and I would be wary of twisting an ankle. I also wanted to finish on a high with it being my choice to quit. I checked in with my friend who was planning to do 24 yards and said I’d be here for her next lap. Then my plan was to go home for a bath and a few hours sleep before I went back early morning to carry on supporting through her last laps and take her home. She texted me at 11 to say she’d quit after 12 yards (50 miles) as it was getting harder in the dark. As I picked her up and we took down the tent in wind and rain we both agreed that we’d made the right decision although we’d both do another one.

At the time of writing 9 runners remain!”