To participate in a multi-day running event like Backyard Ultra, in addition to physical fitness, athletes must practice overcoming drowsiness and controlling pain.
The Backyard Ultra is a form of ultramarathon in which a runner must complete a closed, low-incline, dirt course of 4.167 miles (6.706 km) in one hour. In total, a runner will run 100 miles in one day.
Every hour, a new lap will start and those who have not completed the previous lap will be eliminated. This process will be repeated continuously until there is the last person left on the track, the remaining people are considered DNF (did not finish the race).
Champion Harvey Lewis (center) during a run at the new face during the 2023 Big's Backyard Ultra. Photo: Backyard Ultra
The 2023 Big's Backyard Ultra World Championships, taking place from October 21-26 in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, will feature two courses, a relatively flat trail during the day and a gravel course after dark. The time between completing one lap and starting the next is a time for runners to refuel, change clothes and gear, shower, rest or sleep. This time becomes shorter as athletes tire and run slower on the next lap.
Ahead of the 2023 Big's Backyard Ultra World Championship, Canadian Running Magazine briefly interviewed three of Canada's top athletes to learn about their training.
Ihor Verys was the second runner with the most laps, 107, covering 445.83 miles (717.542 km) in a time of 90 hours, 44 minutes and 4 seconds. The Canadian runner broke his own national record of 67 laps in just under 450 km.
Bartosz Fudali (left) and Ihor Verys (middle) ran 103 and 107 laps respectively at Big's Backyard Ultra 2023, just behind Harvey Lewis - the champion who completed 108 laps. Photo: Backyard Ultra
Verys admitted that the lack of sleep would be a bigger challenge in the final days of the race, but added that it wasn’t his biggest obstacle in running the Backyard Ultra. “I don’t think the lack of sleep is a huge problem,” the Canadian said. “It’s tough, but I think I can handle it. I’ve run 67 hours straight and never had a fourth night. I’m curious to see how my body handles it.”
Verys revealed that he did not do any special training for the Backyard Ultra, but he found managing pain and injury from running for days on end to be a bigger challenge than the lack of sleep. "The hardest thing for me was making sure the pain didn't get worse. When you have pain, you need to deal with it immediately. Luckily, I had access to medical help every hour," Verys said.
Gatineau-based veteran ultrarunner Eric Deshaies set a personal best (PB) of 270.6 miles at the 2022 Backyard Ultra World Team Championships. He was the longest Canadian runner at the 2021 individual world championships in Tennessee, where he completed 205.6 miles. At the 2023 Big's Backyard Ultra World Championships, Deshaies ran 150.6 miles and dropped out on the 37th lap.
Deshaies (right) at the 2022 Big Wolf's Backyard Ultra, Cacouna, Canada. Photo: Eric Deshaies
A few days before the race, the Canadian revealed that he had been training exclusively for Backyard Ultras for the past three years, with coping with sleep deprivation being a key part of his training. "I do a lot of short runs during the week," he said, adding that he often tries to "run on very little sleep or with very tired legs."
Amanda Nelson also incorporates sleep deprivation into her training for Backyard Ultras. The Woodstock, Ontario, Canada, athlete holds the women’s national records in the 12-hour (135.072 km), 100-mile (160.9 km) (14 hours, 45 minutes, 51 seconds) and 24-hour (248.985 km) races.
Nelson took a break and followed the Big's Backyard Ultra 2023 standings update. Photo: Instagram / amanda_nelson
At the 2023 Big's Backyard Ultra World Championship, Nelson broke the women's national record by running over 230 miles. Before the race, she emphasized that she wanted to make sure she didn't give up mentally when she was still physically capable of continuing, and she revealed that fasting was part of building that mental resilience.
“I would wake up in the middle of the night and run four to six laps. To get tired, I would sleep two, three, four hours for three days in a row,” Nelson says. “I would get tired when I ran, and then I would learn to rest between runs. When you start to get tired, your mind tricks you. It tries to physically stop you, even though you know you can still keep going. Sometimes it’s an uphill battle.”
Hong Duy
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