Historic 'ultra' performance by the New Zealand Backyard team at World Champs

New Zealand’s team of ultra-runners made history at this year’s Backyard Ultra Satellite World Champs, with the 15-strong squad doubling their previous best distance and running an incredible 811 laps (5,433.7km).

CurraNZ was proud to sponsor the team this year and observe a brutal obliteration of their previous best of 406 laps - 2720.20 kms – set in 2022. They improved on their previous best overall placing of 11^th to move up to sixth on the international leaderboard.

Twelve of the Kiwi team members produced new personal bests at the October event, with Glenn Tomlinson improving by a staggering 28 laps (187.6km), with four others, John Bayne, Caleb Pearson, Jeremy Pelvin and Simon McLean, enjoying similar performances with improvements of up to 21 laps each.

Veteran backyarder and CurraNZ ambassador Sam Harvey (pictured, above) led the Kiwi crew with 73 laps, assisted by John Bayne who tapped out on lap 72. Whilst Sam has hit 101 and 90 laps in previous events, the Backyard Ultra format stipulates that two or more runners must be on course, with the eventual winner only allowed to do one more lap than the second-place finisher. Sam's leadership and experience made an impact to the team result and the support crews helping runners lap after lap cannot be understated either.

Julia Chamberlain (pictured, above) added 11 laps to her previous best of 40 and in doing so, smashed the women's ‘on New Zealand soil’ record and worldwide New Zealand record of 50 laps.

Notably, Carl Read ran the fastest 48 laps of everyone at the world event, clocking 32.06hrs. 

Belgium won the event outright, with three runners still going at lap 105 and eventually stopping at lap 110, recording a total 1147 laps.

The USA were sitting in second place until Phil Gore and Ryan Crawford from Australia struck up an impressive partnership and forged on after the last American runner tapped out at lap 88. The Aussies eventually tapped out at 96 laps and collapsed on the track with 971 laps between them all.

About the Backyard Ultra World Champs

Backyard Ultras have exploded in popularity in recent years, with new races popping up all around the country and participants eager to test their stamina in this friendly but brutal format of ultra-running. 

The World Champs are held in a ‘satellite’ format every second year, with teams competing on home soil, while racing is simultaneously recorded and measured.

The whole event was saturated with the Kiwi 'team' spirit from the officials, streaming crew (Chris Macdonald from Runners with Beards, pictured above with Shaun Collins as the CurraNZ Running Beast) and Steve Tripp of Crush the Cargill fame.

Rocky Allan did an outstanding job on social media, keeping everyone updated with images and milestones (images on this blogpost are all courtesy of Rocky). 

CurraNZ was excited to play a part in this momentous event and provide some purple power to the team, who raised the bar to new heights.