Runners will run 'til they can't run anymore in new Sudbury ultra-marathon

A new style of race coming to Sudbury in October challenges athletes to run a 6.7-kilometre loop every hour until only one runner is left standing.

The BB Backyard Ultra, taking place in Kivi Park, is one of a new genre of ultra marathons created by a race director named Lazarus Lake – "a well known sadist in the community," said organizer Andre Dumais.  

The distance is such that a competitor would run 100 miles in 24 hours

Runners will set off on the 6.7-kilometre loop every hour on the hour, Dumais said. 

"For an average runner like myself, that's a 40-minute run."

'I want to see how far I can go'

"It's not a big run. For fast runners, they can do it in 30 minutes. ... The challenge with these kinds of events is after a little while, you start to get tired, and it gets hard to recover," he said.

It's the only kind of event where the winner finishes last, he added.'

Co-organizer Lisa Zych said she's competing in the race because, "I want to see how far I can go."

A casual runner for most of her life, she got into running longer distances after she moved to Sudbury in 2018 and met a group of women who were interested in fitness. 

She has so far run some 50-kilometre races and one 63-kilometre race, but she has never done a backyard ultra, she said. 

World record is 108 hours, Dumais said

"It will be interesting to see how far I can push," she said.

"I'm going for 100."

Zych has been running large numbers of kilometers to train for the race and focusing on recovery, she said.

But she's not trying to prepare for the sleep-deprivation aspect of the competition, she said, because she doesn't expect to last more than 15 hours.

"The world record is 108 hours – 720 kilometres," Dumais said.

"I'm not going that far," Zych replied. 

The race, Dumais said, is for people like Zych who want to test their endurance.

The fun thing about backyard ultras, he added, is that slower competitors continue to restart new loops with the racers who will ultimately win.

Festival-like atmosphere

"In a point-to-point race … 10 minutes into the race, I don't see anybody anymore, right?" he said.

But in an event like this … to be there next to the person you know is going to win — because someone in that corral with you is going to win it — to me, that's pretty remarkable."

Organizers plan to cap registration at 100 runners for the first year, Dumais said.

But they are encouraging members of the public to come and watch. 

"It's one of those events that is very spectator-friendly because everyone comes by within the hour, right?" he said.

Zych said she's looking forward to the race so she can reach her athletic goals, but she's also looking forward to the festival-like atmosphere the organizers hope to create.

"I don't want to say it's going to be like a party vibe, but it's going to be really, really fun," she said.

"It's going to be a whole bunch of really cool people out on the trails all day long and then into the night, just having fun together. So, you know, like, that's a blast."

More information is available at bbbackyard.com and at @bbbackyardultra on Instagram.