BACKYARD ULTRA NZ
This awesome film from Find Your Feet Films gives a great narration of what the backyard ultra format is all about, while following the 2023 Riverhead ReLaps Backyard Ultra. Who better to narrate such a film than, Backyard Ultra Founder, Lazarus Lake, who attended the event. Laz shares his thoughts on what it takes to compete and succeed in the Backyard.
Official Backyard Ultras of New Zealand
There are currently 9 official Backyard Ultras in NZ
The affiliated NZ Backyard Ultra events which follow all the Backyard Ultra rules and count towards Backyard Ultra New Zealand records and qualification for Team or Individual World Champs are:
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September – Scenic Circles Backyard Ultra (Timaru)
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September – Brighton’s Backyard Ultra (Dunedin)
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October 2024 (August 2025) – River-Run Backyard Ultra (Hawkes Bay)
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November – Arrowtown Backyard Ultra (Arrowtown)
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December – Rockys Backyard Ultra (Tauranga)
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January – M*A*S*H Backyard – Mobile Athletes Seaside Haven (Wellinton)
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February – Pigs Backyard Ultra (Dunedin)
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Late March – Riverhead Backyard ReLaps Ultra (Auckland)
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August – Hanmer Springs Backyard (Hanmer Springs) NEW in 2025 with details to come.
Current New Zealand Records
Mens
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NZ Venue record – Anthony Kerr-Taylor with 52 loops at the KINGS Backyard Ultra on June 2024.
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NZ Worldwide Backyard Record – Sam Harvey with 101 loops at the Aussie Masters Backyard Ultra at Dead Cow Gully in Australia on 21 June 2023.
Womens
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NZ Venue record – Julia Chamberlain with 40 loops at the Krayzie Midwinter Backyard Ultra July 2024.
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NZ Worldwide Record – Katie Wright with 50 loops at Bigs Backyard Ultra, Tennessee, USA – October 2019.
International Backyard Competition
The International Backyard Ultra website is [here]
Internationally the record is 108 loops (724km) set by Harvey Lewis from USA at the Backyard Ultra – World Championship October 2023
Backyard Ultra World Team Championships
There are currently 3 NZ Backyard ultras that are official silver ticket events (Pigs, ReLaps and Krayzies) and this means that the winners of each of these events automatically get selected in the NZ World Team Backyard Champs which are held every second year (the next one is on October 2024). The rest of the 15 person team is made up from the at-large list which is the highest number of loops run in any official backyard ultra between August 16, 2022 and ends August 15, 2024 .
You can see the top 15 people that would make the NZ team for 2024 here backyardultra.com/2024roster-worldteamchampionship/ by filtering for the country NZ. This is kept up to date based on results from each qualifying backyard ultra. The current 15 person team looks like this:
Backyard Ultra World Individual Championships
The World Individual Backyard Champs is held in Tennessee (USA) every second year (next in 2023) and this is made up of the winner of each of the nations in the World Team Backyard Champs. In addition to those champions, the remaining spots are selected from the At-Large list… the top performances of the previous 2 year qualifying period (August 16, 2021 to August 15, 2023).
