Backyard Ultra Podcast

*UNSCRIPTED* - Nikolay is Director of Biotropika, which is the biggest Backyard Ultra in Russia.  In 5 years, it has grown into a large, family-oriented sports festival and a key development platform for the Backyard format in the country.  Three Russian records have been established on the Biotropika course, including the current Russian record of 106 yards, set by Ivan Zaborskiy.

*UNSCRIPTED* - Ruben made a massive life changing decision in 2022 which steered his life towards running and Backyard Ultra's.  He absolutely loves Backyard Ultra's and ran his first in 2024 at Birdys where he ran his PB of 12 yards.

Jacob and Paul both had epic races when they ran at MVP Backyard Ultra last weekend.  Jacob ran 41 very impressive yards and finished as the Last One Standing while Paul showed that he is tough as an ox with his 40 yards and the assist.

Michael is one of the rising stars on the Australian Backyard Ultra scene.  He ran 32 yards at his first Backyard at Sydney's last year.  He returned with 34 yards at Coffs in June and showed everyone how gritty and tough he is when he finished off the year running 48 yards at Sydneys in September.

Claudine has built winning mindsets for scores of champion ultra runners and Backyard Ultra runners that include James Blanton and Joel Sexton.   Claudine is a 16-time national and international karate champion, with a wildly diverse background. She has worked with thousands of elite performers, teaching them how to build a winning mindset, back themselves, and win.  Claudine is the creator of The Athlete’s Ultimate Self-Belief Journal, a 365-day mental training program designed to teach real, authentic and unstoppable self-belief–in just 5 minutes a day. Learn more at www.claudinechi.com/journal

**UNSCRIPTED** Tim ran his first Backyard Ultra in 2023 when he ran 9 yards at GV.   He has been around the sport ever since, running his PB of 12 yards when he returned to GV in 2024 and then ran at 2 Rivers in Echuca last year.  Tim and Patto teamed up at GV last year with Tim crewing for Patto for the first 24 hours of the race.  All the best at 2 Rivers in April Tim!

*UNSCRIPTED* Michael was absolutely frothing to come on the podcast and talk all things running and Backyards.  Michael has crewed and volunteered at a number of events and offers his own unique perspective on the format.  Michael is planning on making his BYU running debut at Red's later this year.

*BUP UNSCRIPTED* - Jeremy ran his first BYU in 2024 at GV where he completed 28 yards.  He returned to GV in 2025 and ran a new PB of 30 yards.  Jeremy is fired up for a big 2026 and is going to be running at 2 Rivers BYU in April.

Tammy ran the most yards by any woman in Australia in 2025.  She had a huge year, running totals of 27, 35, 31 and 28 yards.  It was over the new year at Glasshouse Standing where Tammy hit two huge milestones, she finished as the Last Female Standing as well as also finishing as the assist.

Dom ran in his first Backyard Ultra in 2021 at Suffolk.  Since then he has run many more, including five this year alone.  In Dom's most recent Backyard Ultra he finished as the Last One Standing and ran a PB of 32 yards in doing so.

Ben Nicholls, Mat Dube and Tim Kacprzak join Patto to review the BYU year of 2025.  They discuss their picks for Race of the Year, Single Best Performance of the Year, Runner of the Year, Best BYU Doco of the year, Runners to watch in 2026, Story of the year and our predictions for 2026.

Simon absolutely loves Backyard Ultra's.  Since 2023 Simon has run in 5 Backyard ultras, three of which were run this year.  He recently broke through 24 the yard barrier at Reds and he is also part of Jashy's all conquering crew.

Stephanie has been running Backyard Ultra's for less than 12 months and she's already proven herself to be a force in the format.  She ran 38 yards at Babbit's BYU in September and most recently completed 67 yards to finish as the Assist at Summit BYU (The Last Dance). That 67 yards ranks Stephanie as the sixth-best woman of all time.

Merlin ran his first Backyard Ultra last year when he ran impressively to complete 30 yards at Wild Dog Backyard Ultra.  Merlin is currently more than halfway through a mission running from the highest tip of Australia in Queensland down to its lowest point in Tasmania.

Ned ran 22 yards in his first Backyard Ultra in 2020 when he ran for team Singapore at the Sat Champs.  Last year Ned finished as the Last One Standing and Singapore national champion which qualified him to run at the recent Individual World Championships at Big's Backyard.  Ned ran the race of his life at Big's, completing an impressive 40 yards and finishing 58th overall.

Jayden ran his first Ultra at The Guzzler 100 in 2022.  He has run The Guzzler every year since and this year he ran it almost 10 hours faster than in 2022!  Jayden also loves Backyards and last year he ran 27 yards in his first BYU at Dead Cow Gully and then he finished as The Last One Standing at Garden City BYU.  He returned to Dead Cow this year and ran a very impressive 50 yards and a few months later he ran all the way from Sydney to Brisbane in 10 days.

Lily Lu is an artist, author and film maker who started her running journey three years ago and has fallen in love with Backyard Ultra's.  So far in 2025 Lily has run in over six Backyards and most recently Lily finished as the Last One Standing at Helvetia Backyard Blitz, completing 25 yards.

Tim Moffatt and Patto dive deep into all the stats behind the Individual Backyard Ultra World Championships in Big's Backyard, Tennessee. 2025.

Last year at the Sat Champs Dan ran 75 gutsy yards for team Australia, which qualified him to run at the Individual Backyard Ultra World Championships at Big's Backyard in Tennessee.  Dan proved that he is among the worlds elite by running 93 yards and placing 11th in the World.

Just over a week ago, the Backyard Ultra Individual World Championships took place at 'Bigs Backyard' in Tennessee, attracting the sport's very best on Earth. Phil Gore, the reigning world record holder, demonstrated his dominance once again, securing the victory in commanding fashion after an incredible 114 hours of endurance.  Phil came on to talk all about it.