Last month, Jennifer Russo shattered Courtney Dauwalter’s backyard ultra world record with a whopping 311-mile run. Now, another record has fallen, and this time, let’s hear it for the boys.
Australian endurance athlete Phil Gore broke the world record for the backyard ultramarathon after running 373 miles in four days on a cattle farm in southern Queensland.
The backyard ultra format requires runners to complete a loop of 4.1 miles every hour, with the race continuing until one runner remains.
Gore completed 102 laps, or “yards,” at the Dead Cow Gully Backyard Masters event in Nanango, 112 miles northwest of Brisbane. The previous world record was 101 yards, set by Belgian runners Merijn Geerts and Ivo Steyaert last October.
The final three runners at the Dead Cow Gully Backyard all set national records during the event. In addition to Gore’s 102 yards, Sam Harvey from New Zealand tied the previous world record with 101 loops, and Harvey Lewis of the U.S. ran 90. Lewis beat the world record he set in 2021 with 85 laps.
“It’s surreal,” Gore told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation after he crossed the line.
“I remember when one of the Belgians had the record at 75, I put that on my plan as a stretch goal, not ever thinking I’d get there,” he said.
Conditions at the race ranged from as low as 28.4 degrees at night to around 79 degrees during the day, which Gore says he prepared for by taking cold showers for two months before race time.
Race director Tim Walsh says that the results helped put Nanango on the map running-wise.
“I was hoping for a course record, which was 44, and as things progressed, it looked like the Australian record might eventually fall,” he told the ABC.
“It is incredible to think this race started at 7 a.m. Saturday, and went well into Wednesday. It shows that there is a great depth of running talent in Australia and New Zealand. It’s great.”
Laura Ratliff is a New York City-based writer, editor, and runner. Laura's writing expertise spans numerous topics, ranging from travel and food and drink to reported pieces covering political and human rights issues. She has previously worked at Architectural Digest, Bloomberg News, and Condé Nast Traveler and was most recently the senior editorial director at TripSavvy. Like many of us, Laura was bitten by the running bug later in life, after years of claiming to "hate running." Her favorite marathon is Big Sur.
