UK Backyard Satellite Team Championships 2022

Race Report

For those not familiar with the Backyard Ultra format, it’s a simple basic format.

Run 4.167 miles every hour on the hour until only one person remains capable of completing loop that nobody else can do within the time limit of 1 hour.

No support allowed on the loop, No poles, If you are not back in time ready to start again then you are out.

The competition was won by the team from the USA and a new record was made by the Belgian team, but this report is about the UK team and our race.

Our normal annual race in this format is on the 1st weekend of June each year Suffolk Backyard Ultra and attracts the best UK runners to challenge for the title of Last One Standing. The winner also gets a place on the UK team for the Team Championships held every year and a chance to fight it out with the best UK runners for a place at the World Individual Championships the year after. Sounds more complicated than it is.

UK Backyard Satellite Championships

So 15 of the best UK runners are chosen for the team based solely on their performance over the last 2 years of races around the world. We use the recorded race results on the Backyard Ultra website to select the team. As I went down the list of the best Backyarders in the UK unfortunately some were unavailable and some injured or impossible to contact. It took a little bit of time to sort through and invite the best team we could assemble.

Team Ranking	Name	Previous best
1	John Stocker	81 Yards
2	Matthew Blackburn	80 Yards
3	Andrew Smith	40 Yards
4	Andy Day	40 Yards
5	Andrew Jackson	39 Yards
6	Richie Hinson	39 Yards
7	Chris Spurling	37 Yards
8	Stephen Hobbs	35 Yards
9	James Cooper	34 Yards
10	Sean Collum	34 Yards
11	Guy Bettinson	34 Yards
12	Paul Brunger	34 Yards
13	Paul Wilson	32 Yards
14	Ian Harrison	31 Yards
15	Keith Burge	30 Yards

It was a strong team with much potential when placed up against the rest of the 37 countries around the world that would be competing at the same time. All countries would start at 7am Central Daylight Time for the US race location which equated to 1pm here in the UK on Saturday the 15th of October 2022. On paper we had a team that should be capable of getting into the top 5 and possibly the top 3 if we had a good run. We had runners with fantastic backgrounds with hundreds of racing miles between them and multiple 100 mile and further distance races.

We had a great course which was stunning and made up of soft forest tracks, nice underfoot and well sheltered from the weather. We had camping onsite and shelter and food for those without their own crews.

Team Members began to arrive from 8am on Saturday morning and started setting up their tents with their crews or putting their stuff into team areas we provided, we also had the first of our fantastic volunteers arriving to ensure we looked after the runners as best we can. I had been on site from Thursday evening setting up the venue and marking the course and other glamourous jobs like getting toilets delivered to the site.

We had ordered team T Shirts and once everyone was ready we had a briefing and team photo at 12pm ready for the off at 1pm. This was going to be streamed around the world via a live you tube feed and live updates to a bunch of spreadsheets on the Backyard Ultra Website. You can still find all the info there.

We had 2 GoPro’s set up for live feeds, one into the required You Tube live feed for the official race coverage and one to my fb Live Feed so it focussed only on our finish line and clock. Set up so those wanting to see just the UK runners finish at all times.

So at 1pm we were off, the usual 3 Whistles at 3 minutes, 2 at 2 minutes and 1 at one minute to start means you cant be late as being late into the start area means instant DQ/DNF.

You do not have to run fast around the pretty course, you can do 12mm pace and still have nearly 10 minutes to rest, eat and prepare for another lap. There is no real pressure to push and this race does not heat up until after 24 hours. All the team members were capable of over 25 hours and had bests of 30 hours or more.

It would soon become apparent that several of the team were not quite themselves, Andy Day had recently had a stunning run at Spartathlon coming 13th overall, Guy Bettinson was suffering with some sort of flu or cold and was hoarse. John Stocker was not looking right and clearly suffering after just a couple of laps.

John came and spoke to me around lap 4, and let me know he was not right and explained he was recovering from a illness/injury that was really affecting his breathing and this was causing him severe problems. He thought he had shifted it but it was back. He pushed on for another few laps but finally had to call it a day at 8 laps and refused to continue to go out on lap 9. I felt very sorry for him as he was a proud and tough runner and it hurt him to make that call but it was the right one. He was visibly upset and kept apologising to the team and me for letting us down. He let nobody down, things just don’t go right sometimes.

This put us at a massive disadvantage straight away as every lap done by each runner scores a point and total team points is how this was scored as a team competition. So we would be losing a lap against every other team who had all their members each hour. Just this one loss meant we would have to maintain as many runners as possible to reduce that growing loss. It was already likely a top 3 position was now out of the question. The team pulled together after the shock exit and began to really gel and support each other.

Several other teams had either started with less than a full 15 runners or had lost runners already at this stage, we were sitting mid table at around 20th.

The team pounded out the miles and through the chilly night without incident, pushing into and through the first 24 hours which always seems a formality at backyards before the real work begins.

With the first 24 hours out of the way and the team looking strong we started creeping up the leaderboard as the less experienced teams started to lose more people than us. We creeped up to around 16th in this period.

Then we lost Keith Burge at lap 25, He had pushed through some leg issues for the last couple of laps and given as much as he could. He was supported by other runners to complete his 25th lap but refused to continue onto yard 26.

Then we lost a brace of Andrews after 26 yards, Andrew Smith and Andy Day decided 26 was all they had this year. Andy Day had found out that his legs were not keen on going further and Spartathlon efforts 2 weeks before may have tired them a little. He also tested positive for Covid after going home so likely suffering with that which he may have picked up in Greece. I think Andrew Smith had some WKD that was awaiting him in his chair!

Guy Bettinson went at 27 yards finally giving into his illness and stopping, a great effort when unwell and he was visibly upset and apologised at the finish. No need to apologise, you did the team proud.

Down to 11 now we started to drop down the rankings again towards 20th place. Then we took another hit at 30 yards with Richie Hinson stopping and at 31 yards Stephen Hobbs called it a day.

Sean Collum went at 34 yards equalling his previous best at a Backyard event.

They had put in sterling efforts for the team. we kept a clean sheet for 3 more yards after this and crept back up to around 16th in the table. Then Paul Wilson and James Cooper went at yard 35.

The distance was starting to take it’s toll on everyone as we went through another night, teams around the world started to drop runners left right and centre with only a few teams still holding onto all or almost all their runners. We were hanging in around 13th place at this point with hopes of still managing a top 10 place by the end of the race.

With the event being live broadcast around the world certain hours had a team focus and I was interviewed at 9pm for the You Tube channel by Fabien the media director. I told him I was still hoping for a top 10 placing and we discussed the team, course and weather.

It had started to rain heavily on and off for the rest of the night, the course does not hold water and it never gets really muddy ever but running in the rain is always harder and gets to us all. We lost Ian Harrison and Paul Brunger at 36 hours after a sterling effort and both getting their furthest distances ever.

Down to 3 now and a solid 3 who churned out lap after unflinching lap for another 7 hours before finally Chris Spurling crumbled and eventually his body decided that was it. A fantastic effort for 43 laps.

That left Andrew Jackson and Matt Blackburn to duke it out or work as a team to push as far as they can. We had crept as high as 11th at this point in the world rankings but it was going to be a hard task to get much higher. I think Matt just wanted it over and he came for the Golden Coin and a ticket to Big’s so he put the afterburners on and started churning out 43-45min loops again after doing 50’s for a while. Andrew hung on as long as he could but finally he went out on yard 47 but never made it back in time.

The race was over. Matt had done one more yard than anyone else.

We ended up at 13th in the table after all the teams below us finally stopped running, I am incredibly proud of our team.

486 yards or 2025 miles run in total for 13th place overall out of 37 countries, 84 yards more than 2020 when I was not Team Manager and an average of 49:26 per yard. All the stats can be found HERE

This was very much a team effort alongside a race to get the coin for Big’s next year. Matthew deserved the win and title of UK Champion. I look forwards to seeing what he can achieve next year at Big’s

I am immensely proud of the team and the performance they put in for the UK, I am already thinking how I can improve things for 2 years time when we can push harder and go further and get into the top 10 in the world or even better.

If you want to be on the team in 2024 then get yourself to a Backyard Ultra and crack out as many yards as you can, It’s likely to take 35 plus yards next time to guarantee a place on the team. It’s the only way to get on the team and we really want to see more ladies push those numbers out and make the team. We had one lady eligible this year but unfortunately she could not attend due to work and travel issues.

The best race in the UK that consistently puts out good yards is Suffolk Back Yard Ultra, it’s also run on the same course as this champs and we will even refund your money if you go over 50 yards, give you a free entry if you have already done big yards and offer £500 prize money for the winner. You get to race on the Champs course with the best UK runners. We really want it to be the most competitive course in the UK. The only other way to get to Big’s in 2023 is to run big yards at a course and it’s expected you will need a 50 plus yards finish to be on the at large list. Again Suffolk Back Yard is the only race in the UK that is scoring those numbers. The more competitive the race the better a team we get for next time.

9 of the team did their best here on this course. 11 of the team had run here before.

This is a team effort and I would be remiss if I did not mention and thank a few people who made this happen.

All the Backyard team in the US who set it up.

All the other teams around the world for the competition and support

The runners for putting themselves through it for their nation.

The crews and families that support their runners for days and stress about what they are doing to themselves.

My volunteers (all 12 of you) who came and tirelessly supported the runners and me during the event

My media team from Film my Run who took amazing photos and video to make us look good.

Knettishall Heath and Suffolk Wildlife Trust for allowing the use of such a special place that is perfect for the race.

Finally thanks for those who supported from afar and watched.

See you next time.

Lindley Chambers

UK Team Manager

Feel free to use/share any of the photo’s taken at the event below or off our facebook and instagram pages but please credit us or Film my Run please.