On Saturday 2nd March the Rasselbock Backyard Ultra was held in Sherwood Pines, Nottinghamshire.
The format of the race for those not familiar is a 4.19 mile lap which is ran on the hour every hour. The event ends with one winner when all other runners either do not start the next lap or are timed out of the current lap. The final runner must complete their final lap to win, with all other runners handed a DNF.
The lap or ‘yard’ is fairly flat made up of mostly fire roads with a few more technical sections through the trees using the bike trails. It definitely lends itself to a high mileage result. The winner receives entry to the UK championship event so it was a fairly competitive field.
The weather was cold but in the end, mostly dry with just a few showers on the first evening.
I entered with a goal of continuing beyond 12 loops (50 miles) seeing how far I could make it through the night. I completed 15 loops (62.5 miles/100km) finishing at 3am, happy with my first ever DNF!
Three women continued on beyond 35 laps breaking the current women’s record with Sarah Perry being last woman standing completing 41 laps (170.8 miles). The winner was Mike Raffan with 42 laps (175 miles).
