A NEW type of running event is coming to the centre of Coffs Harbour – the ‘Backyard Ultra’.

The inaugural Coffs Backyard Ultra is set to be held at Coffs Harbour Showground on Saturday 1 June 2024.

This increasingly popular style of sporting event involves participants running or walking 6.7 kilometres (one ‘lap’) within an hour, with each new lap starting on the hour.

Anyone who cannot complete the lap within the hour cannot continue onto the next lap.

The event continues until there is just one person remaining – the last one standing.

Coffs Trail Runners are hosting the inaugural event with the course featuring an out and back route along the picturesque gravel paths of the Coffs Creek Walkway.

“The Coffs Backyard Ultra is set to be an inclusive and community-centred running event where we are encouraging anyone who can run 6.7km to take part,” Coffs Trail Runners President and Event Director Keelan Birch said.

“The ‘Backyard Ultra’ is an intriguing format.

“For most, completing 6.7km in an hour is quite achievable but doing this over and over again every hour presents different challenges.

“It’s a great way to achieve a personal best as each 6.7 km lap is not a race and there is a break between laps until the next hour begins.

“The relaxed nature of the event means people are often more social and running together.

“In 2023, we held a ‘test’ event with more than 50 runners from Coffs Harbour and Grafton taking part.

“There were people who ran distance PBs from their first half marathon to their first ultramarathon.”

“We believe the backyard ultra format is a great way to bring people together and we can’t wait to have more people join us in 2024.

“We have already 80 people registered for the 2024 event and expect up to 200 entries.

“It will be the first backyard ultra event for the North Coast of NSW.”

When asked how long the event will go for, Keelan couldn’t give a definitive answer.

“The beauty of the backyard ultra is that we don’t know when it will end! I don’t expect we will go close to the world record of 108 laps (720km) but it is possible the event will go beyond 24 hours (160km) and well into Sunday.

“It’s really exciting to follow along, as every hour you don’t know who will continue the next lap. “It’s a mental challenge just as much as it is physical.

“That said, we are definitely not interested in just long distances.

“For us, this donation-based event is just as much about community building and encouraging personal bests no matter the distance.

“We would love to see lots of parkrunners, recreational runners, triathletes and others come and join us, even for one lap.

“We will also have special milestone prizes for anyone who reaches four laps (26.8km), eight laps (53.6km), fifteen laps (100.5km) or 24 laps (100 miles).”

More information on the inaugural Coffs Backyard Ultra can be found at: https://coffstrailrunners.com/coffs-backyard-ultra/