My Story

On June 1st I am taking part in the Suffolk Backyard Ultra.

A Backyard Ultra is basically run until there is only one person left standing. So it has no known finish line! You run a 4.167 mile trail circuit on the hour every hour. It is this specific distance as this means that if you last 24 yards/hours or loops you will have run 100 miles in a day. Of course it keeps going way..way..way beyond this time/distance. 

Ultra endurance events always come down to mental toughness and your ‘why’. I have two ‘whys’ one is just to see how far I can go before I can’t go any more. The second is to raise money once again for Freetobekids. (Link to the great work they is at the bottom of this page).

The key element for me is getting inner city London children, with difficult home lives, out into the countryside and in touch with nature

Now because I am old, I remember when sponsorship was paid out on the distance, laps or lengths achieved, rather than a lump sum pledged up front. So I thought it would be fun to use that format for the Backyard.
I am asking that you sponsor me a small amount per yard/hour/lap that I achieve. So please pledge an amount per lap not just a lump sum. You can then make the total donation here once you know how far I managed to run.

Before you go mad with your money, I better give you some guidance to aid with your guess and sponsorship amount.

The World record is 108 yards (4.5 days 450 miles!) £108 at a £1 a Yard. The British record (and Suffolk course record) is 82 yards (341 miles)

There will be over 250 athletes in the field
There are eight athletes entered who have individually covered more than 60 yards in past events...So the race has the potential to go a very long way.

I have never taken part in a Backyard Ultra before. I have however run over 220 miles in one race, but it took me 78 hours (Consider the elevation while carrying an 7kg backpack). No pack required in a Backyard Ultra, you come back to your Aid Station every hour.

The course is on trail but it is very flat (The clue is in the name of the county)

There will be live timing of the race available so you can keep up to speed with how I am doing and how your sponsorship money is increasing! There will also be race progress updates on my Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Thank you so much for taking part in this bit of running fun/madness and for showing your support to me and Freetobekids 

All the very best,

Kev