Just One More Loop : Can You Run 342km In 51 Hours?

 

Joshua Toh after completing 342km.
Photo : Singapore Army via FB

Just One More Loop. That's the slogan of Backyard Ultra, where competitors run loops of 6.706km on the hour with the winner being the last person who can still finish that extra lap after everyone else has given up or failed. 

In the Backyard Ultra World Team Championship event held concurrently in 37 countries on 15th Oct 2022, special forces officer Lieutenant Colonel Joshua Toh emerged the winner in the Singapore chapter of the race, after completing 51 laps in as many hours, for a mind boggling total distance of 342km. In the process he had also rewritten the national record which stood at 34 laps and his own previous personal record which was 23 laps.

Read on to find out why his feat was so remarkable.

Backyard Ultra World Team Championships Logo. Image : Backyard Ultra

Backyard Ultra

Ultra as in ultramarathon, defined as any running distance more than the standard marathon distance of 42.195km. The rules of Backyard Ultra are simple. Runners have to complete a 6.706km ( 4.167 mile ) loop within one hour and begin on the next lap at the start of the next hour. The runner who can outlast all other competitors with an extra lap will be declared the winner and all the other runners would be considered DNF ( Did Not Finish ). So essentially, this is a race without a definite finish line. How far the winner has to run depends on how far the next best runner can run. 

And why does each loop or yard measure exactly 6.706 km? It is because the original idea of the Backyard Ultra was to have runners complete 100 miles in 24 hours. That will be 4.167 miles or 6705.6 m every hour. Rounding up, we get the distance of 6.706 km per yard. It takes 7 yards to reach ultramarathon territory.

The Backyard Ultra World Team Championships did not take place in 2021 due to the Covid Pandemic but it is back in full swing this year. In all, 37 countries participated including Ukraine, Belgium, Finland, Japan, Singapore and even Malaysia. Notably absent were Russia and China, terrorists, cheats, liers and bullies which nobody would miss anyway.

The races were held in each individual country and had began concurrently on 15th Oct 2022. Each country would field a team comprising 15 of their best endurance runners and the team which accumulated the most yards would be the winner.

Joshua's Remarkable Feat

To achieve Joshua Toh's 342km in 51 hours is a Herculean task with many obstacles standing in the way. The runners would obviously have to be physically very fit in the first place.They have to constantly maintain proper nutrition and hydration while on the move. They would have to manage sleep deprivation as the race would likely last for at least 2 if not 3 days or longer. Then there would be climate and weather issues to contend with, especially in tropical Singapore where daytime temperatures can reach 90F or higher and relative humidity can be as high as 90% or above. Besides these, having the mental strength to self-motivate and run repeated loops of monotonous track is also a necessity.

Firstly, running speed. If you are required to complete a 6.706 km loop in an hour, you must achieve at least 7kmh or faster so that you can have some time for a short break before the start of the next loop. That may not sound like a big deal but I can tell you it is not easy because I have timed myself running 6.7km. It took me about 49 minutes, meaning I would have about 11 minutes to eat, drink, have a toilet break or just rest, until the next round begins. Repeat that 50 more times and you get the idea. In case you are wondering, I had just completed a 100km ultramarathon in Dorset ( D+2200m ) and a 75km ultra-trail in Salzburg ( D+4000m ) this summer.

Next, runners have to be constantly eating to fuel the run, about 300 calories worth of food every hour, in divided doses. Without the regular supply of food, the body would deplete its glycogen reserves within 2 or 3 hours and running speed will be greatly reduced ( hitting the wall ). Joshua would be eating during the short interval between the loops and perhaps also during the run itself. Some runners view an ultramarathon event as a grand eating contest and that has a lot of truth in it. He who eats the most ( and could digest it all ) wins! Fortunately, since the race tract is in the form of a loop, the logistics to supply the runners with food should be quite straight forward.

Joshua Toh and Deric Lau drenched in perspiration
at start of the 41st yard. Photo : Naresh kumar via FB

Maintaining adequate hydration is another crucial aspect of ultra-running. Dehydration of just 2% ( losing water equivalent to 2% of body weight ) can already cause a significant degradation of physical performance. In the hot and humid climate of Singapore, many runners are just drenched in sweat and all that water and mineral loss has to be replaced precisely. Again, a relatively short looped tract meant supplying iso-tonic drinks and water was less of a logistic problem and runners would not have to carry a hydration pack on their backs. 

30 year Climate Mean. Data : Meteorological Service Singapore

The climate was perhaps the most difficult to manage problem for the Singapore chapter of the Backyard Ultra Team Championships. Where as teams from temperate countries like the USA and Japan are currently enjoying the cool autumn temperatures with low humidity, tropical countries like Singapore and Malaysia are hot and humid year round. The daytime outdoor temperatures can be 90F or higher and coupled with the high relative humidity of 65% to 90% can cause heat cramps, heat stress or even heat stroke which can be potentially fatal. Apart from these, runners will also have to shield their eyes from the ultraviolet rays and protect themselves from sunburn. 

Cooling down with sponging. Photo : Singapore Army via FB

Then there is sleep deprivation to deal with. To run for 51 hours meant going without sleep for more than 2 days. That is really difficult even with the help of the strongest coffee or caffeine infused sports gel. I was struggling to keep myself awake after running for 20 hours at a 100 mile race which I DNF 2 years ago. This year the same thing happened in Dorset and I found myself periodically drifting towards the bush after running for about 18 hours and 90km. I was running / walking like a zombie! With fatigue setting in and the darkness surrounding everything except the tunnel of light from the headlamp, the pre-dawn hours were the hardest to stay awake!

In addition, Backyard Ultra is one where neither the duration nor distance is pre-determined and it is this type of race that requires the participant to have the strongest mental resilience to achieve success. How would you motivate youself to keep running, kilometre after kilometre, under the hot sun, in the driving rain, in the darkness of the night, with seemingly no end in sight. How would you force yourself to continue moving in the same boring endless loop repeatedly, for the nth time? This backyard ultra format is possibly the most punishing form of ultra-marathon, and possibly one with the highest percentage of DNFs. *

support crew at work : fan, wet towels, massage, fluids. 
Photo : Singapre Army FB

And finally, there is the stupendous amount of ground to cover in 2 or maybe 3 days, depending on how long your strongest opponent cum team mate could last. Imagine pounding the trail or road for more than 300km within less than 3 days, your muscles, bones, joints, tendons and ligaments would have to withstand the repeated impact of your feet striking the ground and that is not for the faint hearted. At a cadence of 180 steps per minute, assuming the average runner completes each yard in 45mins, Joshua Toh would have 180x45x51 or 413100 ground strikes running for 51 yards. Fortunately he seemed to have a large support crew who could tend to his sore calves in between running the loops. 342km is  equivalent to the distance between Tokyo and Nagoya or exactly twice the distance of Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc ( UTMB ) without the altitude gains.

World Team Championships 2022 rankings

Team SG

Achieving The Seemingly Impossible

At 45 years old LTC Joshua Toh is not exactly young, but endurance athletes tend to peak in their performance in the thirties or even forties, with experience being just as important as physical strength. He is a Singapore Armed Forces ( SAF ) officer with HQ Special Operations Task Force and he attributed a large part of his success to his military training and had this to say. " I strongly believe that training such as the SAF Ranger Course and Special Forces training have strengthened my resolve, mental resilience, and contributed towards my success in the race. This race is a combination of both physical fitness and mental resilience, the latter being much more crucial in this race as compared to a regular race". While one does not have to be a SEAL or equivalent to win the Backyard Ultra, it goes without saying that after surviving Hell Week, anything else can be possible! 

Helping him achieve the impossible was his training partner, team mate and competitor, fellow SAF reserve officer Major Deric Lau. Deric is 46 years old and completed 50 yards, pushing Joshua to keep on running that one extra loop. It can be said that without the assistance of Deric, Joshua probably would not have done 51 yards. Both deserve our greatest respect.

A jubilant Joshua Toh with fellow team mates and support crew
Photo : Singapore Army via FB

His team of support crew would have been crucial too, to give him the best chances of success in this race with no definite finish line. 

As the winner of the Singapore Backyard Ultra 2022, Joshua gets the chance to compete with elite runners from all over the world next year in the World Championships held in the USA. We wish him success.

Backyard Ultra's Official Teaser for World Team Championship 2022. You can also watch it here

* Footnote : This year 2 Belgians, Merijn Geerts and Ivo Steyaert, broke the magical ceiling of 100 yards and created a new world record of 101 yards ( yes, that's 4 days and 5 hours ) and ran an astounding 677km each. After that, they hugged and both refused to continue on the next yard though they could have. Since neither ran an extra lap more than the other, no winner was declared and both runners technically DNF! This created a very unfamiliar situation, where there were not one but two champions in a record breaking tie and both, together with every other runner in Team Belgium, DNF. And both will be invited to the 2023 World Championship. Go figure!