Welcome to Backyard Challenge.
A totally free race designed to connect runners around the world with an innovative format that allows everybody to participate and challenge themselves according to their own ability.
The next Backyard Challenge is scheduled for Novermber 7th, 2020.
Please sign up for free using the form above.
In May 2020 during the first edition, we had runners from 17 different countries. In July for 2.0 the trend continued and we double registrants. Here are a few statistics:
- 30% ran 12 kilometers or less.
- Kids of 5 years of age walked 4 kilometers each.
- A grandfather of 82 years walked 8 kilometers.
- A woman 6 months pregnant walked 20 kilometers.
- A cyclist who had never run, ran over 60 kilometers.
- Race Format
The idea is to walk or run 4 kilometers each hour (2.5 miles). There are no minimum or maximums on the number of hours you canto participate.
If you want to do one lap of 4k, great! If you want to test your endurance and see how far you can go, awesome!
You can cover those 4k at whatever pace you want to do them.
The time you have to rest and recover is the number of minutes left in each hour after you finished the 4k.
For instance, let’s say you run at a pace of 9 minutes per kilometer. That means it takes you, on average 36 minutes to run 4k. That means that you will have 24 minutes to recover and get ready to start the next lap of 4k at the beginning of the next hour.
It is completely up to you to design the race-strategy that suits you best. Faster running times and more rest, or less rest but slower speeds.
Maybe it sounds a little boring, but believe us, once you get going, you will need that recovery time to last a lot longer than you ever believed you could.
If 4k sounds too easy, we have added the options to run 5k and 6k each hour for those who want to test themselves with a longer distance each hour.
- Competition.
Whether you are here to run 1 lap or 20, we will make sure to recognize your effort.
We will publish the race results based on gender, age group and categories according to number of laps completed.
We have 5 different categories.
You can register for one, but if at any point in the race you feel like doing more or less, go ahead and move from category to category.
We call it metamorphosis.
- Beattle: 1 to 12 kilometers.
- Bee: 13 to 28 kilometers.
- Dragonfly: 29 to 44 kilometers.
- Centipede: 48 to 76 kilometers.
- Praying Mantis: 80 kilometers or more.