MARINE CORPS MARATHON, 10K & 50K (posted October 28th)

Congratulations to the Lake area's newest marathon finisher, Amy Shatto. On Sunday, Amy ran the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C., holding a consistent 11-12 minute pace throughout the race, and finishing in 4:56:03. That placed Amy 392nd (of 712) in the women's 40-44 age group. You can find Amy's results here.

There were 16,178 marathon finishers, 955 50K finishers, and 4,736 10K finishers.

I've never looked at the MCM course map before, but it has enough out-and-backs and potential shortcuts to challenge the Mexico City Marathon course as a course-cutter's paradise.  (You may recall 11,000 Mexico City "finishers" were disqualified in 2023 for course-cutting.)  MCM has ten timing mats before the finish, so cheaters would likely get caught  MarathonInvestigation.com talked about MCM cheating six years ago.  (MCM course; Mexico City course)

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BIG DOG'S BACKYARD ULTRA / WORLD SATELLITE BACKYARD TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP  (updated October 24th)

Thursday morning update:  The race ended early Wednesday evening. Belgium won the world team championship, and by a big margin--1,147 yards, 18% more than Australia's 971 and the U.S.'s third place 969. Three members of the Belgium team each went 110 yards. That was the most number of yards completed in backyard ultra history.

Since the three Belgium competitors all stopped at 110 hours, if this were an individual race, there would be no finisher among them under backyard rules. Naturally, this has some in the backyard universe claiming that the Belgium runners didn't set a world record, and it's now being argued on Facebook.  

Running 458 miles--with essentially no quality sleep--over 4-1/2 days is beyond comprehension.

Thursday morning update:  It's over. Belgium won the world team championship, and by a big margin--1,147 yards, 18% more than Australia's 971 and the U.S.'s third place 969.

Tuesday evening update:  The race is now in its 86th hour.  The last 24 hours have resulted in major attrition.  Only four of the 61 teams that started are still in contention, and those four teams have a combined eleven runners still standing.  The U.S. team is down to two runners.  Notably, Harvey Lewis is not one of them--he lasted 79 hours.

It's very likely that the race will be over on Wednesday, and Belgium has to be the heavy favorite at this point.  Their top-two seeded team members still in the race established the then backyard world record of 101 hours at the team championship two years ago. 

Monday afternoon update: Cody Eubanks is out after 54 hours. Four others on the U.S. team are also out, leaving nine still standing. Only Australia has more, with ten.

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This is Super Bowl weekend for backyard ultra competitors and fans around the world. It all starts at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday.

The Big Dog's Backyard Ultra gives way this year to the biennial World Satellite Backyard Team Championship. Teams of 15 runners in 63 countries across the planet will be competing not only for their national teams, but also for a chance to be the last man standing worldwide, and thereby earn a golden ticket to next year's individual world championship at Big Dog's.

The U.S. team includes our friend Cody Eubanks of Jefferson City.  Cody earned one of the nine at-large spots on the team after completing 59 hours ("yards" in backyard ultra parlance) at the silver ticket Queeny Backyard Ultra in St. Louis back in March. This is Cody's second trip to Big Dog's. He competed in 2022, and lasted 48 hours.

Links:

Team U.S. tracking and results

Worldwide team tracking and results

Lazarus Lake's Facebook page

Big Dog's Backyard Ultra Run Group Facebook page

Backyard ultra home page

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PHYLICIA CARSON MEMORIAL 5K (posted October 21st) 

Phylicia Carson was the Osage Beach police officer who tragically died in the line of duty this past Labor Day weekend, leaving behind a husband and six children. A 5K run/walk, the Phylicia Carson Memorial 5K, is being held in her memory on Saturday, November 2nd at Osage Beach City Hall. The run/walk will start at 9:00 a.m.

There is no entry fee to participate.  Free-will donations from the event will go to Missouri Concerns of Police Survivors (donate here) and the Pregnancy Help Center (donate here). Donations can also be made by cash or check at the race.

Online registration and more details can be found here.

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