Superstar Meg Eckert Crushes Ultra Running Race with World-Record

The International edition of Big Dog's Backyard Ultra included 61 teams and featured a women's world-record performance by Meg Eckert.

Champion Ultra Runner Megan Eckert / USATF

Big Dog's Backyard Ultra

Every two years Big Dog’s Backyard Ultra, one of the most demanding ultra running races in the world, stages the World Satellite Backyard Team Championships. The event took place on October 19th and featured 61 simultaneous team starts in 61 countries on 6 continents. The international teams covered an aggregate of 105,425 miles – equal to 4.23 times around the world.
The Big Dog's Backyard Ultra, often simply referred to as Big's Backyard Ultra, presents a one-of-a-kind endurance race, where participants run a 4.167-mile loop every hour. The loop's distance, equal to 100 divided by 24, results in running 100 miles for each full-day of the race. The 2024 World Championships crowned a team winner, as well as individual winners.

The Big Dog's Trail outside Bell Buckle, Tennessee, the traditional site of the annual race, will host the 15-member Team USA. This demanding 4.167-mile trail loop weaves through the woods during the day, and on paved roads at night. Competitors have exactly one hour to complete the loop, and the race starts anew at the top of each hour. This cycle continues until only one runner remains standing. In essence, it's a last-person-standing race, where participants must run a loop every hour until they can no longer meet the time limit, opting out voluntarily or failing to complete a lap in the given hour.

The competitor, or team, that completes a loop that no team or individual can match wins - becoming the The Last Man Standing and Last Team Standing.  If no one can complete one lap beyond all other competitors the race declares ‘no winner’, which occurred in 2014. The legendary race was created by Gary "Lazarus Lake" Cantrell, the mastermind behind the world-famous and grueling Barkley Marathon. (Related Article)

Team Belgium, Scott Snell and Megan Eckert

Team Belgium took the Last Team Standing by running 458.33 miles and outlasting the other 60 teams. Team USA finished in third place. Scott Snell took the top individual spot to became the Last Man Standing, covering 366.66 miles. The highlight of the event belonged to American ultra running elite athlete Megan Eckert. The champion finished second overall in the individual category while winning the women’s competition. By running 362.5 miles, Eckert broke the women’s world record previously held by Jennifer Russo at 308.3 miles. Megan crushed the 2024 race, beating the second-place women’s participant by over 160 miles.

Megan Eckert - Ultra-Distance Running Champion / Frank Dominik/@beemanfrankd

Megan Eckert is a high school teacher and cross country coach, and will take this message back to her students and athletes: "I want the athletes to have fun and I want running to become a passion for them. Results are fine, of course, but you need to enjoy what you’re doing first. Yes, I teach them that they will sometimes have to push through pain, but I want them to enjoy the process of training, preparation for a race, and the lifestyle. And the other big thing is teaching them confidence. I ask my athletes to set goals before meets, and to talk about them with me. We create a plan for them to reach those goals by breaking things into smaller steps. Confidence can come from goal setting." (Quote from Outside Magazine Article, Frederick Dreier)

US Team-member Harvey Lewis, who was this year's 4th place men's finisher, commented on Eckert’s accomplishment. “It was really a fun experience running with our teammates at Bigs Backyard Ultra (Team) World Championship. Congratulations to my 14 fellow teammates and our support team who all helped in earning 3rd overall! Congratulations to Meg Eckert who had a stellar performance as the assist at Bigs and achieved a new, female world record for a backyard ultra performance with 87 laps (362.5 miles), eclipsing fellow teammate Jennifer Russo’s 74 laps, 308.3 miles."