Lianne Van Dijk has claimed victory at this year's Bauers Megabackyard Funrun retaining her title from last year's event. Organised by the Waterville Trailrunning Festival, runners have 8 hours to complete the 43km loop and return to the start line for the subsequent loop. The loops continue for as long as any runner can keep going. Only full loops count, and no winner is declared if no participant can complete more loops than all other runners. Think of it as a Backyard Ultra, except over 43km distance, on mountain trails with 1,300m elevation, in extremely challenging weather.
Applications for the event are limited to 99, with only 33 chosen as fortunate enough to participate. While most of us were tucked up in our warm beds anticipating some sort of snow disaster, 17 runners braved the conditions to make the start line consisting of 15 men and 3 women. This year's race began at 8 am with 14 of the 17 completing loop 1 and starting loop 2. Things took a dramatic turn when just 3 runners started loop 3 however two of those stopped after a few metres leaving Lianne on her own faced with finishing the loop to be crowned the winner in a total time of 20:43:00.
If you would like to hear more about this year's incredible winner, you can listen to episode #7 of the Run Republic Podcast where Lianne spoke to us about how she deals with mental and physical challenges of long-distance running, why she loves racing in the hills of Ireland, and how she deals with setbacks.
Should you fancy testing yourself on the hills of Kerry then you might want to check out the Waterville Trail Running Festival which takes play on the 3rd-4th of May 2025 with a 25km, 43km, 130km, and 2 Day Ultra Stage race.