Backyard Ultra Podcast

Merlin came onto what he thought was going to be a usual chat on the podcast.  He couldn't have been more wrong, with 6 guests dropping in along the way, all with their own special stories about Merlin and his run around Australia.  This podcast was an experience.

Sam finished as the Last One Standing at his BYU debut last year at Gil's Galavant.  He later went on to finish as the assist at Garden City BYU where he ran 42 yards.  Sam opened 2026 with another win at Gil's Galavant and most recently he had a huge breakout performance by running 66 yards and finishing as the Last One Standing at Dead Cow Gully.

Michael ran his first Backyard Ultra in 2024 at BB Backyard and finished as the Last One Standing with 25 yards.  Michael has fallen in love with the format and has improved his PB to 45 yards and in doing so, qualified for the Canadian Team which will be taking on the rest of the world in October at the Sat Champs.

Scott ran his first Backyard at Hysterical Carnage back in 2022 where he completed 15 yards.  Since then Scott has run in four more Backyards, breaking 50 yards for the first time at GV last year and just last week at No Time to Die he finished as the co-assist with Jashy, completing 75 yards and placing himself 6th on the Australian At Large list.

Melbourne Frontyard Ultra was held last weekend and it turned out to be an absolute classic race.  Brady Nankervis played a huge role in the race, he completed 68 yards and broke the Australian record for most yards in a Backyard Ultra Debut.  It was a performance so strong it will most likely qualify Brady to run for Team Australia later this year in the Sat Champs.

Jared Webb had run in 5 Backyard Ultra's where he had broken 24 in all of them and had a PB of 31.  That was till last weekend when Jared ran at Gumby and completed 50 yards to finish as the assist in an amazing performance.

Crazy ran his first Backyard Ultra last year when he ran a solid 33 yards at GV in Shepparton.  Last weekend Crazy ran at Sydney's Backyard Ultra where he ran 74 yards and finished as the assist.  That 74 yards places him as the 9th best Australian of all time and almost guarantees that Crazy will be running for team Australia at the Sat Champs later this year.

Patto is running at 2 Rivers Backyard Ultra on the 11th of April in Echuca.  The Crow and Farms will be crewing for him so the three of them got together to discuss the race plan, tactics and all the fun stuff.

Tammy ran in her first Backyard Ultra in 2025 at Herdys when she ran 25 yards and finished as the Last Female Standing.  A few months later she ran 38 yards at Red's which is a top 10 Australian female performance of all time.  At Herdys recently Tammy was back with another very strong run, completing 30 yards and finishing as the Last Female Standing again for the second year running.

The Stalwart had a great backyard ultra debut in 2025 when he ran 36 yards and finished as the Assist at Wild Dog.  A few months later he had another big run at GV where he ran 37 yards.  Just last weekend Jason had a breakout performance at Herdys Frontyard where he ran 49 yards and finished as the co-assist.

The Warhorse has run in 10 Backyard Ultras and has a PB of 82 yards which he ran for team Australia in 2024.  Last year Warhorse ran at the International BYU World Championships in Big's Backyard for the 2nd time and ran 75 yards which puts him in rare air.  James has done a lot of work on his mindset in recent years and we really focussed our conversation on that side of things.

*UNSCRIPTED* - Nikolay is Director of Biotropika, which is the biggest Backyard Ultra in Russia.  In 5 years, it has grown into a large, family-oriented sports festival and a key development platform for the Backyard format in the country.  Three Russian records have been established on the Biotropika course, including the current Russian record of 106 yards, set by Ivan Zaborskiy.

*UNSCRIPTED* - Ruben made a massive life changing decision in 2022 which steered his life towards running and Backyard Ultra's.  He absolutely loves Backyard Ultra's and ran his first in 2024 at Birdys where he ran his PB of 12 yards.

Jacob and Paul both had epic races when they ran at MVP Backyard Ultra last weekend.  Jacob ran 41 very impressive yards and finished as the Last One Standing while Paul showed that he is tough as an ox with his 40 yards and the assist.

Michael is one of the rising stars on the Australian Backyard Ultra scene.  He ran 32 yards at his first Backyard at Sydney's last year.  He returned with 34 yards at Coffs in June and showed everyone how gritty and tough he is when he finished off the year running 48 yards at Sydneys in September.

Claudine has built winning mindsets for scores of champion ultra runners and Backyard Ultra runners that include James Blanton and Joel Sexton.   Claudine is a 16-time national and international karate champion, with a wildly diverse background. She has worked with thousands of elite performers, teaching them how to build a winning mindset, back themselves, and win.  Claudine is the creator of The...

**UNSCRIPTED** Tim ran his first Backyard Ultra in 2023 when he ran 9 yards at GV.   He has been around the sport ever since, running his PB of 12 yards when he returned to GV in 2024 and then ran at 2 Rivers in Echuca last year.  Tim and Patto teamed up at GV last year with Tim crewing for Patto for the first 24 hours of the race.  All the best at 2 Rivers in April Tim!

*UNSCRIPTED* Michael was absolutely frothing to come on the podcast and talk all things running and Backyards.  Michael has crewed and volunteered at a number of events and offers his own unique perspective on the format.  Michael is planning on making his BYU running debut at Red's later this year.

*BUP UNSCRIPTED* - Jeremy ran his first BYU in 2024 at GV where he completed 28 yards.  He returned to GV in 2025 and ran a new PB of 30 yards.  Jeremy is fired up for a big 2026 and is going to be running at 2 Rivers BYU in April.

Tammy ran the most yards by any woman in Australia in 2025.  She had a huge year, running totals of 27, 35, 31 and 28 yards.  It was over the new year at Glasshouse Standing where Tammy hit two huge milestones, she finished as the Last Female Standing as well as also finishing as the assist.

Dom ran in his first Backyard Ultra in 2021 at Suffolk.  Since then he has run many more, including five this year alone.  In Dom's most recent Backyard Ultra he finished as the Last One Standing and ran a PB of 32 yards in doing so.

Ben Nicholls, Mat Dube and Tim Kacprzak join Patto to review the BYU year of 2025.  They discuss their picks for Race of the Year, Single Best Performance of the Year, Runner of the Year, Best BYU Doco of the year, Runners to watch in 2026, Story of the year and our predictions for 2026.

Simon absolutely loves Backyard Ultra's.  Since 2023 Simon has run in 5 Backyard ultras, three of which were run this year.  He recently broke through 24 the yard barrier at Reds and he is also part of Jashy's all conquering crew.

Stephanie has been running Backyard Ultra's for less than 12 months and she's already proven herself to be a force in the format.  She ran 38 yards at Babbit's BYU in September and most recently completed 67 yards to finish as the Assist at Summit BYU (The Last Dance). That 67 yards ranks Stephanie as the sixth-best woman of all time.

Merlin ran his first Backyard Ultra last year when he ran impressively to complete 30 yards at Wild Dog Backyard Ultra.  Merlin is currently more than halfway through a mission running from the highest tip of Australia in Queensland down to its lowest point in Tasmania.