 It was a windy lunchtime in Suffolk, UK, when 15 of the country's most stubborn ultra-runners started a race with no finish line. Okay, this is the start line of the UK team at the Backyard Ultra National Championships. One team in about 50 different countries all over the world. And away they go on their first loop. So the idea is they work as a team to try and beat all the other countries that have all just started at exactly the same time. They've got a 4.167 mile loop to do and they do it as many times as they possibly can, starting on the hour every hour from now until the last person drops out. So here we are on lap 5. But these runners, the early miles, are essentially a warm-up. The field included John Stocker, the former Backyard Ultra World Record holder, and his assist on that day Matt Blackburn. These guys are well used to running over 300 miles. However, as darkness fell there was a huge shock for the UK team when John Stocker pulled out with illness on the 8th lap. He was devastated and the team was rocked knowing they'd lost one of their best runners. It's midnight and the guys have been running for 11 hours now so the next loop will take them to 12 hours, half a day's running. By sunup on the second day there were plenty of other teams around the world who were beginning to lose runners. However, the stronger teams still had their full complement of 15. 20 yards completed, the guys are going to go out on their 21st yard now. We still have 14 runners left in the game and the UK are slowly climbing up the rankings in the international standings. There's 37 countries taking part all over the world and we are now 22 hours into the Backyard Ultra. You can see the clock here which is telling us and you maybe can't see it quite clearly enough, but that definitely says 22 hours. And it'll give you a little tour of the Backyard Ultra site here. This is the Nettershall Nature Reserve which is in Suffolk. These are cars and tents of crew and staff here. These gazebos are for runners who don't have crew. So most runners will have crew, but we've got two or three or four runners who don't have any crew at all. So that gazebo there and this gazebo here. These tents are tents of runners. Crew and runners can go in their tents when they get back after each yard. This is the start and finish area for each loop. Each loop is called a Yard because it's named after Lazarus Lake's Backyard where he started the Backyard Ultra many years ago. So it was originally run in Tennessee in Lazarus Backyard so it's called a Backyard Ultra. This is the van of Race Director Lindy Chambers with the First Aid Support Vehicle here. And this is the timing tent here. So each time a runner comes in, they are logged on this laptop or this tablet here. And when runners finish, if they drop out, they will come here to sign out and get their dog tag or their silver, it's not a dog tag these days, it's a silver medal. Is that one of them? I think they get one of those when they drop out. And then we come to the most important tent of all. The bacon sandwich tent which you see. So there's Lindy, he's tucking into his bacon sandwich. Lindy will have about 15 of those. Most runners have crew, most runners will have brought their own food but if they need topping up, if they need extra food then we've provided quite a bit here. And it's all your usual fare that you would get on any ultra distance race. But this morning we've just had bacon sandwiches cooked. So I'm going to have one of those in a second. Thank you very much. So that's that. And that is the scene really. So runners start here and then they go off and out of the field and then they come up this path here that you'll see just by the river, all the way up there, all the way round and into the forest. And then they've got four miles to run back and round to the finish. So that is our UK Team Backyard Ultra campsite. Right, Team UK now on about to start lap 26, yard 26. It is beginning to hurt now. We've got one runner down here who may not start the second loop, this loop. Add 13 runners left in, 13 runners left in and one down and out. So that is our second UK runner. He has got 30 seconds to get over the line but it doesn't look like he's going to go. Good job Andy. Well done mate. So Andy made it out onto the 27th yard but he's turned round, he's come back. He was having trouble with his stomach from quite early on and he hasn't been able to sort that out and he's got nothing left. So he is out of the backyard ultra and that means we are down to 12 in the UK now. Right, so it is nearly 27 hours in and we are standing waiting for Andrew Smith to come back. He's got about 30 seconds to get in. He's not going to make it. Not even Andrew Smith can do that. So the guys are going to line up. There will be 11 runners left in the UK Team. They are well over 120 miles now pretty much and away they go. Andrew Smith is a former winner of the Suffolk Backyard Ultra and he arrived back in camp a few minutes later to collect his silver coin. Well done mate. Good job Andy. What have you got to say for yourself? Good. So Andy Smith comes in and he can now relax. Done his job for the team. 27 loops done. Okay, here we are back at the start of the 29th lap and we have another runner who hasn't made it back in time. Guy Bettison. Guy is not going to get back in time. We just wait looking for him coming up but he's not there and he has got 10 seconds to do it. He's not going to make it back. Come on Steve. So we are now, we're down to 10 runners from the UK Team. 10 runners and they are off and running on lap 29 now. Lap 29. Some of them looking a bit more ropey than others but they are going. Right, we've convinced Sean to stand up again. No doubt he'll come back in 45 minutes again. So we are starting lap 33. Loop, yard, whatever you want to call it. 33, it is 9pm here in Suffolk and we have 8 runners left. 8 runners, off they go. The reason we have 8 runners is because Stephen Hobbs, who sits normally in this chair here Stephen Hobbs has not arrived back. So we have dropped another runner from the UK Team. Well done James. Thank you so much everyone. 35 laps. Oh yeah, I'm feeling good. Right, that is James who is pulling out. 34 laps, 35 laps done. 2 minutes to go before we start lap 36. Well done Matt. Have we got on number 12? Done, good job. 35. 7am, 3 runners remaining. That is the UK Team. 3 left, off and running with 41 laps completed. 42 laps completed. They're on their 43rd. They're done 170 miles is it? Something like that. How are you feeling Chris? That's alright. Couldn't do any more. Legs or head or a nice bend. So that's Chris. He's making his way back to camp. Couldn't carry on. Sat down on a bench. Turned round, made his way back to camp. And the UK Team is now down to 2 runners. And we are in overall 12th place at the moment. It's 9 o'clock in the morning at the Nettis Hall Nature Reserve. Nettis Hall Heath Nature Reserve in Suffolk. And Andrew and Matt are starting their 45th yard. And there's Matt Blackburn. And away they go. Coming up to the end of the 45th loop now. Andrew Jackson is coming in well done Andrew. Come on mate. Just try and pull one more out. At this stage any thoughts of working together to increase the UK team score were non-existent. It was simply a case of individual grit and determination. Do you need anything? Can we get you anything? Which one of the two had the physical endurance and the mental stamina to outlast the other? Matt had the pedigree of having reached 80 yards the year before. And I think knowing that it began to feel like an uphill battle for Andrew. A few times it looked like he didn't want to get back up to go out again. But he did. Around the world a number of countries had already finished. And yet more countries had between 5 and 10 runners still going. In 12th position the UK team was not going to catch anyone else on the leaderboard. We just had to hope that no other country would catch us. Whilst letting Matt and Andrew fight it out for the golden ticket which would ultimately take the winner to the individual world championships in Tennessee next year. The sun is out. The campsite is slowly gradually thinning out. We are waiting for Andrew to come in. There are nine minutes left until the next loop starts. And young Matthew here is getting told off by his wife for still wearing his trousers in the sunshine. There are 30 seconds to go before the start of loop 48. 30 seconds is not enough time for Andrew Jackson to make it back. But it's not. How was that final yard? Horrible. It's horrible. But you've achieved your furthest ever distance, is it? Definitely furthest in a backyard. Yeah, furthest in a backyard. The furthest I've done before now is 39 yards, so yeah, I'm up to 46. Brilliant. Really well done. Congratulations and you've done Team UK proud. Thank you. That's Victoria, isn't it? Oh, there he is. He's got 10 seconds. He doesn't want to do it. He's there. He's walked around. And time is up and Andrew is not back. And Matt Blackburn is the winner. Of the backyard Ultra World and Matt, great work. 47 yards completed for Matt and Andrew is walking in. He wanted to finish so many times but he said that he wasn't ever going to sit down in that chair and not get out again. And he's been true to his word. Well done, buddy. Good job. Go and cross that line. Have you been wrecked for a few laps? Yeah, I'll be honest with you. To be honest, I didn't think I could 45 in. So I was pleased that you pushed us out to go out and get 45 and 46. We were a bit horrible, weren't we? You felt horrible on that last one when I had to make my way back here. Well done. Congratulations. Fantastic effort. What was the last distance you did? What was the furthest you've been before? So it was 39 yards, 156 yards. So you've smashed that in the park. Well done, Andrew. Great job. One, isn't it? Gold fun. Cheers, buddy. Awesome. Matt Blackburn is going to Tennessee. So everyone who doesn't finish gets a silver coin and Matt gets the gold coin, the gold ticket to go and represent us in the UK in Tennessee for Biggs, the original backyard. So how do you feel about that, then? Over the moon, especially after last year, I think. I think I hadn't finished business for about 12 months. Yeah, yeah. And you were, I mean, despite being the assist last year, you did get invited to Biggs. Yeah, and we just couldn't get over because of COVID. So obviously we trained for it. And then we just couldn't get over because of the COVID restrictions in the US. So it'd be great. So not only the win, but also the getting to Biggs bit has been a bit of a monkey, isn't it? Yeah, it's been good. Let's have a look at that trophy. There is UK Backyard Satellite National Championships UK winner Matt Blackburn. Well done. Great job, Matt. The UK team finished on a combined total of 486 yards, but we were caught by Spain eventually and finished in 13th position. The USA were the overall team champions with 860 yards, but the story of the week was Mae Geertz and Ivo Stertz breaking the backyard world record with both of them reaching 101 yards. Rather than fight it out to the death, the two runners from Belgium decided to finish together. To have a winner in a backyard ultra, one person must do one more lap than anyone else. So technically there was no official winner from the Belgian team, however with such high scores, both runners will almost certainly be invited to the individual world championships at Biggs Backyard Ultra in Tennessee next year. If you've enjoyed this video, please hit the like button, share it with your friends and subscribe to the channel. And we will see you on the start line next time.