Why Phil Gore’s 168-Hour Solo Run Won’t Count as an Official Record

Phil Gore already holds the backyard ultra world record, at 119 laps. Later this month he will try to run 168, alone, in an attempt his own sport has no way to officially recognize.

From Aug. 23 to 30, Gore will run one 6.71 km loop (about 4.2 miles) every hour, on the hour, for seven straight days at Alfred Skeet Reserve in Forrestdale, Western Australia. If he finishes all 168 laps, he will cover about 700 miles (1,127 km). He calls it Project 168, and the name is the plan: 168 hours is exactly one week, one loop every hour until the week runs out.

The number matters because of how a backyard ultra works. Runners complete the same short loop every hour, on the hour, and anyone who fails to return in time is out. The last runner standing wins, and the record is simply the number that runner reaches, always one loop more than the second-to-last competitor manages. That pace, a loop an hour with no real break, works out to roughly 100 miles (160 km) a day, every day, for the length of the attempt, with sleep coming in scraps of a few minutes between loops, if it comes at all.

Gore’s current world record of 119 laps, set in June 2025 in Queensland at the Dead Cow Gully backyard race, needed New Zealand’s Sam Harvey to push him to 118 before stopping. Without another runner to outlast, there is no final number for a record to attach to.

Project 168 removes exactly that. Gore will run with no competitor to outlast and no one else setting the pace, so even if he reaches 168 there is no official result for a race of one. He knows it, and casts the attempt as a marker rather than a record.

“This isn’t just about seeing how far I can push myself. It’s about creating a new benchmark for endurance athletes, the way Roger Bannister made the four-minute mile feel possible. It might not be an official record, but I want it to become a mark other athletes chase,” he said.

The comparison only goes so far. Bannister broke four minutes in an open race in 1954, and the mark was ratified and chased within weeks. Gore’s target will carry no such stamp.

The format is unforgiving whether one runner is on the course or 50. Start a loop late or finish it late, even once, and the attempt is over, however many days are already behind him. There is no banking time and no making it up.

Backyard ultra keeps a tight definition of official. The sport’s creator, Gary Cantrell, has thrown out marks set under questionable conditions, including a 123-loop total from Russia that was later voided after non-competitors were seen on the course. Against that standard, the gap Gore is trying to cross is wide. His 119 came with Harvey pressing him for five days; 168 is 49 loops and about 200 miles (330 km) further, run without a competitor on the course. Gore, a father of four and a firefighter in Forrestdale, has won 14 of the 16 backyard ultras he has entered and took the 2025 world title with 114 laps.

Every loop doubles as a fundraiser for Telethon 7, a long-running Western Australian fundraiser for sick and disadvantaged children, with donations going to the cause. The in-person spots alongside Gore have sold out, though more are planned, and runners anywhere can log a virtual 6.71 km in their own time zone through his website. The attempt was reported locally by Max Kagi at Your Local Examiner. The clock starts Aug. 23.