After more than five days of running on almost no sleep, Dmitry Klimov was the only runner left on the course at Biotropika 2026 in Russia’s Leningrad Region. By the time he finished his final loop, he had completed 123 laps, totalling 824.8 km, or 512.5 miles. That is the new men’s Backyard Ultra world record.
The previous mark belonged to Phil Gore of Australia, who ran 119 laps at the Dead Cow Gully event in Queensland on June 26, 2025. Klimov beat it by four laps, and he wasn’t alone in doing so. Dmitry Sheremet and Ivan Zaborsky, the last two runners knocked out before Klimov, both pushed past 119 before stopping. All three reached at least 121 laps, or more than 811 km. That makes Biotropika 2026 the longest Backyard Ultra ever held, eclipsing standards reset at recent Backyard Ultra World Championships.
The format, created by Tennessee ultrarunner Lazarus Lake, is straightforward in theory. Runners cover a 6.706 km loop (4.167 miles) and have to finish it within the hour. Whoever is still in the race starts the next loop at the top of the next hour. It continues until only one person completes a lap in time. Speed barely matters. What decides a backyard is sleep deprivation, foot care, and the discipline to run easy when everyone around you is doing the same. Klimov’s mark also surpasses Poland’s Łukasz Wróbel, who briefly held the record at 116 loops in 2025 before Gore took it.
The women’s record also fell at the event. Vera Chekalina, 49, ran 96 laps for 643.2 km, setting a new women’s world record for the format and joining a short list of athletes who have rewritten the long-distance record books this year.
Organizers said supporters donated more than 215,000 rubles (nearly $3,000 USD) to the athletes during the event.
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