NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 12 – Ultra Runners Kenya has entered a team of 15 Ultra marathon runners to represent the country in the 2024 edition of the Global satellite backyard championship scheduled to take place on the weekend of October 19-21.
A total of 56 countries worldwide will take part in the event which will be executed through a virtual format, with Kenya holding its edition at Thika Groove- Chania in Kiambu County.
The backyard run is a format of running whereby a person has to run a distance of 6.7Km in a turn of every hour.
It does not matter how fast or slow you run, as long as by the turn of the next hour, the participant is back to the starting line and ready to compete for yet another hour and another lap with the last man standing declared the winner.
The 15 runners were selected during the 3rd edition of National Backyard Ultra 2024 which took place earlier in March this year and served as the main qualifier event for the Global satellite championship with the top 15 runners earning their automatic slots.
The winner of this race completed a total of 28 laps which is equivalent to 187.6 kms after running for 28 hours non-stop.
However, with the gradual growth of the sport, Ultra Runners Kenya has made the decision to hold two events during that weekend so as to accommodate more interested participants.
Limo Kipkemboi, the race director explains… “Interest for ultra-running has been increasing
in the last four years. During the forthcoming event, we are targeting a turnout of 400
participants. In order to accommodate all interested runners, we will host a local backyard run in the morning before shifting focus to the global competition at 3pm.”
The local race will officially gun off at 7am before paving way for the Global satellite race edition slated to begin at 3pm E.A.T.
All 56 countries taking part in it will begin at the same time and will be synchronized virtually so as to make it easier to determine the last man standing worldwide.
Registration for the run is currently ongoing at Ksh 500 through the following link;
https://bit.ly/urk-backyard2024
