1st May, 2027, Astbury Mere, Congleton

Beartown Backyard Ultra

Build it and they will run.

1st May 2027, Astbury Mere, Congleton, Cheshire, UK

You're following the bear. We'll be in touch. 🐻
What is it?

What is a Backyard Ultra?

Run 4.167 miles (6.7km).
Every hour.
Until one remains.

A Backyard Ultra is the simplest race format ever devised. Every hour, on the hour, competitors must complete a 6.7km (4.167 mile) loop and return to the start. Rest, eat, sleep if you can — but when the horn sounds, you run again.

There is no finish line. There is no set distance. The race ends when only one runner remains. Everyone else — no matter how far they've gone — is a DNF.

The Beartown Backyard Ultra brings this extraordinary format to our local community — celebrating stubbornness, togetherness, and keeping going when everything tells you to stop.

6.7km Per lap
1hr Per loop
1 Can win

The Assist

Stay on to support others.

In a Backyard Ultra, only one person finishes. Everyone else is a DNF. But the runner who goes out second, the one who pushes the eventual winner one yard further than they'd have gone alone, gets something the record books call the assist.

That's the whole spirit of this event in one word. You don't have to win to matter here. Every extra yard anyone completes, win or DNF, is another yard raised for Bowel Cancer UK and No Tier Snooker. Staying on when you know you won't win isn't failure. It's the point.

Follow the Bear

Set the bear’s pace and see exactly what it means on the day: your time per lap of the mere, your projected yard, and how much rest you’d bank before the bell. One yard = 4 laps = 6.71 km. Every hour. Until there’s one of you left.

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