Sherwood Pines Backyard Ultra Spring 2025 – Race Report

Date: Saturday 1st March 2025

Official miles: 208.35 miles 

Elevation: 9,386 ft /  2,861 m

Weather: Cool and clear

Start: Sherwood Pines

Route type: 4.2 mile laps

Conditions: Dry, mostly easy trail

Website link: Sherwood Pines Backyard Ultra by Rasselbock

Describe the route in three words: flowing pine trees

 Sherwood Pines Backyard Ultra – Race Report

Lap description: Leaving the corral, follow the track round the event village then left past a gate, short and soft woodland downhill to then turn right on to a slightly undulating and reasonably long hard packed wide path. Tunn left to go up a hill which levels out a bit in the middle passing a remembrance area. Two right hand turns to take you through the zig zag forest, this snakes around and is the most / only technical part of the course, single file, tree roots, potential mud in places. Once at the picnic bench you are almost out. Turn left onto another undulating uphill path before a left turn down the long slightly downhill and very runnable wide trail. This delivers you out onto another wide and hard packed trail with a steep downhill. Bear right to a long wide hard path, pines to your left and more bushy to your right. Left turn to take you onto softer ground, more undulations before reaching the green gate which takes you up towards Go Ape. Right turn through Go Ape and then a left to enter the event village to retrace your steps to cross the line into the corral.

Sherwood Pines – Race Report

Fellow backyard enthusiast and good friend Kevin Munt was to be my crew throughout this BYU. Kev takes his crew duties extremely seriously and duties started from the day before the race. Kev had kindly offered to drive me up in my car. We had a good journey, only a bit of a delay on the M25 and a couple of missed turnings due to our incessant ultra chat. We arrived at Sherwood Pines at 4pm. I was very determined to get a ‘good spot’. A couple and their camper were the only others there and they were patiently waiting at the closed gate. My plan was to wade on in complete with gazebo in the hope that Eric, Jonathon and team would allow me to set up ‘camp’ early rather than make me walk back to the car. I found Eric and Jonathan, introduced myself and Kev to them and boldly stated that I was planning on being here until the end, where was the best spot? Plan worked and they showed me the top spot, Kev and I started setting up camp. The couple with the camper van then came in as the gate had been opened, I did momentarily feel cheeky for jumping the queue so to speak but I also do have the attitude, if you don’t ask you don’t get. We put up the gazebo, the floor, bed, table and chair, all the rest could be done in the morning.

Kev ordered halloumi and fries from Lisa at the catering van and I made sure to familiarise myself with the entire menu as I knew I’d be sending Kev there on my behalf throughout the event.

We headed to our Airbnb which was much bigger than expected, I ate a very late lunch (maybe around 5pm), had my dinner at 8pm, had crumpets and Biscoff spread a bit later, did a pre-race Aid Station podcast interview with Kev and went to bed around 11:30pm.

Alarm was set for 7:30am but I was awake a bit earlier. I had definitely slept, but it had been a restless night. After breakfast we headed back to Sherwood Pines and were there before 9am. Kev didn’t want me to waste energy carrying anything so he did all the back and forth and lifting and carrying whilst I went to register and also started to set up home inside our gazebo.

The race brief was at 9:30am and before I knew it, we were on the 10 second countdown to the 10am start. There were 166 starters.

This race came in three parts, very much the beginning, the middle and the end.

The Beginning

This was my third BYU but also my biggest, 166 people is a lot of people. My usual plan is to be the one at the back but I realised this was to be impossible, I wanted to complete each yard in around 53 minutes and it was clear from the start that there were plenty of others on slower loops. I needed to run my own race and accept that I would not be last. My usual plan of not talking to anyone at the beginning also went out the window. It is not possible to not talk to anyone when there are so, so many starters! It meant for the first number of laps, I found myself talking to a different person each time, it was really nice. Con was one of the first people I spoke to, as well as Phil. I did pretty much a whole yard with each of them. I also chatted to Ben who works for a charity which partners with Pegasus. Chelle White whom I’d met on Wild Horse was there so we shared a mile or two together, she told me some really interesting things about herself that I had no idea about and it makes her successes even more impressive. I caught up with Gemma and Ben and hung around them one yard purely to eavesdrop on their conversation, it was about tattoos, specifically bum hole tattoos and was very entertaining. One chap and I started chatting because we both had identical socks, Courtney socks. It turned out it was Dom Halbert, we are Instagram friends and had been messaging each other ahead of the race but had never met in person. We were unable to do a complete yard together due to our different pacing strategies but we certainly had many a short and friendly conversation on many a yard. We planned to take a sock selfie on our PB yards too!

I introduced myself to Luke Carter and found myself chatting a bit with Iain Bethune who introduced me to wife Julie. The Bethune’s talked about working together as a team in the later yards, this is something that is important to me and I feel is at the very core of backyard ultra running as the winner can only go one yard further that the assist. The Belgiums showed us all what could be done when you work together, as did Jon Stocker and Mathew Blackburn, this level of teamwork is legendary.

One person I spoke to on a very early yard, the conversation very quickly turned to toileting habits. On my last BYU it was a joke between myself and my crew Francis that I had been scent marking the course, I could not do one yard without needing to pee. Coach had told me to take salt on board early and to make sure I was warm enough to try and avoid this situation again. Turns out the guy I was running this yard with pees more than me, I was impressed. 

On these early yards I had a surprise visit from Paul Telford and his wife Fran, Paul is a Dragon’s Back friend of Kev’s and the year I did DBR, Paul was doing it too so that is when and where we met in person having known about each other through Kev. It was such a wonderful surprise to see him, he had not realised Kev was there so he and Fran had selflessly driven out of their way just to cheer me on.

Matt Edgar and his son also came along to say hi. Matt and I had met on Wild Horse. It is such a boost to see a familiar face and to know that people are there to support you.

Overnight, fellow OC athlete James came to relieve Kev, James started his shift with me before I headed out on the 9pm yard so that he and Kev could do a handover, James stayed until after seeing me out on the 1am yard. Kev was able to rest in those hours but not sleep. James did a sterling job of crewing me and the cheesy chips just before midnight were fantastic! James and I had not met in person until that evening, he had kindly responded to a request for crew I had made in the OC Athletes Whatsapp group. James lives around 30 minutes away from Sherwood Pines. Another kind and selfless act from an ultra runner. The ultra running community is an incredible family to be a part of. James and I are both signed up for Wild Horse 200, (along with another three OC athletes) I look forward to seeing him again then!

I remember my early yards in terms of food, I came in off the first and had a bar. The second yard I had a Quorn pasty. The next one I think was Co Op fruit pastils and the next Hula Hoops, then Quorn cocktail sausages. When I came in off the 3pm yard I had a pot Super Noodle. I was in the habit of alternating between a small snack and a large snack. Kev was impressed at my ability to consume so much food. I was very much aware though that all this food would need to come out at some point and that the toilet block closed at 6pm. Therefore when I came in off the 5pm yard I was very smug to tell Kev that I had ‘performed’ in the toilet. Give me that lovely heated, warm running water, proper soap, well lit, hand dryer toilet over a Portaloo any day of the week. And what a relief to have had a relief before any signs of stomach pains or discomfort.

Head torches went on at the 6pm yard but we did not need to switch them on immediately. I had done enough yards to now know my key time. I needed to be out of the zig zag forest at around  23 minutes past the hour. Weirdly, I did not have any other key timing points, I was aware that 34 minutes past should be along the ‘Honk if you’re a silly goose’ path and the turn to the undulating track towards Go Ape should be around 43 minutes past but it soon transpired that as long as I was in the correct place at 23 minutes past, nothing else mattered.

I’d got chatting with Carla on one of the final daylight laps and she told me about a brain shake injury from falling off her horse, she was really worried about the night time yards, I told her I’d happily keep her company in the dark. Sure enough, on one of the early night time yards I found myself running and chatting with Carla, sadly, though, our conversation ended when she needed to stop to vomit, I checked she was ok, she told me she was fine and that I should continue.

Running through the night is a great feeling and something I always enjoy, I knew it was to be a long night though, we’d be on head torches for around 12 hours.

Yard 15 was a slow yard for me (55:11), and I wasn’t exactly sure why. This really bothered me. So I came in and immediately put my feet up, puled my beanie hat over my eyes and put on ear defenders. I asked Kev to shake me at the 2 minute whistle but there was no need, I did not sleep.  Whilst I was out on 16, Kev hatched a few plans to wake me up and get me through to daylight and my sercadium rhythms.

The following yard was another slow yard (54:08) although around a minute quicker, this bothered me even more and I was in a bit of a strop about it. I had a proper cup of tea with Rich Tea biscuits, my first caffeine in over 2 weeks. Kev told me of one of his plans, and that was for me to follow Luke Carter for a bit as we were coming in similar times. I’d been spending a lot of time on my own so it would be good for me to be near others. Kev also told me that the guy with the red beard (Richard Thompson) was another person to potentially latch onto as he was only just ahead of Luke Carter. I’d spoken a bit with Richard on a previous lap. Nice guy. I polished off some cheesy chips from Lisa and then declared, “I’m going to need an almighty poo at some point!” as I had consumed an enormous volume of food. Kev gave me a shoulder massage just before I headed out on 17 as my shoulders were feeling a bit stiff.

I came off yard 17 in 54:11 and was not feeling as stroppy. I took paracetamol, had a swig of Coke on the way out and then had a blinding Yard 18. Caffeine and paracetamol had kicked in!

I came off yard 18 in 49:01. Kev was nowhere to be seen so I sat in the chair munching on sweeties, Kev came in with a cup of tea and I said:

“Surprise!” 

“What are you doing here?!” came the shocked reply.

We were down to 9 women on the 19th yard and about 38 men. When daylight broke and the head torches went off, this was a moment, night one was done. The 6am yard was very cold, frost on the ground but a new day was here and in my mind, night one of three was complete. I ate porridge for breakfast when I came in off the 6am yard and the following yard (22) Kev had got me an egg and mushroom bap from Lisa. Kev continued to be astounded by my ability to eat. 

There was a very scary moment on the 23rd yard when I asked Kev what whistle had just gone, 2 minute or 1 minute? He said 2… with confidence. Next thing I knew, a 5 second countdown had started, I was out of my chair and in that corral as Eric got to 3, 2, 1. I removed my dry robe as I crossed the line and flung it onto the fence. That was a bit too close for comfort and I spent the first two miles with a horrible nervous sick feeling.

There were 34 on the start line for the 24th yard and at the end of it I knew I had halloumi and chips waiting for me. I was super excited to come in for them. Early on I had started stretching and using my roller, I felt very pro sat on the floor in the starting corral using my roller and eating halloumi simultaneously, this surely would put all the others off their game! Apparently someone had come racing in off the 24th yard, crossed the line and threw his timing chip off! A great 100 miles in under 24 hours for him.

We were down to 33 on the 25th yard but 3 turned back immediately, the field really was thinning out now, by the 26th yard we were down to 18 – 6 women and 12 men.

The middle

A tall chap whom I’d not seen before (because he’d always been at the front) came alongside me around the 28th or 29th yard and enquired about my lap times. I told him I was a very consistent 53 minutes. He introduced himself as Matt and asked if he could do a yard with me to slow down his yards in the hope he would last longer. He was a road runner, very apparent in his excellent form and this was his first BYU. Matt and I ended up sharing many, many yards together.  This is the first time in a BYU that I have been able to work with someone like this. I can’t speak for Matt, but I had an absolute blast with him. It wasn’t hard work at all. We talked, we giggled, we shared stories. We took it in turns to lead the way through the zig zag forest and we congratulated each other on always making it through at 24 minutes past or earlier. We declared ourselves the underdogs as all the elites seemed to be running in a pack together at the back. Over night we learned the marshals names and made a thing at shouting at them really loudly, “Yes Andy! Well done Andy!” “Thank you Heather, you’re awesome Heather” Every time we saw the green gate, we’d ask the marshal (usually Andy) “How’s our gate?” I got in the habit of giving it a pat. The best way to describe Andy was ‘bemused’.

Before I knew it, we were to set out on our 33rd yard and wow did I feel great. Completing this yard would mark a BYU PB for me. It was a significant yard as it signalled the start of my spreadsheet (more on this later) and the end of my warm up. I’d promised myself a bit of AC DC Thunderstruck on this yard. I explained to Matt that I’d need to ignore him a bit as I listened to the song. Crikey, that song had an impact on me! I didn’t sing aloud at this point as I am a TERRIBLE singer but my word did I move around and dance. I skipped, side stepped, ran backwards, bounced, boinged and pranced. I had to keep stopping to wait for Matt and in the back of my head hoped that this was not a terrible self sabotage, and what would Kev say? Would he be cross with me for wasting so much energy? It felt incredible though to move my legs around in a different way. Coming in off the 33rd, I listened to a voice message from my Coach, Stu Obree, that was a great boost.

Now that I was on the spreadsheet, something my friend Vic had created for me, each yard signified something, a move up the GB BYU rankings. Completion of yard 34 meant I would move up 7 places.

At one point during my yards with Matt, Kev got me some warm, fresh sugared doughnuts, there were supposed to be 2 but Lisa had thrown an extra one covered in Biscoff as a freebie, my God those doughnuts were legendary. I overheard someone talking about Lucazade on one of the earlier yards and I started obsessing over it. I have not drunk Lucozade for decades but now it was all my heart desired. Kev got a couple of bottles of Lucozade Sport for me from Lisa and this became my lifeline, I loved it so much! 

I recall when there were just 7 of us left: myself and Matt Gayton, Keith Burge, Phil Marshall, Iain Bethune, Eleanor Gallon and Inara Jerina. Matt and I were very much running as a team, the others as individuals. We were in the habit of fist bumping at the end of every yard. As the numbers slowly whittled down, I tried to fist bump the others on the start line but not always to huge success, I was often left hanging. A different experience to that at my previous BYU where there was a real feeling of excitement and camaraderie on the start line. I can only put it down to tiredness and the hours we had been on the course for, the previous BYU I had done was over after 33 yards.

Phil stopped after 36 yards. He had shared a very personal story with me on the first yard that we ran had together. I could see he had given it his all, he was a hero to have done what he did that weekend and it made for a very emotional finish. I gave him a huge hug, there were tears, I wished him luck for the future

Matt was keen to run the bulk of the first section until we got to the first real climb, the ground here certainly suited his road running background as it was a hard packed surface, I would have rather run-walked it but my preference was to stick with Matt so we got in the habit of me having my headphones on for this section only and having a sing along. I asked Matt if he minded my awful singing. He really took me aback with his answer. He told me he loved it. He loved to see me so happy and that made him happy.

We were down to just 4 people as we set out on 40th yard. Myself, Iain, Matt and Keith. I was incoherent and slurred when I’d been in and complaining of head torch issues. On night two my LED lenser ran out of batteries but I’d already put my chest torch on ready for this. The chest torch is good but not as good as the LED lenser. I put it back on after the batteries had been changed but for some reason felt paranoid that it wasn’t working properly so Kev gave me his head torch which I did not understand at all and ended up with it in pieces (Kev suggested on his Aid Station that it could have fallen to pieces or more likely been pulled to pieces, this made me laugh out loud). I gave it back to Kev and stuck with the Led lenser with new batteries. My Silva head torch is also good but it has become loose with old age and keeps changing position, occasionally flipping down and blinding me, I really need to invest in a more suitable head torch to use as a second / back up.

Matt reached 40 yards before his DNF on 41. Now there were 3. What a phenomenal performance for a first BYU. I missed him on the next laps. In an ideal world, Matt and I, the underdogs, would have taken win and assist and it genuinely would not have mattered who had the win and who had the assist. I had experienced a true partnership and true teamwork in BYU and it was precious.

The End

The 42nd yard marked a new ladies course record, previously held by Sarah Perry, I now hold the ladies course record for all three BYU courses I have done. Before I set off on the 43rd, I gave Kev a hug, mainly because I could not believe the phenomenal job he was doing, his unwavering dedication and support. However it alarmed him as when I’d been in the gazebo, I had choked trying to swallow some paracetamol and was apparently looking pretty pale, I think he was worried I was close to pulling and the hug was a sign of this. I think it was at this point that I moved onto baby food pouches as the paracetamol incident had made me realise that swallowing was becoming a problem.

Keith decided not to go out in the 43rd, which left Iain and I to take the overall course record together. Now we were two. It was around -2 degrees.

I popped a bit of music on for the 44th yard and came in singing the Cranberries as I crossed the line, nay, not singing, screaming at the top of my voice. I was having an absolute blast! However, I then had a bit of a sleep deprived meltdown in the gazebo and told Kev in tears, “I can’t come this far and not do this” and then managed to nod off for 2 minutes. As I came around, I was very groggy indeed. Kev gave me a strong menthol sweet to suck on to try and help me to wake up as well as some chewy sweets to get my jaw moving.

On this 45th yard I started a conversation with Iain, we had been running very different yards, he always came in around a minute quicker than me. I asked him his goals, he wanted to get to 48 as that would be a distance PB for him and then he wanted to get to 50 as that would mean a new Scottish record. I suggested that we work together, I explained that I was sleep deprived. I reminded him that in order for him to reach his goals, he needed me. As is the rules of backyard ultra, the finisher can only run one more yard than the assist, if I were to time out on this yard, he’d not reach either of his goals. We both agreed that we were running very different yards, Iain said he’d run this one yard with me and see how he felt about completing slower yards with me. I agreed, it was important that he felt he was getting enough rest time. It was also a weigh up as to how far he really wanted to go, with my goal of 60, he could really obliterate the Scottish record and make it a hard one to beat.

At the time I was very sleep deprived, and this is what I believe the exchange between Iain and I to be and how I perceived it. We ran a few minutes together and I told Iain the places where I walked, but then Iain said a very curious thing, “So what happens when we get to 50, are you going to let me win or will it be all out warfare?” I looked at him, my mouth agape, what happened to all his earlier talk of working together? He then proceeded to say that he didn’t feel comfortable about working together, he needed to think about it, he needed to talk it through with his wife Julie. But he also said he’d run a yard with me and did not want to go back on his word. I could understand the things he was saying, but the fact he was saying it all out loud struck me as very unsportsmanlike. We ran together in a VERY awkward silence. I then called him out on his words, I told him that it was the most unsportsmanlike thing I’d ever heard. Iain told me he’d run me to the ground, he ran off and that was that. I was seething. If he’d have spared a moment to listen to me I would have told him that teamwork and the 60 were far more important to me than the win. I was only mentally prepared for 60 and I would have bowed out after then so he would have got his sought after win regardless. I was suddenly very, very awake. I was also angry, was it because he was male and I was female? Would he have spoken like this to a male counterpart? I don’t know. It crossed my mind to stop there and then so no 48 for him and no 50 for him. But that is spiteful behaviour and very unsportsmanlike. When I got in I angrily tried to explain to Kev the conversation we’d had. I was so cross I now had a fire in my belly, I’d gone from starting that yard thinking I would time out due to sleep deprivation to now being fully wide awake.

On the starting line of 46 it was very awkward, Kev told me to calm down before I set off as being upset or angry would not help me. This time I did not offer my fist for Iain to bump, we stood apart, I eyed him up. This was a very different experience to the last BYU when it was down to the last two. Lee and I were all smiles, hugging, fist bumping and chatting together. In one final fit of rage I told him that he was the most unsportsmanlike person I had ever met, and that I would die trying to beat him. “Bring it on” came the reply. I remember Jonathon’s raised eyebrows and bemused expression just before he started the countdown. The countdown began and we set off. I did say something to Iain that I regret though on the early part of this lap. I told him that at least I would beat his wife Julie’s PB. That was an unkind and spiteful thing to say. And I regret that.

This lap I decided I needed to wake up so I put my headphones on and started an epic karaoke session, I was so deprived of sleep by now that my words came out as a drunken slur, I’m not great at remembering words to songs at the best of times and this was even worse than usual. For safety, there is a bike with fairy lights on to follow the runners round in the hours of darkness, but as there was forestry work going on (it was now Monday morning) the safety bike needed to be with us during the day. The bike must not interfere with the race and should keep a safe distance, I dread to think what that person must have thought at my horrific singing, things took a turn for the worse (from the bike rider’s point of view) when Sia, Unstoppable came on. That is my song, that is my theme tune for my ultra running self. My God did I have an emotional outpouring, there I was crying and singing along, making guns with my hands and pretending to shoot Iain down (how I can still have a sense of humour after 45 plus hours running?!), you could argue that this was not my finest moment, or perhaps it indeed WAS my finest moment because I was fighting. I was fighting for women in sport, I was fighting for my own beliefs and I was fighting for all of those people who were supporting me, in person at the race and at home. Kev had been reading messages out to me and I’d been checking my phone periodically. So many messages had come via Timing Monkey too. This run was not about me and my goal of 60, this was about what I represented. I represented an ordinary woman, in an ordinary place doing something extraordinary with an ordinary 12 minute mile and a little bit of determination and stubbornness. Most relatively healthy person can smash out a 12 minute mile and I wanted to show how you do not have to be the best, you do not have to be the fastest, you do not have to be the strongest, you just need to go out there and have a little faith in yourself to try.

People had started turning up to spectate, including Dom and his wife Christina. She was wearing her Courtney socks to match mine, that was a wonderful gesture and gave me such a boost.

On the 49 start I congratulated Iain on his distance PB. I knew my race was nearly over, I had spent many hours on my own and at some point in those dark head torch hours I had stopped enjoying myself. I considered that it could be a nighttime thing and that daylight would bring a different vibe. I was enjoying myself less and less, and it wasn’t because of what Iain had said. It was because there was no one for me to chat to, no one to work with, the route had become monotonous and I was bored. Physically I felt completely fine and I had an enormous amount left to give. I weighed up my options. I made the decision to take Iain to his sought after 50 and stop after that. Running for me is a joy. I run because it makes me happy. I run because I love it. There was no joy, no happiness and no love right now. I was just doing it for the sake of doing it. I realised that I was the priority, not the record of 60, that can be done another day under the right circumstances and with the right people on the course.

On the starting line of 51 I congratulated Iain on his Scottish record, off we went. I was blacking out a bit, and dizzy, but physically the legs and feet were in great shape, I stopped a couple of times to let my head stop spinning and trotted on. Those feelings passed and I considered again about my plan. Would I regret it? No. I was sure. Eric was on the safety bike now. I flagged him down. I adopted the position of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator. I emptied all my thoughts out onto the forest floor and on to him. Eric is a great listener. He did the right thing by not trying to sway me in either direction, he told me there was time to complete the yard if I wished and he also told me that I would not be letting anyone down if I stopped. We had a big hug and we walked it in. Eric radioed ahead to let HQ know I was turning back. I trotted across the finish line and had an emotional hug with Kev. We had been through over 50 hours together, Kev had gone above and beyond in supporting me.

There was just one thing left to do now and that was to wait for Iain to come in off 51. When he came in I went over to shake his hand, it struck both Kev and I that as his assist, he did not thank me or offer his hand to me first and this goes against my principles. Again, a very different experience to that with Lee when I was his assist. We had a huge cuddle at the end of our BYU and tearfully thanked each other.

Later on however, Iain and I did discuss what had happened ‘out there’ on the course, we both explained our side of the story and parted in good spirits with each other. There are certainly no hard feelings on either side and I am sure we will be great GB teammates at the Sat Champs if we are both lucky enough to be there.

Comment from Iain: “Just as a footnote to Lizzie’s report, she’s entitled to her own recollection of events but I do not recognise some of the things that are written that I “said”. And nothing about the conversation we had on the course was affected in any way by gender. Whoever is the assist is clearly a worthy competitor, male or female. Look forward to racing you again in July, Lizzie.”

As Kev packed down the gazebo and loaded up the car, Lisa came over with free chips, a latte for each of us and a tear in her eye. “You told me you would be here until the end!” Dom and Christina gave me a cupcake and Lexi the dog to cuddle, one of the event crew Meagan, who had actually also run in the race and then been safety bike, came over to congratulate me. Kit the videographer came over for a chat. Fran phoned me to say well done and my phone went wild with DMs and messages from friends, people I had shared yards with as well as strangers. It was really, really lovely, and really quite emotional to hear all the wonderful things people had to say.

Afterwards

Something really rather special has happened post race, I had plenty of new followers on Instagram, but of those followers, many have reached out to me. Some have told me that my run inspired them to go out on their long run over that weekend, some told me that they entered their next race because of me. One person told me she’d signed up to a half having only done 10km previously as she was so engaged in watching the live feed. I have had people just reach out to say “hi” and to tell me of their running journey and I have had people get in touch and ask for running advice. Of these people, most are women but some men too. 

My goal was to inspire others, particularly female athletes. I firmly believe that I have achieved my goal, not only did I achieve this goal but on the day I made the right choice for me and I honestly could not have been happier with the outcome. Iain said on his post race interview that he had seen the trophy and he had wanted it. I said that I wanted the 60 and I wanted to inspire others – we both achieved goals. 

But what happened ‘out there’ was I realised that sticking to your principles, believing in yourself and working towards the goal that your heart desires the most, that, right there is better than any win.

A special mention to Kevin Munt – my crew

Crew often tend to fly under the radar. They are just quietly there. Busily working away behind the scenes doing everything it takes to keep their runner going. Their names are not mentioned in any results. In horse racing the steed, jockey, trainer and owner are all mentioned, but in BYU it’s only the winner and the assist who get named. Everyone else is just an unknown. Crew need to stay alert and awake. They need to take over the thoughts of their runner and become a mind reader when the runner is so sleep deprived. When the runner doesn’t know what they want or need anymore, the crew must make the decision on their behalf. The runner will likely become emotional, stroppy, bossy, deliriously happy, demanding, unreasonable, incoherent and more. The crew needs to take everything in their stride. They need to be calm, unflappable, organised, happy, alert, on their toes, a problem solver, a coach, a mentor, top cheerleader, able to answer questions about the race, know the right thing to say and when, they need to remember to eat and sleep themselves and be able to stay warm and focussed…. and more.

Kev crewed me for the full 50 hours of the Rasselbock BYU, bar a 3 hour ‘rest’ courtesy of James on night one. From keeping house, making tea, preparing food, feeding me, charging watches, changing head torch batteries, helping me stretch, massaging shoulders and calves, coming up with a plan a, b, c and d to keep me going, taping a hot spot, tracking my pain relief, not letting me quit in the chair, reading messages to me, providing encouragement, keeping me updated with the race gossip, listening to my poo stories, nodding along to my incoherent babbling, preparing my toothbrush, helping me wash my hands, letting me be bossy, buying me hot food, and after all that, on very, very limited sleep, he packed the entire camp away whilst I sat there crying happy tears, making pathetic noises and talking to people, oh, and then he drove me 3.5 hours home where I was asleep for the most of it, not the best company! He somehow managed to record an incredible podcast during the event. What an absolute superstar he is! 

From the bottom of my heart, thank you Kev for getting 50 yards with me as we both know it would not have been possible without you.

Aid Station links: Rasselbock Backyard Ultra Part one and Part two

What I wore: Saucony Peregrine 12, Garmin Fenix 7 Pro Sapphire Solar, buff, Sweaty Betty power leggings, Injinji socks, Montane long sleeved top, Dirty Girl gaiters

Lead up: I’d done Trails and Tarmac BYU around 6 weeks prior so I’d had a 2 week recovery, a 2 week training block and two week taper, all the bulk of the training had been done prior. Thanks to Stu of Obree Coaching for doing all the thinking for me, all I have to do is follow the training plan!

Summary

Three major things to draw from this:

1. The ability to inspire others is a huge motivation for me and I prioritise this above all else.
2. Being able to chat with others in the early yards and then form a partnership with Matt made those yards easy, I am not joking, they were.
3. I stood on that start line hoping to achieve 60 but deep down not knowing if i was capable. I now know, with great certainty that I am able to achieve 60 and more. For me though, fun and enjoyment is key and I’d rather achieve 60 with someone by my side, after all, it would feel a bit of a let down to not be able to share a moment like that with someone else.

Lessons learned

• Team work really does make the dream work – don’t really need to say any more on the partnership with Matt over those 12 or 13 yards.
• I wish I had discovered the power of baby food sooner! Ella’s Organic Cheesy Potatoe Pie is my favourite so far!
• I said this last time and I shall say it again, I need to figure out how to micro nap!
• Stretching throughout is great, but I needed reminding to do it as I got tired, first number of yards I didn’t sit down at all.
• Take salt onboard early and layer correctly to avoid peeing all the time.

Results

Chip time: 43hr 36m 41s

Fast lap: 47:21 (yard 19)

Slow lap: 55:11 (yard 15)

Average lap: 52:21

Overall: 2 / 166

Lady: 1 / 45

Sherwood Pines BYU 2025 results: click here

Lap Times for Elizabeth Gatherer – Sherwood Pines BYU 2025

Podcast Links

Aid Station – Rasselbock Backyard Ultra part one and part two

Backyard Ultra Podcast – Lizzie Gatherer

Endless Pines documentary

Endless PInes full documentary out in May 2025