World Backyard Ultra Champs: Ontario’s Amanda Nelson is the final woman runner

Woodstock, Ont.’s Amanda Nelson just completed yard (loop/hour) 56 of the World Backyard Ultra championships to tap out after running 375.76 km. She was the only woman runner on course for hours, out of the 544 athletes who began the event in 37 different satellite locations in countries around the world.

Jennifer Russo of the U.S.was the second-last female contender, completing 48 yards (322 km).

Nelson, who only took up running in 2020, secured new women’s 100-mile and 12-hour records at Survivorfest in June. Survivorfest is the official six-hour and 24-hour Canadian national championship, held annually in Edmonton, Alta. The runner also won the entire race and set new course records.

Nelson won the Persistence Backyard Ultra in August, running 33 yards and just over 221 kilometres to earn her spot on the Canadian backyard team. Her crew noted that the Summerland, B.C., course was dusty, causing some breathing issues on the second day of the race, but Nelson worked through them, running a massive personal best (and she can now lay claim to having run the most yards of any Canadian woman).

Multiple team members dropped after yard 40, and Nelson had been running with her two remaining team members, Ihor Verys of Chilliwack, B.C., and Quebec’s Eric Deshaies. Runners DNF by either not making it back from the looped course within an hour, or by deciding to tap out, officially called “refuse to continue (RTC).”

Nelson will be getting some well-deserved recovery and rest while her teammates Verys and Deshaies continue to push on. The current backyard ultra record stands at 90 yards, set by Merijn Geerts of Belgium earlier this year.

You can learn more about the World Backyard Ultra championships here, and find updates on the Canadian team on Canadian Running’s Twitter, as well as on Grass Roots Racing’s Instagram account.