Belgian Runners Merijn Geerts and Ivo Steyaert Push the Backyard Ultra Mark to 124 Loops

At 6 p.m. on Thursday, October 22, the bell rang for the 125th loop of the backyard ultra in Retie, Belgium, and nobody stepped forward. Merijn Geerts and Ivo Steyaert had already run 124 loops, about 516.7 miles (831.5 km), over five days and four hours. Marathon Handbook reported that the total is a new world best for the format, pending official confirmation of the results.

The race was the Belgian leg of the Big's Backyard Ultra World Team Championship, which began on Saturday, October 17. By the end, the two men were the last runners still going anywhere in the world. For anyone who sets long goals and then has to keep showing up for them, the story is worth a closer look.

How the format works

A backyard ultra has no finish line. Runners must complete a loop of about 4.167 miles (6.7 km) inside each hour, and a new loop starts on the hour, every hour. Whoever finishes a loop that nobody else can match is the winner, and everyone else is recorded as a non finisher.

That structure turns a race into a long series of small decisions. Belgian broadcaster VRT said the pair had barely slept for five nights and had been running for 120 hours when they passed the old mark. An organiser, Eilis Lanclus, told VRT that 992 runners from 67 countries started the championship, and that the two Belgians were the only ones left.

The record they passed

The previous best belonged to Australian Phil Gore, who ran 119 loops at Dead Cow Gully in Queensland in June 2025, according to Marathon Handbook. Geerts and Steyaert went past that figure shortly before 2 p.m. on Thursday and kept running for about four more hours.

Marathon Handbook noted that a Russian runner, Dmitry Klimov, reached 123 loops this summer, but race founder Lazarus Lake voided those results after video showed non competitors on the course with the athletes. It also reported that the results on the official championship dashboard were still being checked, so the new figure is best described as a world best awaiting confirmation.

Two runners, no winner

Because neither man completed a loop that the other did not, the Belgian race has no individual winner. Marathon Handbook said this is the third team championship in a row in which the two have stopped together: at 101 loops in 2022, the first time anyone passed 100, and at 110 in 2024.

Their teammate Bert Verbist told VRT that the pair were extremely strong mentally and closely in tune, saying they pull each other through. At one stage the inflatable start arch collapsed before their 117th loop, and spectators held it up so the runners could set off beneath it, Marathon Handbook reported, citing the Belgian newspaper L'Avenir.

Steyaert is 56 and Geerts is 52, and both have full time careers outside running. Geerts works as an inspector for Belgium's food safety agency, and Steyaert works in investment, according to Belgian broadcaster Sporza.

What the team table shows

The world team title is decided by adding up every loop completed by a country's 15 runners. The United States won with 1,120 loops, ahead of Australia on 1,069, while Belgium, the defending champion, finished third of 67 nations with 1,058. Mark Dowdle won the American race in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, with 107 loops.

The table carries its own lesson. Belgium had the two longest runs in the world, but the American squad had greater depth, with eight of its 15 runners reaching at least 80 loops. Individual excellence and team results are measured differently, and both count.

The takeaway

The Retie record was not built in one heroic push. It was built one hour at a time, with each loop finished before the next one could start. Geerts and Steyaert also showed that a partner who matches your pace can carry you further than you planned to go.

For readers working towards their own long term goals, the lesson is practical. Break the distance into units you can repeat, protect the routine that gets you to the next start, and decide in advance who will be running beside you when the hours get long.