Belgium's Merijn Geerts and Ivo Steyaert turned the Big Dog's Backyard Ultra World Team Championship into a record run. Each man completed 124 laps — 831.5 km, or 516.7 miles — before stopping on the same loop. Under the rules, with the last two runners retiring together, neither was named the winner.
The last two left in a 990-strong field
The championship began on Saturday 17 October at 14:00 Belgian time, drawing 990 runners from 67 countries. Every hour, on the hour, each runner set off on a loop of about 6.7 km through the woods around Beverdonk in Retie. A runner who misses the cutoff must stop, and the last one standing wins.
Geerts and Steyaert ran side by side through raw autumn weather. They reached the 100-lap mark on Wednesday, as in their 2024 record run. By Thursday afternoon they were the last two runners left in the whole field, with Belgium the only country still active.
They started their 119th lap at noon on Thursday and finished it inside the hour. Shortly before 2 p.m. they passed Phil Gore's old mark and ran on for four more hours, celebrating the record mid-race before continuing. When the bell for the 125th loop rang at 6 p.m., neither man stepped forward, and the run was over.
A record beaten by five laps
The previous mark of 119 laps belonged to Australian Phil Gore, set at Dead Cow Gully in Queensland in June 2025. The Belgians beat it by five laps and 33.5 km, running for five days and four hours in total. A 123-lap run by Dmitry Klimov in Russia earlier in 2026 was voided after video showed non-competitors on the course.
The team title went elsewhere. The United States won with 1,120 laps from 15 runners, ahead of Australia on 1,069, while Belgium placed third with 1,058. Japan finished fourth with 1,038, repeating its placing from 2022 and 2024.
Geerts, 52, inspects for the Belgian food agency, while Steyaert, 56, works in investment. Two years earlier, with Frank Gielen, they set a Belgian team record of 110 laps, or 737 km, though Gielen did not run this year. Both men stopped together, thrilled with a record they now share.
