Jay Stapley, winner of the 2026 Backyard Ultra at Prestbury Park on why ultra marathons are more about the mind than the body, why he wanted to keep running, but admits his legs were so sore afterwards he couldn’t let them touch the bed sheets.
Watch a preview of the chat with Jay Stapley below:
Watch or listen to the full chat with Jay Stapley below:
Can a human really run that far?
It’s hard to imagine a horse racking up the numbers Jay Stapley completed at the Red On Back Yard Ultra at the iconic Cheltenham Racecourse, let alone a human. But it’s been logged in writing. He did it over two and half days in the middle of May. And he knows the details off by heart.
“So I did two hundred and fifty-four miles in sixty-one hours. Four-point-two miles on the hour every hour. So say you do the four-point-two miles in forty-five minutes, you have a fifteen minute window where you can do what you want. You can can fuel, change clothes, go to the toilet,” Stapley told Sport and Life.
The man wanted to go even farther
What’s even more wild was that Stapley, who lives in Manchester, was keen to continue. He was forced to stop because his final opponent decided enough was enough.
“I wish we’d carried on a bit farther just to to get the numbers up even more because it gets you higher up the UK team roster. The higher you are on that the more chance you’ve of being selected for the worlds.
“If we’d got up to seventy-two hours, it would be three hundred miles and I wanted that milestone.”
It’s not about the lungs or the legs
You’d imagine only a truly remarkable athlete with lungs like a wolf could rack up Stapley’s numbers. But he says the Back Yard Ultra is more about mental strength than physical conditioning.
“If I say I want to do something, I’m going to do it. I reckon it’s sixty percent mental, forty percent physical.
“I think it’s mindset, I really do. I’ve got a really really stubborn grit to me.”
Sleep deprivation and soreness included
So, did he get the chance to sleep over the course of this epic race?
“I tried to. It’s so difficult though with the music and the speaker and the guy on the microphone. I’d do about three to seven minutes with my eyes shut.
“You’re not sleeping. They call it a micro sleep. And you basically just get your heart rate down.”
Sleeping was also tricky in the days after the epic victory – because he was so sore.
“You’re that sore you can’t even put the bed sheet on your legs. Getting to the toilet was murder.”
Come join the party (if not the running) next year
For most of us, competing in The Backyard Ultra doesn’t sound like fun. But Stapley would definitely encourage spectators to sample the party atmosphere next year.
“It’s all tents and tunes. It’s a bit of festival feel. I’ll be there next year, I’ll be there,”
I might be there too – but maybe like you I’m more drawn to the watching this remarkable test of human endurance unfold than torching my body. Or does this extreme test appeal?
