the essential
Organized by My Sport Agency, the Backyard Toulouse is inspired by the legendary Barkey, a Dantesque ultra-trail event. For the first time in the Toulouse area, the event will be launched this Friday noon, from the Lac de Castanet room, with a 6.7 km loop to be covered in less than sixty minutes by the 200 runners entered and a departure every hour, day and night. The verdict should be known late Monday.
“And in the end, there will only be one left.” » No, the next season of Koh-Lanta is not coming to our department. But from Friday noon, from the Salle du Lac de Castanet, 223 competitors will face a hell of a challenge. “We suspected that this event would generate significant enthusiasm,” begins by launching Jules Porier, director of operations at My Sport Agency, in charge of the organization. “Our objective, for this 1st edition of Backyard Toulouse, was to be able to bring together 200 participants. And our limit could go up to 250 registrations,” he explains.
The principle? Runners have one hour to complete a 6.7 km loop with a slight difference in altitude, “which will be mainly concentrated in the Rabaudy park, using only one lane of traffic”. If this first step is successful, they can rest until the next start, which will be launched at the end of the elapsed hour. The start is therefore restarted every hour, day and night, until there is only one person left capable of keeping up, thus becoming the “survivor”.
In the footsteps of a legendary race
For the launch of this event, the organizers took inspiration from the legendary “Barkley”, a race held in the United States. “The creator Lazarus Lake will also be present in Castanet for three days,” underlines Jules Porier, supported by around ten marshals.
-What about the arrival? “In theory, we should know the winner on Monday, at the end of the day,” warns our interlocutor. Note that emblematic figures of extreme races will take the start, including Aurélien Sanchez (French finisher of the Barkley), Ronan Pierre (3rd national performer of the Backyard), Philippe Pollesel (several times qualified for the world final phases) or even the Swiss Christophe Nonorgue (world record holder for positive altitude difference in 24 hours).
Barkley, do you know?
This ultra-trail is considered the most difficult race in the world. It takes place in the United States, in Tennessee. Each year, creator Lazarus Lake selects 40 participants. The goal is to test human endurance. In a time limit of 60 hours, competitors must complete 5 loops of 32 km, or 12 hours per loop. Anyone who finishes the first loop in less than 12 hours can start the next, and so on until the last kilometer of the fifth loop.
Swiss
