The Giddy Horse: Backyard 24hr, 12hr, 8hr Races (Solo & Team) Plus Canicross, Night Races, Obstacle Course Race & Trail Races

The route is 20% tarmac, 7% on stone track and the rest is on open parkland and trail.

There are on site toilets, coffee vans and caterers during the afternoon and evening on Saturday and during the morning on the Sunday. There is a bag drop and there is a changing tent.

Spectators, including dogs, are very welcome. The best place to spectate is near the finish area or you are welcome to be out on the course. If you are on the course please make sure you don't block the view of the lap split boards by Golden Gate Lodge

All finishers will take home a top quality custom medal. Adult medals will be a VERY large 10cm x 10cm medal, Mini Steeplechase medals may be a mix of different designs.

• Bespoke Custom Medal
• Buffet of delicious post race treats
• Really friendly, inclusive atmosphere, perfect for your first OCR

We have 24hr (104 mile!), 12hr (50 mile), 8hr (33 miles) Backyard Race for solo runners. There is also a team option for the 24hr race with team size of pairs (2), small team (3-5), medium team (6-8), large team (9-12). All races start on Saturday 25th October, with start times from noon. The 24hr, 12hr, 8hr start times will be confirmed based on final number of participants, they may be together or slightly off set by 10mins.

All Giddy Horse Backyard Solo Race (8hr, 12hr, 24hr) are held on a 4.167mile course and are fun and inclusive way to complete your first Ultra Marathon. If you run the 8hr Backyard then you will run a 33.3 mile Ultra. If you run the 12hr Backyard then you will run a 50 mile Ultra. If you run the 24hr Time Travel Backyard, you will run 104 miles!! Every hour, all runners start a new loop. Pacing is key as runners can not start the next loop early to bank time, runners can only start a loop every hour. If you don't complete your lap in an hour then you withdraw from the race.

The Giddy Horse 24hr Relay option is a great way to soak up the event atmosphere and enjoy longer rests between your laps. The event Relay event is held on the 4.167 mile loop, but runners are not held to the starting a new lap every hour rule. Relay runners can run continuously, or take longer breaks between laps, it is entirely at the discretion of the team. Relay runners can sync in with the hourly start times and act as pacers for the Solo runners, but you will not be out of the race should you not complete your lap in an hour. The final lap must be completed within the 12hour time limit for it to count to the team's total distance.

In summary, both races run on the same 4.167 mile loop. Solo Backyard runners must start on the hour and be completed in an hour in order to start the next lap. Relay runners have total discretion on the timing of their laps.

The original Backyard Ultra concept of this event was created by Lazarus Lake, the man behind the Barkley Marathons, and takes the form of an open ended Ultra - the race continues until only 1 person is left and completes 1 more loop than any other runner. The World Record currently stands at 108 laps with the race lasting 4.5 days!

Whilst the Giddy Horse Backyard events are faithful to the core features of the Ultra event in terms of distance, format and timing, only races that taken the open ended form may use the name 'Backyard Ultra' which is why our time limited events are named Giddy Horse Time Travel 24hr Backyard, Giddy Horse Time Travel 24hr Relay, Giddy Horse 12hr Backyard and Giddy Horse 8hr Backyard

• Camping is included for all 24hr solo and team runners.
• There is 1 drinks station at the lap point where you can grab some snacks and refreshments once you have concluded each lap. Snacks will include haribo, tribe bars (GF, vegan) and other tasty treats. Caterers will be available to keep you going with more substantial food across Saturday and Sunday.
• There will be catering during the core event hours tbc, 16:00 - 21:00, 09:00 - 13:00. Fresh coffee, tea and hot chocolate will be available throughout the night for the 24hrs races
• All solo Backyard finisher's medals are super size, 15cm x 15cm. Runners who achieve the 24hr (104 mile) Backyard will be awarded a supersize medal with a gold ribbon, 12hr (50 mile) Backyard will be awarded a supersize medal with a Silver ribbon, those who achieve the 8hr (33.3 mile) Backyard will be awarded a supersize medal with a Bronze ribbon. Those who fall short this year and do not achieve the distance of the event they registered for will be awarded a medal with an #UnfinishedBusiness ribbon
• All relay races will collect a medals take home a large 10cm x 10cm medal. Teams who achieve at 125 miles will take home a gold ribbon on their medal, 100 miles will take home a silver ribbon medal and 60 miles will take home a bronze ribbon medal.

The canicross race has a 4 mile and 8 mile (2 lap) option. The canicross race is a time trail start with runners setting off individually to give runners maximum space out on the course. The races start from 15:30 on Saturday 25th October.

All our finishers receive a top of the range custom medal as well as a buffet of fresh fruit and other tasty treats.

Backyard Solo Awards

In keeping with the Backyard Ultra way of doing things, there are no overall winners for the Solo races - you either achieved the distance or.....you did not. All solo finisher's medals are super size, 15cm x 15cm. Runners who achieve the 24hr (104 mile) Backyard will be awarded a supersize medal with a gold ribbon, 12hr (50 mile) Backyard will be awarded a supersize medal with a Silver ribbon, those who achieve the 8hr (33.3 mile) Backyard will be awarded a supersize medal with a Bronze ribbon. Those who fall short this year and do not achieve the distance of the event they registered for will be awarded a medal with an #UnfinishedBusiness ribbon

Relay Race Awards

All relay races will collect a medals take home a large 10cm x 10cm medal. Teams who achieve at 125 miles will take home a gold ribbon on their medal, 100 miles will take home a silver ribbon medal and 60 miles will take home a bronze ribbon medal. Less than 60 miles will take home a medal with the Giddy Horse ribbon.

There will be a prize for the pair, small team, medium team and large team that achieve the furthest distance. Note only complete laps finished in the 24hrs count towards your total.

Runners can choose between a 4 mile and 8 mile (2 lap) race with the course marked with reflective signs and glow sticks. Runners need to provide their own headtorch or chest torch to take part.

Take on climbs, crawls, mud and water in this super fun obstacle course race which is perfect for experienced OCR runners and for other runners who would like to dip their toe in the obstacle course racing world. There are 4 mile and 8 mile options. Races start from 10:00

We have a 4 mile (1 lap), 8 miles (2 laps) and Half Marathon (3 slightly extended laps) around the beautiful park with views of the Severn Bridge and views of the cliffs along the Wye Valley.