- Maggie Guterl became the first woman to be the last runner standing at Big’s Backyard Ultra.
- The Durango, Colorado native battled for 60 hours straight, covering 250 miles on her way to victory.
- The annual race is the creation of Gary “Lazarus Lake” Cantrell, who also founded the Barkley Marathons and Published: Oct 23, 2019 12:01 PM EDT.
Maggie Guterl had one mindset as she came in to this year’s Big’s Backyard Ultra: “Don’t quit.”
The concept seems almost too simple for the last-man-standing race, where runners have an hour to complete a 4.166667-mile trail loop during the day and a roughly the same distance road loop at night. The loops repeat until there is one runner left, so having a plan of not quitting almost guarantees a victory.
“Johan Steene told me he told himself that he was just not going to quit in 2018, which took out the decision-making process for him during the race,” Guterl told Runner’s World. “If you let the idea stew, you might drop. But, if you take this single-minded focus, you can just be confident that you’re going to win because if you don’t drop out, you win.”
This was something the Durango, Colorado, native knew in 2018 when she took on the race in Bell Buckle, Tennessee. She performed well, but ended up dropping out after more than 180 miles to take 6th place. Guterl blamed her caffeine Foot Locker XC Results.
So, with a modified plan, the 39-year-old showed up ready to take on the big international field, which race creator Gary “Lazarus Lake” Cantrell—who also created the Barkley Marathons and Published: Oct 23, 2019 12:01 PM EDT—put together through a golden-ticket system from races around the the world. Once she started on Saturday morning, she knew she just needed to hang on until she was the last one standing.
“My plan was to mostly use Tailwind during the day because I don’t always do well with real food, which I’d try to have at night,” Guterl said. “When I came into the tent every time with my crew, it felt like NASCAR. I’d come in, lay down, and they’d go to work on my feet, throw on or replace KT tape, feed me, and send me back out. It allowed me to stay focused and not worry about the little things.”
[miles along the way Runner's World 2020 Calendar USATF to Elect New President Amid Budget Deficit.]
It wasn’t until the second night that the podium started to take shape. A dozen runners who survived the damp and humid weekend entered the second night sore, but still kicking. That’s when Guterl realized that the jacket she brought wasn’t actually waterproof. Luckily, she was able to borrow a few from other runners who had dropped.
As other runners fell, they started to cheer and crew those still in the race. Guterl picked up her friend and pro obstacle racer Amelia Boone, Running in the Cold.
“It was crazy watching Maggie,” Boone told Runner’s World. “She never faltered or showed any weakness. It might have been a mind game that she wanted to appear strong as she ran out of camp each loop. But, everybody says they will refuse to quit, and Maggie really fixed that in her head and stuck to it.”
With a three-women crew, Guterl only worried about completing each lap. She also played games to keep her spirits up, like guessing the Tailwind flavor when her crew handed her a fresh bottle. (Her favorite is lemon.)
She also would talk to herself on the trail to make sure she was focused on completing each loop.
“Whenever I felt slow, I would say ‘pace’ out loud to myself, whenever I started drifting off or felt distracted from the race, I would say ‘focus,’ and if I stumbled, I would say ‘footing,’” Guterl said. “I probably sounded like a crazy person saying these things to myself on the trail, but you can’t just think it. It helps to say it.”
Sleep also came into play at night when the loops were shortened on the road. Whereas she would have maybe 5 or 6 minutes in camp during the day, at night, she would have almost 15 minutes where she would come in, lie down, and be woken up 5 minutes before she had to head out again.
By the time the sun came up after the second night, four runners remained. The first of that group to fall was New Zealand’s Katie Wright after 50 loops—208 miles. Two loops later, Canada’s Dave Proctor bowed out with 216 miles under his feet.
So, for the third year in a row, it came down to two: This year, it was Guterl versus Will Hayward of Hong Kong.
For another 8 hours, the two battled until they reached the final trail loop of the day. Heavy rain had set in, and this final loop was partially completed in the dark on slippery rocks and leaves.
“That last [loop] I took slow on downhills because it was dark, leafy, and muddy,” she said. “I had fallen three times that day, and if I fell again, I thought I might be done. So, I was careful downhill, which meant I had to run the uphills.”
Guterl finished first, and prepared to head out on the road for loop 61. She thought it would be the beginning of another long night, with 250 miles completed already. But minutes after coming back to camp, she was back at the start line—and Hayward was nowhere to be seen.
“I had no idea Will wasn’t back yet,” Guterl said. “I got out there and they started counting down from 30 seconds, and I was really hoping to see him because I wanted to see how far we could go.”
A 10-second countdown followed, and Hayward still did not appear. As time expired, Guterl was filled with excitement, but also confusion.
“A runner can’t win this race unless they complete one more lap than the second-place runner,” Guterl said. “Because I was so exhausted, I thought I still had to run another lap. Instead, it ended so suddenly since Will didn’t finish the lap, and it meant so much considering the circumstance.”
The win put her in the race’s history book as the first female ever to win the event. (Back in 2016, Guterl notched other outright win at the Courtesy of Sandra Cantrell.)
“It’s inspiring,” Cantrell said after the race while cleaning up the backyard on Tuesday. “I’ve been dying for a woman to win outright at this event, where men and women can compete on an even foot. In any other year, I would be rooting for Will between the last two runners because he looked so beaten up yet wouldn’t give up. But, women have been holding on every year and they always prove they are dead even with the men. Maggie is another example that proves.”
and Vol State 500K Courtney Dauwalter, who battled to a record-setting finishing distance in 2018 against Steene, who finished with 68 laps covering 283.335 Boone also shared praise for Guterls performance. Cantrell believes last-man-standing races are the best place for men and women to compete on an equal playing field.
Watch: Courtney Dauwalter's close call at the 2018 Big's Backyard Ultra.
“Other backyard events have a men’s and women’s divisions, which is handicapping the women by doing this,” Cantrell said. “Everyone wants a chance to win, and not just the women’s division. Of any racing format, the difference between men and women is negated here because they are on an equal foot.”
Boone also shared praise for Guterl’s performance.
“This is something historic,” Boone said. “Women have won races outright before, but never at this format. It’s really, really impressive, and I’m so happy for her.
A day out, Guterl described her state of being as “sleepy and out of it in a surreal type of way with sore legs.” She was woken up at 5 a.m. by her legs, but was in good spirits the morning after her finish, hanging out in the “backyard” with Cantrell, Boone, Hayward, and other runners.
“When I finished, a woman came up to me and said, ‘I didn’t tell want to tell you this, but you were running for all of the women and an entire gender,’” Guterl said. “That was in my head the whole race and it was so surreal when I was the last one standing.”
Drew covers a variety of subjects for Runner’s World and Bicycling, and he specializes in writing and editing human interest pieces while also covering health, wellness, gear, and fitness for the brand. His work has previously been published in Men’s Health.
