Road to Bigs Backyard Ultra and National glory…
Starting August 15th 2021 there are no more Golden ticket races to give you direct access to the Bigs Backyard Individual World Championship in October.
There are now too many Backyard races to continue with that system, so from 2021 on there will only be a Bigs Backyard Individual World Championship race every 2 years. Every other year there will be a National Team Championships Event in October. The winners of these championships will win the Golden coin to go to Bigs the following year.
In 2022 the first National Championships worldwide event (and second World Team Championship) was held and while Belgium took the Silver Medal on the team Event, the National Championship shockingly did not have a winner. Merijn Geerts & Ivo Steyaert magically #broke100, but decided to tie after yard 101, so no Golden Coin for Team Belgium, but off course some very high places on the at large list.
In October 2023 on the 17th Bigs Individual World Championships was held in Tennessee and Team Belgium did us proud with some pretty amazing performances. Harvey Lewis (USA) claimed the World Title with a new World Record of 108 loops and Ihor Verys (Canada) earned the assist.
For the next cycle, here’s how you can qualify:
- There are 6 Silver Ticket races, the winner of each of those races will automatically get a place in Team Belgium.
- The other 9 places go to those runners that achieve the most yards in ANY backyard (in Belgium or abroad) between August 16, 2022 and August 15, 2024
Silver Ticket Races:
– September 2023: One More Loop (https://www.facebook.com/events/461618799283543)
– April 2024: What’s Your Limit? Backyard Beauraing (https://www.facebook.com/events/841973403600040)
– April 2024: Legends Backyard Belgium
– May 2024: Jusqu’à la fin – Backyard Ultra (https://www.facebook.com/events/293411902642825)
– May 2024: WUK M&M Backyard Ultra (https://www.facebook.com/events/939046593722370)
– June 2024: Antwerp Backyard Ultra (https://www.facebook.com/AntwerpBackyardUltra)
And here is the current At-large list for Team Belgium 2024
The Belgium National event will be held in October 2024 and the winner will get to represent Belgium at Big Dog’s in October 2025.
See the Backyard Ultra website for more info on the format and event requirements.
Sound complicated?
It’s fairly simple once you understand it, races between August 15th 2022 and August 14th 2024 will now be split into Bronze and Silver events.
Bronze events are affiliated events in each country and the winners of those events qualify for entry into the silver events.
Specific Bronze races feed into specific Silver races based on calendar dates of the Silver races and bronze races to allow for adequate rest between events.
Silver events are established premier events and the winners of these get automatic selection to the National Team event.
At this point there are no Bronze events in Belgium, only Silver events, but that might change in the future
The remainder of the team of 15 is selected from the At-Large list of highest numbers of yards completed in any affiliated race. The table above will be updated as race directors email in results to us.
Team members for the Belgian team must be Belgian citizens, born in Belgium or be permanent residents in Belgium at the time of the National Event – and be able to prove that if required.
The events that are Silver ticket events next year are listed above. You can find all the races on https://backyardultra.com/races/.
Race directors are encouraged to keep that official site info up to date.
Rules for the Championships
Rules for runners
- Runners must obey the rules of the specific event they are entered into
- Runners must be Belgian citizens, born in Belgium or be a permanent resident of Belgium at the time of the National Event to qualify for the Belgium National team.
- Runners winning a bronze race will automatically be allocated a space in the corresponding Silver race.
- Runners will still be required to pay the entry fee for the Silver race; this may be donated by the Bronze race as part of a winning prize.
- Runners winning a Silver race will be entered onto the Belgium team regardless. Even if the number of yards is less than the number of yards at the top of the At-Large list. If the winner is not Belgian, no Silver Ticket will be awarded.
- If A runner can not attend the National Team Championships then the space goes to the highest number of yards from the At-Large List.
- Runners are still required to pay an entry fee for the Team Championships of €250 to offset the set up and livestreaming costs as well as team medals and trophies. This may be donated by the Silver event as part of a winning prize.
- The winner of the Belgium National Championship Event will be granted a place in the following year’s World Championship in Tennessee. Part of the winning prize will be a €1000 allowance to be used to cover (part of) the costs related to the participation at the World Championship in Tennessee the following year.
- Runners selected from the At-Large List will be required to pay this entry fee also.
- 3 reserve runners will be invited off the At-Large list to cover short notice drop outs or no shows. They will be allowed to run as an individual in the event but will not count towards any team prizes or competition.
- The decision of the Belgium team managers (Tim Devriendt, Eilis Lanclus & Bart Stes) is final.
Rules for Organizers
- Organizers are to keep their race info up to date on the Backyard website pages and inform the Belgium Team Manager of any changes. The links on the spreadsheet will link to the Backyard site event pages.
- Organizers events must follow the Backyard format and rules as stated on the Backyard website. Failure to do this can result in the race becoming ineligible.
- Organizers must link to or share these rules on their own event pages to ensure all runners understand the rules.
- Organizers must email full results to info@backyardbelgium.com within 14 days of the event so we can update the spreadsheet with the correct data on team selection and update the At-Large list
- Organizers of Bronze races can choose to pay for the entry to the corresponding Silver races as part of a winning prize but must state this on their website.
- Organizers of Silver races can choose to pay for the entry to the Team Championships as part of the winning prize but must state this on the website.
- Organizers of Silver races have to contribute €200 towards the winning prize of the National Championship Event.
- Organizers can not substitute or replace winners of races or allocate Silver or Team race place to anyone other than the winner of the event under any circumstances.
- Organizers are responsible for ensuring nationality is asked at time of entry or before race day to ensure it’s clear who is eligible for Belgium team places.
- Organizers can ask runners to confirm national identity or birth place via presentation of passport, birth certificate or other document that confirms nationality or birth place. Organizers can ask runners to confirm permanent residency via presentation via document that confirm this status. This info can only be used for this purpose.
- When requested Organizers must share contact details of winners to the Belgium Team Managers making sure they first have permission to do this under GDPR.
- All the decisions of the RD’s of individual races are final.
- Belgium Team selection and National Championships places will be selected by Backyard Belgium vzw (Eilis Lanclus, Tim Devriendt, Bart Stes – Belgium Team Managers) based on the detail on the Selection Spreadsheet to ensure transparency and fairness in accordance with these rules.
For any questions on these rules please email info@backyardbelgium.com
Eilis, Tim, Bart (Belgium Team Managers)