World record broken as Gore and Harvey reprise 2023 at Dead Cow Gully

Sponsored by

Just before dawn on day five of Dead Cow Gully, Sam Harvey finally reached the point where he couldn’t carry on. It’s hardly surprising. By that stage he’d run 118 consecutive laps of the 6.7k “yard” at Dead Cow Gully.

Across just shy of five full days, he’d run more than 790k with limited sleep, and his body had just said “enough’s enough”. Both his Achilles had given up. As he shuffled across the finish line for yard 118 it was clear he was in a lot of pain. But he still had the pure guts to get out and start yard 119.

He had to, because the only other runner left in the race - Phil Gore - had started. And in backyard ultras the equation is painfully simple: if you’re not the last person standing, then you did not finish.

So Harvey lurched like a zombie into the darkness for the 119th time, trying to force Gore to find the strength to complete not just a 119th yard, but a 120th to go with it.

Harvey’s crew were right behind him. “C’mon Sam, you’ve got this. One foot in front of the other. You can do it… Just walk it out Sam.” But there was no walking it out. Instead, a vehicle retrieved Harvey and brought him back after he’d collapsed a few hundred metres from the start line.

It was hard to watch as he was levered out of the front seat of the ute, more or less carried by two of his crew to his chair in his gazebo by the start line. As people nervously hovered outside, suddenly there was laughter. Dead Cow Gully may have broken Sam Harvey’s body, but it hadn’t broken his spirit.

To the winner, the spoils

The contrast between Harvey and Gore on that 119th and final yard could not have been more stark. There are many things about this edition of Dead Cow Gully that blow my mind. But perhaps the most jaw-dropping was the way Gore finished the race. He bolted across the finish line, running the last yard in under 34 minutes - that’s around 5 minutes per kilometre.

aerobicedge

3,454 followers

View more on Instagram

And he finished looking fresh. After he crossed the line, the first thing he asked was: “Where’s Sam.” Harvey had come out to sit by the finish line to congratulate Gore. These two are very different. Harvey is a bit of a showman while Gore is very reserved. But the respect they have for each other is both enormous and clear.

After they’d shaken hands and Gore had praised Harvey for his incredible grit, Harvey asked how his great rival was holding up. “How’s your feet and legs,” Harvey asks. “Yeah, they’re all good. No issues. Not even a blister,” Gore says. And Harvey replies with exactly what I was thinking: “Oh shit… Flex!” Cue laughter from those huddled around the finish line.

Of course, it shouldn’t come as a massive surprise that Gore performed so strongly. While he is a formidable ultra runner in “ordinary” events, he just seems made for the backyard format. He’s won almost every race he’s entered. The next big challenge will be Big’s, the big daddy of backyards where it all started and the unofficial, invitation only world championship.

films.lumina

287 followers

View more on Instagram

Big Brother for ultra running fans

One feature of the race this year that proved as popular as it was compelling was the YouTube live stream offered by the team from the Backyard Ultra Podcast. This was like Big Brother, but for ultra running.

For all 119 hours of the event you could watch the race unfold from fixed cameras around the course. But things really got interesting when the camera was allowed into the crewing area of various athletes between loops.

This gave an incredible insight into the toll an event like this takes, the effort that goes into crewing, and underlined just how amazing these humans are.

From time to time it was also very funny. Like this exchange from one competitor (I didn’t get his name). Runner: “Can I have a juice?” Crew: “You’ve got one in your hand.”

Then there was Spaniard Oriol Antoli Sarrau asking if people watching the stream liked his shirt, “the flying burrito”. He then sent a message to his son back at home. “My son always does this sign. I don’t know what it means but I just do it to remind me of him.” He got through 102 yards, a massive PB.

Jonathan Ash, or “Jashy” as he’s known, was a clear crowd favourite during the race. He joined the elite 100 yard club before pulling out on his 101st lap. Just prior we heard his crew asking him: “Did you smash that sausage roll? I’ve got another one.” Perhaps he should have eaten it, it might have powered him around loop 101.

Jashy is my kind of runner. Just about the first thing he did on returning to the starting precinct was to crack a beer. And thanks to the Backyard Ultra Podcast team, we got to watch all this unfold.

Amongst the women at Dead Cow, American Jenn Russo was the top woman came out on top with a PB of 76 yards. Another highlight was the moment Jane McAlpine and Holly Ranson finished loop 52 together to break the NZ and Australian women’s records respectively. McAlpine turned back on loop 53, but Ranson completed 62 yards for a big PB.

dead_cow_gully

14K followers

View more on Instagram

There’s so much more I could write about this, so many other storylines. But I’m already over 1,200 words and that’s probably enough. So a couple of quick things to finish.

First a shout-out to the Trail Snails. They made this event their focus for this year, and I have no doubt their bright orange presence brightened Dead Cow Gully immeasurably, literally and metaphorically. The race will be the focus of their next podcast episode so if you’d like to hear from runners who were actually there, I’d recommend having a listen.

trail.snails

2,205 followers

View more on Instagram

I’ve been fascinated by this format and this race in particular for three or four years now. But DCG 2025 has got me hooked. So barring some kind of disaster, I’ll be there to run it in 2026.

Western States

Just a reminder, as if the excitement of this week wasn’t enough, Western States - one of the world’s premier trail ultras - is on this weekend. I wrote a primer about it a few weeks ago if you want the full story, but in short it’s another of the traditional US races with a really interesting backstory.

This year was shaping up to be a battle of two of the all-time greats in the men’s race - Kilian Jornet and Jim Walmsley. But Walmsley has had to withdraw. There’s still plenty to pique the interest though - my pick of the storylines is to watch how David Roche performs.

He’s taking a completely novel approach by aiming to absolutely tear the course apart, running at an insane pace. It’s unconventional, but it’s how he won the Leadville 100 last year, breaking a course record that had stood for 19 years in the process. I’ll also be watching Kiwi Dan Jones who’s performed strongly in the past two Western States.

mountainroche

72K followers

View more on Instagram

On the women’s side it’s a race that’s wide open. Many of the biggest names in women’s trail racing won’t be lining up. But it will still be a quality field with six of last year’s top 10. China’s Fu-Zhao Xiang, second last year, is probably the favourite.

There’s a live stream via the Western States YouTube channel so you can follow the race from the start on Sunday, Australian time.

Upcoming Events

There are way too many events for me to list everything that’s happening around the country, but here is a selection of upcoming races (with a bias towards South East Queensland).

The Running Calendar website is a great source if you want a comprehensive understanding of what’s available around Australia.