There is no finish: the World Team Championship, 2026

My third time at the Big’s Backyard World Team Championship. I was at the start line on Saturday morning when Team USA posed under a sign that read “There is no finish.” Five days later, they were world champions, and how they got there surprised me more than anything I’ve seen in this sport.

Team USA didn’t win by being the fastest. They had the slowest average lap of all 67 countries. They never had the runner who went farthest either: that was Belgium’s Merijn Geerts and Ivo Steyaert, with a record 124 yards, and Belgium still finished third.

For most of the race, Team USA weren’t even in front. Australia led for 30 straight hours, and at one point were 58 yards ahead. Then, over just 12 hours, Australia went from 10 runners to 2, while the USA lost only 3 of their 9. After yard 87 the two teams were level on 1,069. Australia’s race was over, and the USA still had 4 runners going. One hour later, the USA were in front for good.

Team USA finished on 1,120 yards, 51 ahead of Australia. Mark Dowdle won the US race on yard 107, with Jon Noll beside him until yard 106.

The lesson: in a team backyard ultra, it isn’t your star runner who wins it. It’s how many of your runners keep going, hour after hour.

Thank you all for the kind words about the World Team Championship dashboard. It means a lot to know it helped so many of you follow every yard, from every country, through all five days and nights. Building it was a labour of love, and watching you use it while the race unfolded made every late night worth it.

I put together the full story, with charts of every hour of the race. Congrats to the USA team on the win.