The Riverhead Backyard ReLaps Ultra is the most brutal race in New Zealand, with entrants running till they drop, and only one person is left standing.
It’s a race with no end. Entrants have to keep running until they simply can’t go on, until they drop, until there’s only one person left standing. Mike White was at last weekend’s Riverhead Backyard ReLaps Ultra and watched heroics and heartbreak unfold in the most brutal race imaginable.
Mike White/Stuff
Jub Bryant rests between laps, a cup of Coke in one hand, a boiled potato in the other. Bryant had never run more than 100km, but completed 181km at Riverhead, and was the third-to-last person to quit.