Among our colleagues, we have many endurance athletes who participate in various running events. We know the marathon, the half marathon, the ultramarathon... But have you heard of Backyard? It's a special ultramarathon format whose magic (and nightmare for some) lies not in how fast you can run, but how long you can last. The runners run on a circuit that measures 6.706 kilometers. You have exactly one hour to complete one circuit. If you run the circuit in 40 minutes, you have 20 minutes to rest, refresh or change your shoes. If you run the circuit in 59 minutes, you only have a minute to relax. A new round starts every hour. If you are not standing at the start at the moment of the shot, you are finished.
Jakub Rajnič from Cold Rolling Mill is also involved in such an extreme run. This year, he qualified for the team of fifteen runners who will represent Slovakia at the Backyard Ultra World Team Championship in October. About his journey to running, he says:
"Sport has always been an integral part of my life. I came to running somehow gradually, at first I hated it like most people. I started stubbornly and senselessly. Today I know that if I had had a little more knowledge and brains back then, I could have overloaded my body less and progressed faster, with less risk of injury. I take the fact that I haven't been significantly injured during that time as a small miracle."
What he enjoys most about running is improving and overcoming limits. He started with ultramarathons last year and has run several of them during that time.
"Of course, I didn't do as well as I would have liked on many of them. I did well this year, when in March I placed 3rd overall at the Nitra 24-hour race, where I ran 195 km. Also in April in Žilina, where I qualified for the national team that will represent our country in the backyard with a performance of 205 km. The race will take place on October 17 in Žilina and, in addition to Slovakia, teams from 49 other countries will run in parallel, each in their own country."
Jakub sticks to the motto "at least one activity a day". If it's not running, then strength exercise, swimming, or cycling. He is driven by the desire to improve and overcome his limits. His favorite running events include the Furčiansky marathon and the International Peace Marathon. He also has a runner in his family, his godfather persuaded him to take part in the Košice half marathon for a long time. "For many years, I refused that I would definitely not run, and if I did, I would not run up to 21 kilometers... what an irony," says Jakub.
Among his running dreams is an ultra run called Spartathlon, a 246-kilometer track from Athens to Sparta. And another is to participate in one of the larger Ironman triathlons. About the next big challenge, he says: "I wouldn't call it a dream, but rather a goal, and that is to proudly represent our country in the run on October 17, 2026."
We keep our fingers crossed for Jakub!
Interesting facts:
A circuit of 6,706 kilometers corresponds to 4,167 miles. Why this strange number? Because if you run this circuit 24 times in 24 hours, you will cover exactly 100 miles (approx. 160.9 km).
The Backyard Ultra World Team Championship has a unique concept. Instead of all the competitors flying to one common place, the whole world runs at once, but each on home soil. On one day, national teams from dozens of countries around the world will start their races at the same time. Because of the time zones, this means that while in Europe they start in the morning, for example, in America they run in the middle of the night and in Australia in the evening. Each country is represented by a team consisting of the 15 best ultrarunners of that country. These runners qualify during the previous two years based on the number of laps they have run in local races.
