It is just one word, the question athletes are often asked: Why? Why do you chase a round object around a field? Why do you run or jump or throw when you could be not running, not jumping or not throwing? Some answers are straightforward: for the money, for the glamour, to get away from the ordinariness of everyday life, to push my limits.
Then there’s a version of the George Mallory response (when asked why he climbed Mount Everest): “Because it’s there.”
No sports lover asks that question. But after decades of following sport, I am tempted to do so. To ask Phil Gore: Why?
I hadn’t heard of Mr. Gore till recently when I read that this Australian is a champion of the Backyard Ultra running. Now that might provoke another question, “What’s that?” Well, it’s an endurance race where participants run one 6.71km lap every hour. Completing a lap early means more time to rest until the top of the next hour (and the start of the next lap). There is no time limit, and the race ends when there is only one runner left. Voluntary sleep deprivation and incredible physical exertion is what it’s all about. But why? Perhaps Mallory might have understood.
Gore’s world record is 119 hours (he has won 14 of 16 races he has participated in), and his complaint is that when he wins, he doesn’t get a chance to push himself to the limit, to see how far he could have gone! He has done 152 hours (falling short of the 168 he set himself, running 6.71km every hour for a whole week). It was, a newspaper report said, “A remarkable feat of physical and mental endurance sustained by regular injections of sugar and the occasional meal, which along with sleep, toilet breaks, massages and gear changes, were squeezed into the roughly 15 minutes left in the hour after each lap.”
I ask again — ‘Why? Why? Why?’
The only aspect of that 152-hour race I can identify with is the cheese burger that formed a part of his diet.
There are subsidiary whys (and hows and whats) that have official answers. Why 6.71km laps? That’s 4.167 miles, or 100 miles divided by 24 hours. Running 24 laps means a total of 100 miles. Almost makes sense.
Who invented this? It was created by Gary Cantrell, the same mind behind the infamous Barkley Marathon (reputed for being a race nobody finishes). All you need to know about the Barkley is that it was inspired by James Earl Ray, the man who killed Martin Luther King Jr.
And what of India? Such niche competitions have their Indian versions too. The male record is 52 hours (or 348 kilometres — we use the metric system, after all) while the women’s best is 28 hours (187.6 km).
After winning the 2025 championship, Gore was quoted as saying “I’m just looking forward to getting some sleep.” Some of us count sheep to attain the same end.
Published on Sep 15, 2026
