Trail Mix | Dazed and confused, Hongkonger Hayward is ‘last man standing’ after epic performance in Tennessee

Will Hayward never expected to be the last man standing.

Well, he was actually the second-last person standing. But, technically, the runner from Hong Kong jested, “I was the last man standing.”

The winner of last week’s Big Dog Backyard Ultra in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, was Maggie Guterl. She was the first woman ever to win the race, which is widely considered to be the world’s hardest and most diabolical.

Known by many as “the race with no end,” the event is defined by a philosophy of attrition: at the strike of each hour, and then every hour after that for as long as they can continue, competitors must embark on the same four-mile (6.7 kilometre) loop. Run faster, and you have more time to eat, stretch, nap, use the toilet before toeing the start line again at the top of the hour, or be disqualified from the race. People drop out one by one until one person – the winner – remains.

Hayward had won his golden ticket to the infamous race, put on by Gary Cantrell (also known as Lazarus Lake), by taking first at Hong Kong’s inaugural Big Boar’s Backyard Ultra in April, organised by Steve Carr of Race Base Asia. In that race along Bowen Road, he completed a total of 167.75 kms, outlasting 14 other competitors over the course of 25 hours.