Austria Backyard Ultra – Amstetten: Course, Route Profile & Map

Course & Elevation

The rulebook is the classic backyard format: at the top of every hour the entire remaining field starts the same 6.706-kilometre loop, the classic 4.16667 miles. Anyone who fails to finish the loop within the hour, or does not line up for the next start, is out; the winner is the last person still completing a full loop. Twenty-four laps equal 100 miles, and the format is open-ended.

The racing happens in the Forstheide forest at Ulmerfeld-Hausmening on the edge of Amstetten, with start and finish at the entrance to the woods. The loop is the opposite of a trail exam: firm forest soil, gravelled forest roads and short stretches of asphalt, largely level, with around 30 metres of climbing per lap and a high point just above 290 metres. Nothing on the course forces you to walk; what wears you down here is not the terrain but the repetition.

The field is capped at 280 starters and the race runs in late April: through the day, through the night, and onward for as long as at least two people keep answering the bell. After its 2026 premiere, 2027 is the event's second edition.

Pacing Strategy

In the backyard format you are not managing a race pace but an hourly budget: 60 minutes per loop, and every minute you save becomes rest. On a loop this flat, most people run considerably faster than is good for them; 42 to 48 minutes per lap leaves 12 to 18 minutes in the chair and is a sustainable rhythm for many. What matters is that your chosen pace feels almost laughably slow in loop one.

The real trap of this course is its runnability. Where a hilly backyard forces hiking and thereby builds in changes of load, the Forstheide tempts you to run every loop end to end, with the same stride and the same impact, hour after hour. So schedule walking breaks deliberately, for instance as fixed eating and drinking segments, rather than waiting until your legs demand them.

From nightfall the same loop gets slower: budget a few extra minutes per night lap and keep the rhythm steady instead of immediately buying back lost time. This race is won between the loops, in the chair, not on the course.

Training plan for Austria Backyard Ultra – Amstetten: 12-week build

In a backyard the duration is open: from eight hours to well past 24, depending on when the field thins out. The character of the effort is deeply aerobic, and on a loop this flat, almost entirely running. Unlike the hill variants of the format there are no climbs to force hiking breaks and changes of load: you are training for hours of uniform running at very low intensity.

What decides the race is not any section of the course but the transitions: starting to run again after every break, once muscles and tendons have cooled, and the night hours in which the same loop suddenly turns heavy. Exactly these moments can be rehearsed.

The most important building block is repeat sessions in race format: for three to six hours, start a roughly 6.5-kilometre loop at the top of every hour, and in between sit, eat, and get going again. Add one long, slow run per week, two easy runs, and targeted foot and calf strengthening; on this level surface the monotone impact load, not the climbing, is what actually ends races.

Finally, do not underestimate the logistics: fuelling you can stomach for many hours, a well-organised chair setup, warm spare clothing for the cold April nights, and headlamp runs in training. A backyard is rarely won with the fastest lap, but often with the best-prepared break.