One loop. Every hour. Until only one remains.
It started in 2022 with a handful of friends, a dirt trail in the backyard, and a simple question: "How far can you really go?"
What began as a casual challenge quickly became something bigger. The format is brutally simple — run a 4.167-mile loop every hour, on the hour. Miss the start? You're out. Last runner standing wins.
Three editions later, Last Soul Standing has grown from 12 runners in a field to a community of over 100 athletes who return every year to test their limits — and find out what they're truly made of.
No prize money. No sponsors. Just the trail, the bell, and the question that started it all.
The backyard ultra format strips away everything except what matters: can you keep going?
Every runner completes a 4.167-mile (6.706 km) loop. The course winds through trails, fields, and a creek crossing. You'll know every rock by name.
A bell rings at the top of every hour. You must be at the starting corral before it rings. Finish early? Rest. Finish late? You're done.
There are no finishers — only one winner and a field of DNFs. The last person to complete a loop after everyone else has dropped is the Last Soul Standing.
"At hour 22 I was done. My legs were gone. Then the bell rang and I just... started moving. That's when I realized it was never about my legs."
"Most races end and you forget them. This one lives in your head rent-free. I dream about that trail. The cowbell haunts me in the best way."
"I've run 100-milers. Badwater. Barkley attempts. Nothing breaks your soul and rebuilds it quite like this backyard format. Pure, raw, unfiltered suffering."
One winner. Deeper trails, darker nights, and a course that's been redesigned to test even the most hardened souls.