Unlike traditional races, the Backyard Ultra is a knockout competition, with athletes required to cover a 6.72km loop every hour, until as the name suggests, there is only one person remaining.
Racing in only his third event of this kind, Rogers clocked up a staggering 30 loops, covering 201.6km over 30 hours, shattering his previous best by 40.32km.
The effort, which is the equivalent of nearly five regular marathons, saw Rogers place fifth, four loops behind eventual winner Mathieu Dube, making all the hard work worth it.
“I reckon I prepped about nine months for this event, just getting stronger and stronger through the months, and then yeah, it all paid off on the weekend,” Rogers said.
“I got to my goal of 30 ‘yards’ as they call it, and the 200km mark.”
Thirty loops over 30 hours is quite a long way further than his initial goal of eclipsing his personal best, which Rogers put down to the amazing support he received throughout the event.
“I had over 40 people come and support me over the weekend, and 10 of them were in my support crew,” he said.
“They would sort me out each loop, I’d come in and they would feed me, change my clothes, massage me and get me back out there for another loop.
“Twenty-five (loops) was my first goal because that was a new PB for me, I did 24 in my previous event. My main support person is my partner, Lisa, and she always knows when it’s getting tough.”
While the support, as well as the vibe of the event as the race entered the night, were memorable for Rogers, there was one thing that stood out above the rest.
“My main highlight has to be running four loops with my son, Alex,” he said.
“He had a goal to achieve at a young age of 14, and he wanted to be an ultra runner, so to do that, he had to run seven loops.
“He wanted to run the first three on his own, which he did and came across the finish line in a ridiculous 35 minutes, which is not really done in this kind of event, and then he ran the next four loops with me.
“To be able to run an event like this with your son is just an absolute honour really, and I was extremely proud.”
Understandably, Rogers is spending the next few days recovering from the astonishing effort, although the aches and pains won’t deter him from tackling extreme endurance events in the future.
“These first couple of days I’ve been pretty sore, and just trying to keep moving as much as I can,” he said.
“The fatigue is probably going to be here for about a week, and then hopefully the body comes back together. Things like eating take a few days to get back to normal.
“Your taste buds are all over the place because of all the things you’ve been eating to try and keep you going for each loop. Hopefully, within a few more days, I should be feeling a bit more normal.
“Once I’ve recovered, well, I’ll certainly be looking at my next challenge.”
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