Raidlight Chartreuse Backyard Ultra 2026: a record 350 runners on the start line

There were 63 of them on the start line of the first edition, held on Friday, October 27, 2019, under the name Chartreuse Terminorum. For the eighth edition of this Backyard Ultra, renamed Raidlight Chartreuse Backyard Ultra in 2022, 350 runners will start on Friday, October 30 at noon, with as many more on the waiting list. It says a lot about the appeal of these tough, intimate races: string together as many one-yard loops (about 6.7 km) as you can, each within an hour, until only one runner is left standing.

© Chartreuse Backyard Ultra

The format comes from the Barkley Marathons and Lazarus Lake (who came to scout the course in the Isère this summer). It was brought to the Chartreuse by Benoît Laval, runner, ultra-trail athlete and founder of Raidlight.

© Chartreuse Backyard Ultra

© Chartreuse Backyard Ultra

Belgians Merijn Geerts and Ivo Steyaert have just pushed the world record to 124 laps, more than 831 km in 124 hours, and the craze for Backyard Ultras has never looked stronger. Probably also because no other format puts men and women on such equal footing.

The Backyard phenomenon keeps growing because it blends performance, mental strength and collective adventure. You don't run against the others, you run with them… until it's time to head out again.

© Chartreuse Backyard Ultra

Last year, in tough conditions and torrential rain, France's Sonia Poutrel made history at the Isère race by becoming the first woman to win the Chartreuse Backyard Ultra, after 47 laps, or 315 km and nearly two days of effort. A remarkable result for an athlete who has also just raised the French women's record to 68 laps at the 2026 Worlds.

© Chartreuse Backyard Ultra

The favorites for the 2026 edition

With the race coming so soon after the World Team Championships, which started on October 17, a number of the discipline's big names will be missing. Still, several very experienced and talented runners will be on the start line.

Among the men, Liess Makhlouf (52 loops, two-time winner in the Chartreuse), Éric André and Christophe Louet (32 loops), Baptiste Dugué (28 loops) and Joël Archer (27 loops) will be there, and almost certainly near the front. Among the women, Patrizia Belletato (25 loops), Charlotte Goutorbe (18 loops) and Claudie Laval (17 loops) look best placed. Keep an eye on the experienced ultra-trail runner Alexandra Rousset, a French benchmark in the discipline (41 loops in 2024). She is injured but will still start with a team of Raidlight employees (15 of the company's 35), whom she coached for the occasion, for a great collective adventure.