Nova Scotia ultra-runner ranks among world’s best after 74-hour race with no finish line

Halifax ultra-runner Lee Murphy raced around the clock for over three days in Big’s Backyard Ultra.

Most races have a finish line, but for Lee Murphy, the goal is to keep going until his body can’t anymore.

The Hubbards, N.S. ultra-runner recently returned from Big’s Backyard Ultra in Tennessee- a world championship event where athletes run a 6.7-kilometre loop every hour, on the hour, until only one person remains.

“It’s not for everybody but for me I have this goal of getting into the hundred hour club and I just want to keep getting further towards that 400-500 mile club,” said Murphy explained.

This was Murphy’s fourth time running a backyard ultra - and his longest yet. He lasted 74 hours, covering nearly 500 kilometres, finishing among the top 24 runners in the world.

“It pitted 75 of the world’s best runners head to head for a chance to be the world champion.”

The course, known among runners simply as Big’s, is the original backyard ultra, created by legendary race director Lazarus Lake. Competitors switch between a hilly forest trail during the day and a flatter road loop at night.

“Big’s is challenging,” Murphy said. “The day loop is quite hilly, so as you get more tired, 6.7 kilometres becomes very difficult to accomplish within sixty minutes.”

Even after injuring his ankle mid-race, Murphy refused to stop running.

“I’d been running every single day for almost three years,” he said. “And due to an injury I sustained during the race, I had to take it very easy since I’ve been back.”

What kept him going through the exhaustion wasn’t just endurance, it was support from home.

“I’m super proud of what Team Murphy did,” he said. “My wife and my friend helped me survive longer than I thought I could… but I’m already thinking about how to go even further next time.”

For Murphy, the reward isn’t medals or records, it’s the ability to keep pushing his limits.

“The reward is just to train more and run further,” he said. “I just turned 37. I ran 496 kilometers during this, but the people in the top 10 were in their 50s. In the ultra world, age is only a number. The distance we run is just numbers. I’m always chasing a higher one.”

Murphy is already planning his next backyard ultra in June - another chance to test how far the mind, and body, can go.

Because for him there really is no finish line.

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