When the Backyard Ultra craze began sweeping the country and the Boston metro area was left without its own event, the Needham Running Club stepped in to fill the void and launched the Needham Backyard Ultra in 2022. Twenty-six runners took part in that inaugural race that May with Daniel Leonard earning the victory after 12 hours and 50.04 miles of running. A year later, the event rebranded itself as the MetroWest Backyard Ultra, and moved to the fall. This time, Jason Kaplan was the victor after 17 hours and 70.89 miles.

Comfortable with its new name and calendar location, the MetroWest Backyard Ultra will return for its third edition on Saturday, Sept. 28, at Claxton Field in Needham, Mass. Starting at 8 a.m., runners will depart Claxton Field and complete a 4.167-mile course through the Needham Town Forest and on part of the Needham Rail Trail before returning to Claxton Field. They will have one hour to do so and return to the starting line at the top of the hour, every hour, until just one runner remains and completes a loop.

Co-Race Directors Bill Gallagher and Kiko Bracker created the event to bring the Backyard Ultra format to the Boston metro area, as well as to introduce curious runners to the format. The terrain is friendly enough with its fire roads and rail trail for first-timers to explore the format, even if just for a lap or two.

Cost to participate is $25. Registration is being handled on Eventbrite. For additional details, check out the Needham Running Club webpage.