OM DENNE EPISODE
Live from the North Shore, Garrett and Tanner are joined by James “Smitty” Smith from the hotel putting green to talk through Tanner’s final thoughts before taking on 101 miles and roughly 17,350 feet of climbing on the Superior Hiking Trail, plus what Garrett and Smitty are preparing for as his pacing and crew team.
Then we turn to the 2026 Backyard Ultra World Team Championships, where Team USA has some questions to sort out before October 17. Nick Steel has publicly pushed back on race-schedule expectations leading into and following the championship, raising a larger conversation about athlete autonomy, team responsibility, recovery and what changes when backyard ultrarunning becomes a true team sport.
We also discuss:
Team Russia preparing its World Championship course and whether countries optimizing their own courses exposes a bigger problem with the current championship format
Why Garrett thinks the Backyard Ultra World Team Championships eventually need a true in-person final, and whether regional qualifying could create a “World Cup of ultrarunning”
Megan Eckert running 636.482 miles (1,024.3 km) in six days in Hungary, becoming the first woman to surpass 1,000 kilometers in a six-day race and breaking the overall American six-day record
What Eckert’s performance, Phil Gore’s Project 168 and the current generation of multi-day runners might tell us about how far backyard athletes can eventually go
Fastpacking the Superior Hiking Trail, why Smitty wants to cover the Superior 100 course over multiple days, and how fastpacking could give runners a completely different way to experience iconic race courses without actually racing them
Plus, Superior predictions:
With rain potentially arriving overnight, Garrett, Tanner and Smitty make their picks for the 2026 winning time before turning their attention to crewing, pacing, problem-solving and getting Tanner from Gooseberry Falls to Lutsen.
If you love the Superior 100, backyard ultras, multi-day running, or conversations about where ultrarunning could be headed next, you’re in the right place.
Links
Superior Fall Trail Race — https://www.superiorfalltrailrace.com/
Superior 100 participant guide — https://www.superiorfalltrailrace.com/100-mile-info/
Superior course maps and data — https://www.superiorfalltrailrace.com/maps-and-data/
2026 Backyard Ultra World Team Championships — https://bigsbackyardultra.com/world-team-championship-2026/
Team USA World Team Championship — https://bigsbackyardultra.com/races/big-dogs-satellite-championships-team-usa/
Team Russia World Team Championship — https://bigsbackyardultra.com/races/biotropika-world-team-championship-team-russia/
Megan Eckert’s six-day world record — https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a73653705/megan-eckert-6-day-world-record-2026/
Superior Hiking Trail — https://superiorhiking.org/
#Superior100 #BackyardUltra #Ultrarunning #MeganEckert
