Episode 66 - Will Hayward and Katie Wright

Kia Ora whanau. Strap yourselves in for the biggest episode of Dirt Church Radio yet. We go all in with a double episode, two full conversations with Katie Wright and Will Hayward, two of the final four left standing at Big’s Backyard Ultra, recently held in Tennessee. This race is the brainchild of Lazarus Lake, the man behind the infernal Barkley Marathons, and is a Last Person Standing event, whereby the competitors take on a 6.7km loop every hour until one person is left standing. Everyone else records a DNF. Both Katie and Will qualified for Big’s by winning a golden ticket entry. Will in Hong Kong at Big Boar’s Backyard and Katie here at home in the Riverhead Backyard Relaps. Both arrived at Big’s Backyard wanting to find and test their limits and it appears both certainly did. Spoiler Alert: Katie and Will were two of the four final competitors, Katie being halted by injury on lap 50 and Will spectacularly timing out on loop 59, thus giving the only other person on course (Maggie Guterl) the victory. What these athletes have undertaken is phenomenal, however what is also phenomenal is the honesty, humility, grace, and insight with which they recount their adventures to us. We’ll let them do the talking. Enjoy.