Go Bananas Backyard Ultra 2026

The RJ team day is coming up on Oct 18 and as is custom our very own banana baton will be taking centre stage!
This year we are celebrating the RJ team with our very own GO BANANAS Backyard Ultra. In true backyard ultra tradition, the RJ banana will head off for its first 6.71k lap at 6am. He'll run for total 10 laps setting off on the hour, every hour. We'll follow the backyard ultra tradition and blow a whistle at 3 mins, 2 mins and 1 min before each top-of-the-hour start. The last loop will start at 3pm.
How To Get Involved
We need at least one person to carry the banana baton on each loop. But since bananas are happier in bunches, the more runners on each loop the better!
Come and go as you like during the day:
- run 1 lap, stay for a chat, run another, and go again
- take on the ultimate challange and accompany the banana for all 10 laps (67.1km)
- drop by for a single loop or just to cheer from the sidelines.
Pacing note - you have a full 60 mins to complete 6.71km (approx 8:55 pace) making this a relaxed friendly group effort rather than a race. Run your own pace for the lap - no need to stick together.
Event Schedule
6am: First lap starts
2pm : The tutu lap (traditionally lap 22 but we're doing it a little different)
3pm: Final lap starts
Before 4pm: Final lap finishes
4pm: Celebration - food and drinks
Basecamp
We'll be set up at the Tri Club Shed in Underwood Park all day with snacks, drinks and shade. Come and join in the fun, cheer the runners, say hi on the live feed (for those who aren't camera shy).
Our statisticians will be crunching the numbers all day to see how many ks the entire RJ team runs, whether the over 50s run more laps than the young ones, whether the ladies outrun the men.... There may even be some challenges/tasks for runners to do on some laps 😉