2026 Report

We had an abundance of laughs and smiles at the 2026 Furbutt’s Backyard 24 Hour & 12 Hour event; plus so many words of appreciation and gratitude that I wish I could bottle it up and share with each and every volunteer and with our entire trail running community who believes in our mission of encouraging people to run on dirt. There were also miles… so many miles!

Our 24-hour finisher with 21 yards (roughly 87.5 miles!) is Dennis Chavez. Dennis is now a 2X finisher at Furbutt’s and he has more cumulative miles than any other Furbutt’s runner! Will Giddens valiantly served up the assist. Incidentally, Dennis continued on running another three yards to complete 24 and get his 100 miles, even though the last three yards were unofficial since this is a last man standing event.

We had three 12-hour, 50-mile Furbutt’s After Dark finishers – Cevri Civelek, Caleb Pallaria and Lily Romero. Outstanding performances all around. Plus, while we are still tabulating results, I am fairly certain that we had more total miles run by all runners than ever before at this event, so high fives and fist bumps to all of you.

It has been four years of Furbutt’s and coming out of this year’s race, I can say that we officially have a backyard event and for next year’s race, we are going to make changes to stay true to the backyard concept. More on that soon, but first a recap of this year’s event.

I put a lot of effort into my outfit choice for this year’s event and got a wide variety of questionable looks and comments… I wasn’t dressed as Pippi Longstocking and I didn’t get dressed in the dark. As race director for the Furbutt’s, I get to dress as Furbutt with a Lazarus Lake influence once a year, so you had better get used to it. But I did pause as I got a few questions from participants and crew regarding who Furbutt is and I had the opportunity to explain, so clearly runners are taking more of an interest in the host Virginia Happy Trails Running Club and that is the other mission of our event – to increase awareness of the VHTRC and to encourage more runners to join the club and participate in our many events and races.

The other thing I learned at this year’s event is that runners love stickers. So, expect more stickers at the 2027 Furbutt’s Backyard event. We also had a few toddlers in the house this year, and they participated in our Furbutt-themed scavenger hunt with various activities appropriate for an aid station (let your imagination run wild). They got to make their own medals and stickers as a prize. And here’s a news flash… toddlers love stickers.

We gave the nighttime runners stickers to differentiate their bibs and they too loved our stickers. Plus, one of the runners, Michael Roig, even gave us dog-themed stickers. All of the runners received their Furbutt’s sticker in exchange for their bib once they completed their final yard. Michael received his event sticker after bowing out at the end of his 16th yard, and he then shared his own sticker with the RD and other volunteers, and it made us very happy. So, next year there will be more stickers!

Finally, one of our volunteers (Jeff Reed) went on his own photo scavenger hunt and found an Atlantic Needlefish in the meadows near the start / finish area and it boggled us so hard that we had to share this pic. WHAT?!?! Apparently the little dude heard about the Furbutt’s Backyard and couldn’t “bare” to miss out… but it’s ok, we don’t blame you! (Tip: zoom in to check out his chompers…)

Now for the changes… get ready because they’re going to be BIG!!
The past four years have been formative in helping to pull together all the aspects of this event to determine what it was going to be when it grew up. We originally had a night run because we thought it would be a value-add to offer the opportunity for training at night and would boost interest and registration.

And while we love the night run, Furbutt’s has truly become a backyard event in nearly every sense of the word (except that it is limited to 24-hours). So, we have decided to nix the night run, which means that our three runners who finished this year just became the only runners to ever finish Furbutt’s After Dark. We think that is super special.

Also, we are upgrading our aid station food next year so expect a grill master and more tasty treats because apparently runners like to eat (shocker). We are more committed than ever to helping Furbutt’s runners run further than they have ever run before, because we are more inspired by those of you who came out and put down big miles.

Runners representing Las Millas
Runners from the Las Millas Run Club based out of Arlington represented this year, and we know that this race draws numerous other running clubs and we want to say THANK YOU, you have all helped to shape the event as it figures out what it wants to be and we can’t wait to see where this goes in the future.

While we are on the topic of thank you, I cannot begin to express how grateful I am to everyone who came out to volunteer and support the race. I recognize that there are so many people who have contributed time, effort, energy and ideas to this race to make sure that it checks every box and with each passing year we are checking even more boxes.

We simply could not do it without you.
Quatro on course marking and timing and really all the things; Mike for remote timing support and sounding board for guidance; Zach for photos and ideas and flour marking; Sarah for donuts (runners LOVE donuts!) and photos and being a true inspiration; Lauren and Jackie for taking on the brutal night shift; Ken and Stephen for timing support and runner support and going way above and beyond; Raj for his timing and runner support in between taking so many wonderful photographs (see links below); Chef Jeff for smashburgers and pulled pork and entertaining us along the way; Jeff and Alan and Denise for coming out and finding ways to jump in and keep us all energized; Maria and Juan for course marking… and almost finally (I am certain I have missed someone), Ryan from the park who works with us throughout the year to put on this event and comes out to help us with the less than pleasant duties (IYKYK) and course sweeping, and finally but not finally Laz and the entire backyard family for creating this event concept and offering us the opportunity to be a part of the backyard… we are so honored and proud to be a backyard event!

Finally (again, I know I’m missing someone), thank you to Virginia Happy Trails for creating this great community and making events like this possible. Our trail family is getting bigger and we could not be more pleased. So much dirt, so little time…

The 2027 edition of this event is planned for Memorial Day weekend (May 29-30), registration will open the day after the Capital Backyard Ultra wraps-up in late March 2027. Mark your calendar, we hope to see you there!

Ryan Jackson’s Photo Gallery
Raj Bhanot’s Photo Gallery, Part One
Raj Bhanot’s Photo Gallery, Part Two

Editor’s Note: Race Director Tracy Cooley’s original report, along with many other reports on her trail adventures, may be found on her personal website.

Results

The 24-Hour Furbutt’s Backyard Results

The Splits, as originally posted on the event website as the live updates. Note that the splits show actual running time for each yard under the one hour time limit, and arranges runners in number of yards officially completed and then by cumulative running time.

Splits

The 12-Hour Furbutt’s After Dark Results

Volunteers

Volunteers are THE Best! Thanks to all the volunteers, and thanks to all of this year’s runners’ crews for their understanding and assistance when it came to staying within the rules that make a Backyard event special!