Garden City Backyard Ultra

The event

The Garden City Backyard Ultra comprises laps of the Toowoomba Showground, including the Main Arena, the Peter Watts Criterium Track, and the Wilderness Challenge.

Enjoy the city

Timed to coincide with one of the biggest tourist events on the Toowoomba calendar, the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers.

The concept

The backyard ultra is a race where competitors must consecutively run the distance of 6.706 kilometres in less than one hour. The last competitor standing wins.

Mark the date

Starting Saturday, October 4th, 2025. 7am Start.

Come to enjoy

100 camp sites available onsite!

Toowoomba

Our event is scheduled to coincide with the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers, the biggest tourist attraction on the Toowoomba Calendar. The whole town shows off, with public parks and private gardens planted, landscaped and preened to perfection. Toowoomba is a family friendly community all year round and becomes even more so in September and October when the flowers are in full bloom.

Our Course

Our course features many varied running surfaces and landscapes. The dirt of the Main Arena. The bitumen of the Peter Watts Criterium cycling track. The grass and trail sections of the Wilderness Challenge. The rocky gully affectionately referred to as Theresa's Gully (it was Theresa'd idea to include the gully in the course). Finally, a partial round of the Showgrounds Lake.

There is plenty to keep the feet, eyes, and mind occupied as the laps stack up, and the course has received widespread positive feedback from all who have completed a round. Even the father of Queensland Backyard Ultras, Tim Walsh of Dead Cow Gully, was impressed by both the variety of the course and the permanent infrastructure at the Showgrounds.