Introducing our July profile from across “The Ditch”, Adam Keen, New Zealand’s last one standing!
I first Adam at a BYU Australia training run at Oxley Creek Common and remember feeling very shy and intimidated knowing he was one of New Zealand’s best backyarders. It didn’t take long to find out that Adam is a really down to earth guy and not scary at all. He was happy to chat and share incredible stories of his adventures….and there are many!
How long have you been running and why did you start?
I have always been interested in endurance sport and grew up watching Coast to Coast in NZ and reading Lydiard books. So I had an interest early on. Then when I was 19 or 20 years old a mate and I on a Friday night decided to run the Rotorua Marathon which was on in the morning. Neither of us had any specific run training and had probably only ever run around 15km in one go. That race was an eye opener which we did with no prep and minimal sleep as we drove there late Friday night and slept in his car for a couple of hours before the start! We didn’t even enter as it was $80 or something which at the time we thought was ridiculous Basically we had no clue but I think he ran 4.15 and I ran 4.30. I remember feeling fully recovered a couple of days later and thought that was pretty cool.
Have you done a Backyard Ultra?
Yes, I think I’ve done around 6 now. I was lucky enough to compete in NZ’s very first Backyard way back in 2019 and was the Assist there with 28 hours. Came back in 2020 and was the last person standing in the satellite champs with 35 hours.
What draws you to the backyard ultra format?
Initially back in 2018 I was looking for something other than a 100 mile race where I could push beyond that distance. In 2017 I had run at the Great Naseby Water race and completed the miler there in a little over 18 hours and then in 2018 I ran the miler at Northburn with 10000 metres vert. So in my mind I had done a relatively runnable miler (Naseby) and a hard miler (Northburn) and so the Backyard came along at the perfect time for me. I’ve always just wanted to see how far or how tough of a race I could complete and so the Backyard was the logical next step
If you could do any race in the world what would it be?
The Revenant I do it every year! Crush the Cargill I do that every year as well
and any of Terry Davis’s races at Highland Events. We are spoilt for choice in the South Island.
What is your greatest running moment to date?
Winning the satellite champs in NZ was pretty epic! We had a very strong team of savage runners so it was by no means an easy task. But by the end I felt very hard to beat that weekend. Also winning and matching the world record at Crush the Cargill a couple of years ago felt incredible. Another weekend where I felt really strong and exceeded what I thought I could do.
What has been your worst running moment to date?
Not sure if it was my worst or funniest. But a couple of days after being the Assist in 2019 after having completed a huge amount of training and being gutted that I was so close yet so far from getting the win, I was hobbling around the supermarket and the lady behind me said to her partner ‘just f&$king go around him, who walks that slow’ I thought being the Assist was a big deal but clearly I wasn’t as famous as I thought
What advice would you give to a new runner thinking about doing a backyard ultra?
Just go for it! The great thing about the backyard is any runner can give it a crack and possibly run further than they ever have. You can have a look at distance goals/milestones but ultimately focussing on each lap and forgetting about the distance is the way to go if you want to exceed your own expectations. Most often we control the race distance ie we run a half marathon then the next step is a marathon. At the backyard that is an open question. I have had athletes I coach go from having 70km as their longest run to running over 200km at a backyard. So don’t overthink it! Just get stuck in you will most likely surprise yourself, you’re tougher than you think.
What is your next race?
No idea! I have just banged out a couple of dnfs in the last couple of weeks at Dead Cow Gully and Krazyie Kapers backyards. So I’m working through the post race blues. Step 1 – never racing again. Step 2 – start googling hard races that no one finishes and sign up. I’m currently onto the googling part. Would love to get over to the States for a race or some obscure grassroots hard to finish race somewhere. See you out there!
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Thanks for sharing with us Adam! We can’t wait to see what the next big race is for you and continue to watch your journey.
