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Ultramarathons are not for the faint of heart. Setting out to run 50 or 100 miles takes a special type of crazy. But competing in ‘Last Man Standing‘ ultramarathons is for the 1% of the 1% in the running community and the ‘Last Man Standing’ Dead Cow Gully ultramarathon won by Phil Gore, who set a new world record at the event, is proof of that.
The Dead Cow Gully ‘last man standing’ ultramarathon just wrapped up with Phil Gore of Perth, Australia winning it all on Day 5. He ran a sickening 495.87 miles over those 5 days, a new record for the Dead Cow Gully event.
For those unfamiliar with ‘Last Man Standing Ultramarathons’ I wrote about the G1M Ultramarathon at the Bare Ranch in Texas last month which is a similar format: athletes run a lap every hour until they tap out. The Dead Cow Gully ultramarathon in Australia features a 6.7km course, or 4.16 miles, and each competitor must run one lap every hour.
If it takes 45 minutes to run the 4+ mile loop then the runner gets a 15 minute rest before the next lap starts. If they don’t make it in time they are out of the event. The last man (or woman) standing wins it all.
Phil Gore Wins Dead Cow Gully Ultramarathon After Running 495.87 Miles In 5 Days
I’d heard of the Dead Cow Gully ultramarathon before but wasn’t aware it was taking place this week until I came across this TikTok video from Chase Bandolik. Phil Gore, who won it all this year, is one of Chase’s marathon coaches so he had a unique perspective into this year’s event:
@chase_bandolik Day 5. 483 miles in. 116 hours on foot. My coach Sam Harvey and Phil Gore are rewriting history at Dead Cow Gully — a brutal last man standing race in Australia where you run 4.2 miles every hour… until you can’t. They’ve just tied the world record. And they’re still going. If you loved the battle between Kim and Kendall, you have to tune into this one. Let’s go coach 🐐🔥 #DeadCowGully #LastManStanding #Ultrarunning #BackyardUltra #SamHarvey #PhilGore #RunningHistory
From there, I made my way over to the official Dead Cow Gully Instagram feed where they had just announced Phil Gore at this year’s winner with this video of him crossing the finish line. Miraculously, Phil ran his last 4.16 mile loop of the course in under 34 minutes.
He had been running 4.16 miles every hour on the hour for 5 days and still managed to breeze through the final loop to win it all and make history with 119 laps ran. In fact, the world record had been set prior to lap 117 and he completed 3 laps on top of that new WR. Unreal!
The mental strength it takes to get up, every hour, for 5 days straight, running 4.16 miles and knowing you have to do it again in a few minutes is just insane. Truly, I am humbled by the knowledge that athletes are out there in the world eating the same food and breathing the same air as I do but accomplishing the unimaginable. If you aren’t able to get inspired by this, I don’t know what will inspire you.
Here is how it all began, 263 runners hitting the Dead Cow Gully loop course on Day 1 with the morning fog hanging over the course that sits on a cattle property in Nanango, Queensland, Australia.
Congratulations to Phil Gore on winning the 2025 Dead Cow Gully backyard ultra and on setting the new world record. Congratulations also go out to Sam Harvey who set a world record along with Phil before eventually losing to Gore on Lap 119.