The Philippines’ 𝐉𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐲𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐔𝐥𝐭𝐫𝐚 (𝐉𝐁𝐁𝐔) was the first backyard ultra to be held in the Philippines. The first edition was held in December 2019 with the second edition in December 2023. JBBU holds the enviable reputation of being the venue of the Philippine Backyard Ultra record of 22 loops (since December 2022). Now it’s back with greater force. 💪

JBBU is run in the mountain town of Baguio (or the “City of Pines” as it's commonly known), on the Philippines’ Luzon island. The former US military camp of Camp John Hay (CJH) is the venue. Baguio is particularly popular with local and international tourists due to the cooler weather conditions year-round.

For the 2023 JBBU, the route has the following attributes:

For the 2023 JBBU route, there are some changes as compared to 2022.
• The daytime route is almost entirely off-road.
• The route will be well-cleared of vegetation and overgrowth in order to allow easier and safer running conditions and better visibility of the trail terrain. This will also provide more space for overtaking along the route and better counterflow conditions near the turnaround point where competitors will be moving in opposite directions.
• This year we are introducing a new night-time loop to assist runners in the darkness.
• Electronic timing will also be implemented to ensure accurate capture of loop/lap times.
Our goal at Intrepid Spirit is to provide a safe, friendly encouraging opportunity for people to connect with trail running and enjoy the outdoors and our trails and mountains and take on a challenge that otherwise might have seemed unreachable. The Backyard Ultra sole survivor format is certainly different to many types of running events. Not only will you have to manage your loop/lap times but you will need to fight the desire to want to stop and eventually, also the sleep demons.