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Ultramarathon Database

Last Soul Ultra

A German backyard ultra run at a secret venue and broadcast around the clock: one 6.7 km loop every hour, on the hour, until a single runner is left standing.

2025·2026

Completed August 14, 2026

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  1. 1. Mark Dowdle (≈630 km)94 yards

About

The Last Soul Ultra is a backyard ultra held in Germany and built to be watched. Every runner starts the same 6.7 km loop at the top of each hour; anyone who fails to finish inside the hour, or fails to start the next one, is out, and the race continues until one runner completes a loop nobody else does. There is no distance to finish and no time limit, and the organiser says so plainly: "There is no set end time." The first edition, on 3 October 2025, started 93 runners and took 67 hours to settle.

Where it happens is deliberately withheld. The organiser will not publish the venue, saying the location is kept secret to guarantee safety and the smooth running of the event, and no spectators are admitted. Instead the race is followed on a 24-hour livestream in both German and English, alongside the organiser's own live dashboard and the timing platform's leaderboard. It is run by Last Soul GmbH, which the ultrarunner Kim Gottwald represents, together with the running brand rappid; Gottwald created it with the former Germany footballer André Schürrle, and won the first edition himself.

Course

One 6.7 km loop, run from a base camp where every runner is allotted a three-metre-square pitch. The organiser publishes no course map, no surface and no location. A working headlamp is mandatory in twilight and darkness, crew may help only inside the base camp, and any assistance out on the loop means immediate disqualification.

How to register

The organiser calls it a lottery, but the field is chosen by hand rather than drawn. Anyone could apply until 15 February 2026, and in the organiser's own words it would "handpick 150 winners" from those applications. Runners selected received a personal code by email and had 48 hours to pay the 100 euro entry fee before the place was reassigned. The organiser describes the field as international ultrarunners, athletes, well-known sports personalities, content creators and selected applicants.

Results by year

  • 2026August 14, 2026 · completed
    Mark Dowdle 94 yards (≈630 km)
  • 2025October 3, 2025 · completed
    Kim Gottwald 67 yards (≈450 km)

From the blog

Official links