Emily Torode won the 2026 Donkey Drop Out endurance race – beating 85 other runners in the ‘backyard ultra’ competition and running over 100 miles.
In completing 26 laps – equating to 108.3 miles – Torode became the first female winner of the event in its history, meaning she also now holds the new women’s record.
Her victory came at around 10:30 on Sunday morning, 26 hours after the event started on Saturday morning.
The endurance event – now managed by M3 Events – sees a diminishing number of entrants run or walk laps – or ‘yards’ – until just one person is competing.
Each lap is just over four miles long, starting and finishing at Syvlans, taking in lanes and trails, including part of the Millennium Walk around the reservoir.
Each lap starts on the hour, and the overall winner is the last-runner to complete a full lap by themselves.
Each entrant is awarded a stone confirming the number of laps they completed before dropping out.
Torode succeeds Graham Merfeld as the Donkey Drop Out title holder – after he won the event for five years running.
Merfeld’s 2025 win was secured with 27 laps – at 112.5 miles.
Torode’s 26 laps in 2026 set a new women’s record for the competition – beating the 21 laps/87 miles set by Dr Cynthia Munemo last year.
She had been the winning woman for three years running.
Neither Munemo or Merfeld entered the 2026 event, with Torode lining up in a field of 86 runners.
The full results, including individual racers’ splits, are available HERE.
