BUILT FROM INDIA'S BACKYARDS
India runs more than ever. Medals have never been easier to earn — and never meant less.
We started BigFoot because we believed Indian ultrarunning deserved something harder and more honest: a race that can't be finished by paying the fee. A format where the rules are absolute, the record is public, and the only way to win is to outlast everyone who showed up.
So we took the backyard ultra — Gary "Lazarus Lake" Cantrell's beautiful, brutal invention — and put it where India actually lives: farms outside Pune, plains past Ahmedabad, the edge of the Shivaliks, a farmstay outside Bengaluru. No stadiums. No spectacle. A loop, a bell, and whoever keeps answering it.
INDIA HAS ULTRA RUNNERS. IT DOESN'T YET HAVE EDUCATED ULTRA RUNNERS.
Marathons have never been fuller, and plenty of that field has already moved up to an ultra. What's missing is the education — pacing, patience, the management of your own hour — the things speed alone never teaches. The backyard is where that gets learned: it doesn't reward how fast you are, it rewards how well you've understood the format, so a first-timer and a national record holder can toe the same line and both leave knowing something true about themselves.
READ THE FULL FORMATWE CALL IT A SCHOOL, NOT A STUNT.
PACING. PATIENCE. NIGHT RUNNING. THE MANAGEMENT OF YOUR OWN HOUR.
EVERY DNF LEAVES A BETTER RUNNER THAN IT FOUND.
Records have already been set at our start lines. The national record holder has already won one of our chapters. And our most celebrated finish so far is a DNF — a couple who fell together in Ahmedabad, on the same loop, and walked off the course prouder than most podiums.
That’s how a sport becomes an institution — one loop, one DNF, one lesson at a time.
FIND THE LIMITLESS YOU
Not a slogan. A shared space for people who are always curious what they're actually built for — how far they can push, and discover, not just on the course but in every direction life asks of them. No rivals, one team, everyone out on the same search.
“Ye gazab race hai, kisi ko pata nahin hai ki iski kahani kahan jaa kar khatam hogi. Jo haarega wo bataega ki jeetne wala kab tak jaaega. Matlab? No finish line! Come find, limitless you.”
— VIKAS SOLANKI, FOUNDER & RACE DIRECTOR
VIKAS SOLANKI
FOUNDER & RACE DIRECTOR
BigFoot Adventures India is Vikas Solanki's idea of a promise kept. He's originally from Bhopal, settled in Pune — a former wrestler and Judo player who served with the MP Police for some years before running ever entered the picture. Running started small, with a local group, chasing the same question every runner here eventually asks.
How far can I actually go?
The answer arrived at the India Backyard Ultra in Gurugram, where he ran the format himself and got smitten. As his understanding of it deepened, the decision followed on its own — someone had to build this properly in India, city by city, and he decided it would be him. He's an ultra runner in his own right, too: a finisher at The Border 100 Miles and 100 km, and several 50 km races besides.
By trade he's an entrepreneur, selling spices across Pune and parts of Maharashtra. By instinct he's a hopeless romantic — an avid traveller, an explorer, a food-first kid who never quite grew out of the phase — stubborn about what Indian endurance talent could become and unwilling to just talk about it. He runs BFAI in the spirit of Lazarus Lake: no rivals, one team, the limitless. The plan is not modest — Last One Standing, in every state in India.
It has never been Vikas alone.
He's been the core of it, but every chapter has run on people who showed up for the whole thing, not just their piece of it — starting with his accomplice in making it real.
SHASHI KALA SOLANKI
Vikas's wife, and a mandatory volunteer at almost every single chapter BFAI has run. If you've raced with us, there's a fair chance she's the reason your loop closed on time.
KK
BigFoot's first official timekeeper — the person keeping the hour honest before there was a desk, a system, or six cities to run it in.
AMEEN & SANJAY
Friends who've been part of the journey since long before it had a name.
And the brands who backed a format nobody in India was running yet. First mention to UnScripters — with BFAI since early in this journey, bringing the craft of everything it takes to actually tell the story of the backyard: skill, learning and content craft that have shaped how BFAI shows up for a season of sport most of India is still discovering.
Alongside them: Canyon Sandals, Green Panther Properties and Tukai Camping.
ONE CITY BECAME SIX, ON PURPOSE
BigFoot Adventures India is founded. The first chapter runs in Pune — the very first bell, the very first loop. Bengaluru and Mumbai follow in the same year.
Every city has a chapter of its own. Chandigarh joins as the newest addition to the season.
Bhopal — Vikas's own hometown — and Hyderabad both join the season. Every other chapter keeps growing.
EVERY STATE IN INDIA
The plan was never modest. Last One Standing, state by state — however many loops that takes. This line doesn't close.
That's the whole job — give a generation of Indian runners the format honest enough to find a number they didn't know they had.
QUESTIONS, ANSWERED
The backyard, the bell, the DNF — the things every first-timer wants to know before they toe the line.
Who started BigFoot Adventures India?
Vikas Solanki — an ultra runner himself, a Border 100 Miles and 100 km finisher — after running the India Backyard Ultra in Gurugram and getting smitten with the format. BFAI is his sole proprietorship, based in Pune.
What does 'the limitless humans' actually mean?
It's the community that forms around one question: how far can you go, not just on the course but in every direction life asks of you? No rivals, one team, everyone finding their own number.
How many chapters does BigFoot run today?
Founded in 2024 with the first chapter in Pune. Bengaluru and Mumbai followed the same year. By 2025 every city was running, with Chandigarh newly added. Bhopal and Hyderabad both join in 2026, and the rest keep growing — the plan is every state in India, eventually.
I have never run an ultra — can I still show up?
Yes. The backyard format doesn't ask how fast you are, it asks how long you'll keep saying yes. Most of our field is finding that out for the first time. Start at a free Trial Run if you want the shortest way to feel it.
Why do you call it a school instead of a race?
Because that's what it teaches. Last One Standing rewards pacing, patience and the management of your own hour — not speed. Almost everyone who runs it goes home with a DNF and the loop count where they found their edge, and that's treated as the point, not the failure.
Who runs BigFoot besides Vikas?
It's never been one person. Shashi Kala Solanki has volunteered at almost every chapter since the start, KK was BigFoot's first official timekeeper, and friends Ameen and Sanjay have been part of it since before it had a name — alongside the brands and crew credited on this page.
What is a backyard ultra?
A 6.706 km loop, run every hour on the hour, until one runner remains. No finish line, no fixed distance. The last runner standing is the only finisher — everyone else records a DNF.
Do I need to be an ultrarunner to enter?
No. Backyard 4 is designed as a first ultra. If you can run 6.7 km in an hour, four times, you're in the game.
Where does the 2026–27 season run?
Six chapters: Pune, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai. Same loop distance, same rules, same clock in every city.
How do I register?
Through the chapter page for each city. Registration opens city by city — the community hears the dates first.
What is the Indian backyard record?
52 yards — 52 loops, 52 hours, roughly 348 km — set by Sunil Sharma in October 2024. Ashwini Ganapathi holds the women's mark at 28 yards, set at our Bengaluru chapter.
What happens if I DNF?
You take home the exact number of the loop where you stopped, and a DNF memento. In a backyard, that's not failure — it's the receipt of a real attempt.
Can I walk?
Yes. Walking is strategy, not weakness. Many strong backyard runners walk parts of every loop.