Hi, I am Niki Micallef 👋
I was born in Malta in 1994 and am now based in Salzburg, Austria. I have been running for more than nine years. By day, I am a Software Architect; by night, I run through the mountains.
My first Backyard Ultra-style event was in 2019. Having just run my first 50K earlier that year, I signed up for the event with no expectations, simply to have fun and see how far I could go. Due to race shutdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, I signed up again in 2021 as it was the only event available and that is where I caught the bug. Since then, I have completed six Backyard Ultra-style events, as well as more traditional mountain trail ultras. I have finished races including CCC, Mozart 100, and Istria 100, with podium results as the third male finisher at Etna Trail (66 km) and fourth overall at the High Scardus Ultra (58 km).
In 2022, I represented Team Malta in the Backyard Ultra World Team Championship. Malta finished 29th out of 37 countries with a combined total of 293 yards, and my 27-yard performance was the furthest any Maltese runner had gone that day, qualifying me for the Backyard Ultra Individual World Championships in Bell Buckle, Tennessee. This was the first time I had run for more than a day, and I was honored, and slightly intimidated, that I would be the one to represent my country in the following year's championship event.
The following year I ran the 2023 Big's Backyard Ultra Individual World Championship. This time, I made it to 48 yards, an improvement of 21 yards over my previous record and one of the largest improvements on the day. It was also the first time I managed to run for two straight days. I had the 47th-highest number of laps among 75 entrants - not a bad attempt for the lowest-seeded runner.
By then, I had started to notice a gap. There was plenty of general ultra-running advice, but too little information and support focused specifically on how to train for and race a Backyard Ultra. In April 2024, I started Born on the Trail and wrote my first article about Backyard Ultras, Backyard Bliss. Since then, I have written more about Backyard Ultras, all of which you can find on the home page.
The project really began to gather momentum in early 2025, when I continued writing more articles, not just about Backyard Ultras, but about trail and mountain running at large. In August that year, I earned my UESCA ultrarunning certification and started coaching athletes. It gave me a way to put my years of ultra experience and hard-won knowledge to work for other runners.
Then, in November 2025, I started Born on the Trail: Going Longer, a science-based ultra training podcast. I use it to talk with coaches, scientists, researchers, and practitioners about the physiology behind training and preparing for ultras, all with the goal of helping athletes get the best out of themselves on race day.
Born on the Trail is still an ongoing project that I hold close to my heart. I wanted something more specifically focused on Backyard Ultras, which is why this website was born. I hope that, with this website, I can fulfil the vision I had in 2023 and 2024: to provide more information about how to train and race a Backyard Ultra.
