Karel finished the AT more than 4 days under the previous FKT (Joe McConaughy's self-supported 2017 effort). His final push was 95 miles in 26h45m to the summit of Katahdin. Joe retains the self-supported FKT.
We followed Karel's FKT here: https://fastestknowntime.com/karel
Karel's Strava with daily tracks: https://www.strava.com/athletes/13185267
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karelsabbeultrarunning/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karelsabbe/?hl=en
The trip was followed on the WhiteBlaze forum, with lots of good perspective from AT experts.
"Fer being Belgian Karel is running like a Swiss watch." -- Bill Townsend (on WhiteBlaze)
Here's the Instagram post from the last day:
In the year 60 B.C., Julius Caesar wrote: "Of all Gauls, the Belgians are the bravest." Over 2000 years later there is still some truth in that sentence. We have set a new speed record on the epic Appalachian Trail !! The Fastest Known Time is now 41 days 7 hours 39 minutes, which is over 4 days faster than the previous record, held by an incredibly strong and unsupported @thestring.bean.
I want to thank my dear friend @jorenbiebuyck from the bottom of my heart as without his incredible crewing and support I would never have made the PCT as well as the AT speed records.
Fun facts: nobody has ever held Pacific Crest Trail and Appalachian Trail speed records at the same time. Nobody had averaged more than 50 miles on the Appalachian Trail. More than proud, I feel privileged for having lived these incredible adventures. It was a blast from start to finish ! Thanks @skinssportwear for making this possible, without you there would have been no new FKT. Thank you everybody for the support!
Table showing Karel's daily distances & comparison to Joe McConaughy.
| Day | Karel total miles | Karel daily miles | Joe total miles | Joe daily miles | Karel ahead | Karel’s ending location | Karel date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 52.3 | 52.3 | 43.2 | 43.2 | 9.1 | Unicoi Gap | 07/18/18 |
| 2 | 105.4 | 53.1 | 86.3 | 43.1 | 19.1 | Rock Gap | 07/19/18 |
| 3 | 157.9 | 52.5 | 137.3 | 51.0 | 20.6 | Yellow Creek Gap | 07/20/18 |
| 4 | 210.4 | 52.5 | 183.2 | 45.9 | 27.2 | Icewater Spr Shelter | 07/21/18 |
| 5 | 260.1 | 49.7 | 229.9 | 46.7 | 30.2 | Lemon Gap | 07/22/18 |
| 6 | 310.8 | 50.7 | 273.3 | 43.4 | 37.5 | Devil Fork Gap / NC212 | 07/23/18 |
| 7 | 364.0 | 53.2 | 325.3 | 52.0 | 38.7 | NC226 / Iron Mtn Gap | 07/24/18 |
| 8 | 419.5 | 55.5 | 376.8 | 51.5 | 42.7 | Dennis Cove Rd/USFS Rd 50 | 07/25/18 |
| 9 | 471.1 | 51.6 | 428.3 | 51.5 | 42.7 | Damascus, US58 | 07/26/18 |
| 10 | 524.7 | 53.6 | 478.3 | 50.0 | 46.4 | Slab Town Road | 07/27/18 |
| 11 | 584.3 | 59.6 | 532.2 | 53.9 | 52.1 | VA615 Suiter Rd | 07/28/18 |
| 12 | 635.9 | 51.6 | 578.6 | 46.4 | 57.3 | Pearlsburg | 07/29/18 |
| 13 | 687.5 | 51.6 | 635.9 | 57.3 | 51.6 | VA621 Craig Creek Valley | 07/30/18 |
| 14 | 742.3 | 54.8 | 686.4 | 50.5 | 55.9 | BRP Mile 97.7 (first intersect) | 07/31/18 |
| 15 | 796.4 | 54.1 | 727.5 | 41.1 | 68.9 | BRP Mile 51.7 (nr Punchbowl) | 08/01/18 |
| 16 | 847.7 | 51.3 | 772.9 | 45.4 | 74.8 | BRP, Dripping Rock (6mi past Maupin Field) | 08/02/18 |
| 17 | 903.4 | 55.7 | 820.1 | 47.2 | 83.3 | Smith Roach Gap Mile 68.6 | 08/03/18 |
| 18 | 955.9 | 52.5 | 869.0 | 48.9 | 86.9 | Skyline Dr, 1mi before Gravel Spr turn-off | 08/04/18 |
| 19 | 1,004.4 | 48.5 | 923.5 | 54.5 | 80.9 | VA-7 | 08/05/18 |
| 20 | 1,058.3 | 53.9 | 975.4 | 51.9 | 82.9 | 2mi before Raven Rock Shelter | 08/06/18 |
| 21 | 1,113.4 | 55.1 | 1,019.0 | 43.6 | 94.4 | PA-94 Mount Holly Springs | 08/07/18 |
| 22 | 1,165.5 | 52.1 | 1,077.5 | 58.5 | 88.0 | PA-325 | 08/08/18 |
| 23 | 1,218.0 | 52.5 | 1,131.3 | 53.8 | 86.7 | Port Clinton, PA | 08/09/18 |
| 24 | 1,271.1 | 53.1 | 1,171.0 | 39.7 | 100.1 | Forest Rd 3mi before Leroy Smith Shelter | 08/10/18 |
| 25 | 1,322.6 | 51.5 | 1,222.9 | 51.9 | 99.7 | US206, Culvers Gap, NJ | 08/11/18 |
| 26 | 1,376.1 | 53.5 | 1,272.9 | 50.0 | 103.2 | Dutch Hollow Rd, NY | 08/12/18 |
| 27 | 1,429.6 | 53.5 | 1,325.0 | 52.1 | 104.6 | RPH Shelter, NY | 08/13/18 |
| 28 | 1,483.8 | 54.2 | 1,375.2 | 50.2 | 108.6 | West Cornwall Rd, CT | 08/14/18 |
| 29 | 1,538.7 | 54.9 | 1,427.1 | 51.9 | 111.6 | Jerusalem Rd, MA | 08/15/18 |
| 30 | 1,593.3 | 54.6 | 1,480.4 | 53.3 | 112.9 | MA-2, North Adams | 08/16/18 |
| 31 | 1,646.0 | 52.7 | 1,540.6 | 60.2 | 105.4 | William B Douglas Shelter, VT | 08/17/18 |
| 32 | 1,701.9 | 55.9 | 1,589.2 | 48.6 | 112.7 | US-4, Killington, VT | 08/18/18 |
| 33 | 1,754.6 | 52.7 | 1,640.0 | 50.8 | 114.6 | Hanover Ctr Rd, Etna, NH | 08/19/18 |
| 34 | 1,801.0 | 46.4 | 1,690.2 | 50.2 | 110.8 | NH-112, Lincoln, NH | 08/20/18 |
| 35 | 1,851.9 | 50.9 | 1,745.5 | 55.3 | 106.4 | Mizpah Spring Hut, NH | 08/21/18 |
| 36 | 1,892.6 | 40.7 | 1,790.4 | 44.9 | 102.2 | US-2, Gorham, NH | 08/22/18 |
| 37 | 1,943.0 | 50.4 | 1,818.3 | 27.9 | 124.7 | Surplus Pond, ME | 08/23/18 |
| 38 | 1,987.2 | 44.2 | 1,843.8 | 25.5 | 143.4 | Railroad Rd, ME | 08/24/18 |
| 39 | 2,039.7 | 52.5 | 1,875.6 | 31.8 | 164.1 | US-201, Caratunk, ME | 08/25/18 |
| 40 | 2,091.5 | 51.8 | 1,915.6 | 40.0 | 175.9 | Long Pond Stream Lean-to, ME | 08/26/18 |
| 41 | 2,174.0 | 1,956.2 | 40.6 | Golden Rd at 7:30am on 8/28 | 08/27/18 | ||
| 42 | 2,189.1 | 1,993.6 | 37.4 | Katahdin about 12:11pm on 8/28 | 08/28/18 | ||
| 43 | 2,037.9 | 44.3 | |||||
| 44 | 2,077.6 | 39.7 | |||||
| 45 | 2,136.0 | 58.4 | |||||
| 46 | 2,189.1 | 53.1 |