Here are your #2 and #3 Female and Male FKTOY awards. Remember these people were selected by their peers - not by us, not by a marketing company, and not a random "Top Ten" list by a magazine. Enjoy! Click on the links to read their stories in their own words. Listen to these four people tell their own stories on the podcast. Here is last weeks #5 and #4 awards.
#3 Female: Anna Troup
FKT: Pennine Way (UK)
Time: 3d 00h 46m 37s
Notes: The premier long trail in the UK is also very competitive; 8 hrs quicker than her own FKT set two weeks earlier.
Voter Comments: "Amazing the story that has unfolded on this historic route."
"Anna Toup on the Pennine Way impressed me the most because it's such a historic and competitive route. You can look at the stats (420km and 11km of elevation gain) and it's immediately clear that her time is solid."
"Anna won the race and set the FKT in the same summer, seriously impressive!"
Athlete Comments: "It was typical English weather, which means it rained most of the time.”
"The classic style in the UK is full Support, partially because we've been doing this a long time, before GPS and watches and so forth, so people were just there to watch and verify you. And to share in the joy."
#3 Male: Timothy Olson
FKT: Pacific Crest Trail (CA, OR, WA)
Time: 51d 16h 55m 00s
Notes: Very consistent pace (51.3 mpd) on a very long trail (2,653 mi) while navigating numerous Fire Closures; 16 hrs faster than Karel Sabbe 2016.
Voter Comments: "An FKT on such a long route amid fire concerns took tenacious resolve, relentless drive, and exceptional navigation/crewing."
"Tim Olson surgically crushed it and the riff-raff around his re-routes doesn't dissuade my opinion at all."
"Timmy Olsen poured his heart into the project and took many of us along for the ride, rooting for him the entire way."
Athlete Comments: (None at this time)
#2 Female: Mikaela Osler
FKT: Long Trail (VT)
Time: 6d 11h 33m 00s
Notes: Unsupported fast time on a gnarly Premier Route; 7min faster than Nika Meyers 2020.
Voter Comments: "The LT packs a punch both in terms of vert and surface. An unsupported effort with these kind of margins is impressive."
"Oh the effort that took, such perseverance, so inspiring."
"Mikaela Osler did something awesome, because she run a very long trail unsupported. We have been discussing often about the limited female unsupported long adventures and this is one beautiful example."
Athlete Comments: "If I had went Self-supported I could slept at my own house! I underestimated the food so I was hungry the whole time. This Trail is so hard; there are no switchbacks."
#2 Male: Karel Sabbe
Time: 30d 08h 40m 00s
Notes: Traversed the entire Alps through 8 countries, starting and finishing on the sea; 14 days faster than Self-supported from 2019.
Voter Comments: "Karel Sabbe did something unique, crossing so many countries in harsh mountain environments and during the pandemic!"
"Karel Sabbe seemed to crush this dream route in his usual controlled style."
Athlete Comments: "My plan was 87km/day, the same at the AT, but the Via Alpina has 20-25% more vertical gain. Originally I desperately wanted to hike the PCT, but didn't have enough time off work to do it slowly - that's how I got started with fast thru-hiking."
Overall Comments:
Crews for these long Supported FKT efforts should share the award and are probably angels on earth.
It is ridiculous the number of amazing, long, fast, incredible performances this year by the guys. Narrowing down the list to only 6 was very difficult - we need a top 10! And I would still be ignoring some.
Ben's effort on the Long Trail is mind blowing. Those who know, know!!
This is a super competitive year, with impressive mountain climbing FKTs (Rainier, Mont Blanc, Cotopaxi), some intermediate distance routes (Wyoming 13ers, Pyrenees), and some long routes (WA Bulgers, Via Alpina, PCT). Tons of guys are well-deserving to win, no losers this year.
Notes:
Half of these award-winning FKTs were done outside the US, which is great to see! The FKT scene is very active all over the world, and our voters recognized that.
These four also are loooong routes - a total of 91 days, 13 hours, 54 minutes! You are witnessing real dedication and expertise by world-class athletes.
Next week: #1 Female and Male announced.