Article: Fastest Known Films

By Buzz Burrell on Mon, 11/08/2021 - 01:17pm

This article was written by JASON HARDRATH, the person with 106 (and counting) FKTs, so he certainly is a subject matter expert! This is a wonderful list of mostly short FKT videos for our viewing pleasure; click the links to immediately view the films. Thank you Jason!

Welcome to the first FKT Film List. These are meant to be your curated guide for an inspired "film festival style" evening at home, showcasing the athletes and filmmakers of our sport. Feel free to invite friends, crack open a beer, and experience some powerful performances across beautiful landscapes.

This installment focuses on long trail record attempts from recent years and the issues surrounding them. The run time for all the films is 2 hours, 16 minutes. The athletes featured are Coree Woltering, Abby Hall, Mike McKnight, and Joe McConaughy. The trails we will see are the Ice Age Trail, Nüümü Poyo (aka John Muir Trail), the Colorado Trail, and the Appalachian Trail. In our two and a quarter hours, we will cover over 4,000 miles on some of the best trails in the USA.

Coree Woltering: His Ice Age Trail FKT and Diversity (10 min)

Coree Woltering

A short film on Coree Woltering setting the men’s Supported Fastest Known Time of 21 days, 13 hours, and 35 minutes on Wisconsin’s 1,147-mile Ice Age Trail. This film captures some of the turmoils of 2020, especially from Coree’s unique perspective.

Abby Hall: Nüümu Poyo aka John Muir Trail (16 min)

Abby Hall

Another short film capturing Abby Hall’s 223 mile Unsupported attempt on the Nüümü Poyo (aka John Muir Trail), taking us on a journey into why we venture into these spaces while also bringing awareness to the indigenous people and history of the land.

Michael McKnight: From Broken to Breaking; the Colorado Trail FKT (86 min)

Michael McKnight

A feature length documentary chronicling Mike McKnight’s journey from a non-athletic adolescence, bed-ridden injury, job loss, and being forced to drop out of college, to taking on the 500 mile Colorado Trail.

Stringbean: Appalachian Trail FKT Documentary (14 min)

Stringbean

“Stringbean” tells the story of ultrarunner Joe McConaughy as he attempts to break the speed record on the Appalachian Trail. It takes most hikers 5-6 months to complete the 2,190 mile long trail, but in the summer of 2017, Joe set out to hike it in 45 days. This short documentary offers a raw look at life on the trail from Joe’s perspective, as he tries to hike 50 miles a day for 45 consecutive days on America's most iconic long trail.

Stay tuned for the next Completely FKT’d Film List that will center on the rare multi-sport FKTs by Anton Krupicka, Ryan Tetz, Kelly Halpin, and others.

Composed by Jason Hardrath (IG) see his complete (54 video's!) FKT playlist here

Edited by Ashly Winchester

What do YOU think?  What else should be on this list??

Comments

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It may be a bit far afield for the trail-running audience here, but the old Reel Rock documentary about Ueli Steck, "The Swiss Machine," (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUWBbepsdmY), captures the spirit of FKTs more broadly: "if you do something, do it right."