FKT: Andrew Cotterell - West Coast Trail (BC, Canada) - 2026-06-12

Athletes
Route variation
Out & Back
Multi-sport
No
Para athlete
No
Gender category
Male
Style
Self-supported
Start date
Finish date
Total time
1d 12h 0m 0s
GPS track(s)
Photos
Report

Started out at 10am on June 11th. It was perfect weather, 15C and blue bird day, unfortunately the previous few weeks had been solid rain. The parks staff informed me "these are not record setting conditions", but I was going to try.

Was slowed down waiting for a bear around Darling Creek, but otherwise no issues and good beach running most of the morning. Got to the crabshack by 3pm, a little behind schedule but still doing well. The mud was pretty muddy from about Walbran and my pace dropped more than expected. Eventually started getting foot trouble as they never dried out all day. 

Got to Gordon River in 16hrs, the way back to Walbran was an absolute slog. I had planned to go unsupported but was behind my expected schedule enough that I running out of food and decided to pick up some food at the Crab Shack on the way back, hence the self-supported category. Losing time got compounded by the tides - now I had soft sand instead of the nice runnable rock shelf. 

Finally made it back right as the sun set and I stubbornly refused to get out my headtorch, finishing in the twilight right at 36hrs - 10pm.