Hi guys,
entre Lesse et Lomme is a great trail that is almost 95% forest trails, gravel & dirt roads.
On the 19th of september I ran a solo and unsupported FKT. this FKT doesn't exist on this route yet. I had all my gear with me for the entire 78km without any support, no aid stations, no extra food or water supplies. I carried everything from start to finish.
my gear: salomon running pack, 2 500ml soft flasks with sports drink, 1 blatter of 2000ml in my pack, poles, 4 gels, 4 sandwiches (P&J), 1 powerbar, 1 cafeine gel, 2 sugar gels, spare shirt, safety blanket. Salomon speedcross 5 shoes, shorts, shirt and a cap.
The trail is completly marked and there are a lot of checkpoints. I took pictures of many of them together with my watch showing the time so that you can see the elapsed time between start and the checkpoint.
I live a 2hour drive from the area. So i got up at 4:00 am and started driving at 5:00. I arrived at the trailhead at 7 AM. I immediatly started gearing up as the sun was already rising. 7:21 AM i was ready to go. In my pictures you will see the startingpoint near the river. once you cross the river the loop starts.
I was able to run the first 40km easily at a 10,5k/h pace. however at km 10 i noticed one of my soft flasks was punctured and water was slowely dripping away. I had to run with the bottle upside down in my hand for another 10km until it was empty. from 40km i started alternating running and powerhiking. at 60km it started to get really heavy and I needed to take shorter turns running - hiking. At 10k from the finish I was out of water supply and liquid food. I had to push on with cramps and dehydration. Eventually I made it just under 10 hours which was my goal!! :). I was back at the trailhear at 5:22 PM. i guess 3 minutes passed between pushing the stop button and finding my phone to take a picture :)
Really happy to have made it. great to spend 10hours out in the woods. Took a primitive water bottle shower next to my car. got in and drove back home for 2 hours. this is what I call a perfect saturday.
I really hope this FKT is accepted and that I offered enough evidence of me being unsupported. If you need any further information don't hesitate to contact me.
kind regards
Bart