Attempting this FKT has been on my mind since moving to the area around a year ago. I was fortunate enough to meet Jeff Harvey at a group run, who held the previous FKT along with Patrick Lalonde at 14h17m19s. Jeff and I planned throughout 2023 to attempt the loop together, using the current FKT splits to pace against. In the months leading up to the effort, we ran the entirety of the loop broken down into segments ranging from 17 to 56kms in length, trying to simulate the pace and fueling strategies we would need come "race day". This was an integral part of the attempt's success as it gave us both much-needed familiarity with some of the more remote sections of the trail, notably those along the northwestern arm of the loop.
In the weeks leading up to the run, Jeff and I had several discussions regarding running the loop together. Ultimately it was looking like Jeff would pace me for the first 80kms, dropping earlier if needed, as multiple injuries had interfered with his ability to train over the last 6 months. This was a challenging decision to make, given that Jeff had been such a key player in my preparation for the attempt; however, he said that he wanted to see the time brought down, and would support in whatever way made that most possible.
Jeff and I started the run together at 5:00am on Saturday, September 30th, both of us using Garmin watches with myself carrying a Suunto that was recording as a backup. We had 10 checkpoints where we would meet our crew (Jordan Bowman and Alya Graham) for nutrition and water refills, shoe switches, and time checks. We also had a number of pacers who would meet us after the 68km mark to support the effort into the finish. The first 2 hours were run with headlamps given the sunrise/sunset at this time of year. Around the 35km mark Jeff began experiencing some significant hip discomfort and was concerned that he couldn't continue to keep on pace, so we made the decision for me to continue alone until meeting my first pacer. Another issue was that my Garmin glitched as it tried to process the large map I was navigating with, and I was forced to hard reset it, losing the data collected so far. It was fortunate that I had the Suunto in my back pocket otherwise there would be no .gpx to validate with.
I managed to hover around the FKT from Luskville up to Lac Phillipe, and then ran with my first pacer Jean-Charles Cotton to start bringing the time down on the more runnable segments in the northeast sector of the park. We managed to push a small lead of 3-5 minutes at each checkpoint where we met the crew. It was a great pleasure to see that Jeff had joined the crew as an unexpected but incredibly helpful subject matter expert, and was able to advise them on exactly where to park and what to have ready for fast resupplies. He would also often run up the trail and meet me ~500m from the checkpoint, advising me on my time and providing words of encouragement. I met another pacer, Luke Maybury, with 17kms left to go, and then ran the last stretch from O'Brien Beach to the Chelsea Visitor Center with Jean-Charles and David Normand. Jordan and Alya made surprise guest appearances for the last 2kms to bring it in to the finish in 14:01, just as the sun was setting.
In no way would this have been possible without the team I had behind me. The crew and pacers operated like a well-oiled machine and knew exactly what to say and what to do to keep the momentum up, especially after navigating some low points midway through the day. I can't express my thanks enough and am so glad that we had such a great day out there.