The Big Chill FKT project: I started at 10:20pm on Friday, September 11th 2026. I mimicked the route as closely as possible to Gary Robbins' FKT from 2020 and there are one or two small changes I will outline that I reviewed with him prior to the FKT. I started on the main dock of Entrance Bay at Cultus lake, and followed the original route along the trail and TCT towards Chilliwack Lake.
For crew/support and logistics I ran:
- with a pacer from Cultus Lake through the first 34km on the TCT and then followed Chilliwack Lake road solo to the first crew point at 50km
- picked up my next pacer at Chilliwack lake and we completed the section up to the saddle of Webb/MacDonald, to Lindemann and down to our next crew spot on the centre creek fsr
- I ran solo down the fsr and up to the slesse trailhead
- at the slesse trailhead I met my crew, and picked up Gary Robbins, who not only created this route but provided me with invaluable insights prior to the FKT and then dedicated his time over spring and summer following his hip surgery to preparing to support me on this day. Ill let him tell the rest from his side, but it was absolutely incredible to have him there in support and to have his expertise with guiding the Slesse to MacFarlane crossover!!
- Once we descended MacFarlane, I picked up a new pacer and we headed down Chilliwack lake road to the NEW Borden FSR (*this is where I chose to redirect to the new fsr following washouts and essentially removal / decomissioning of the borden creek fsr that Gary used, if anything this new road is a bit longer but provides more switchbacks, so a fair trade off). We ran up to crew at the river crossing and picked up a 2nd pacer to join for the night up Mcguire.
- We summited Mcguire around 10:30pm and then made the challenging way over to the ridge trail and descended into mcguire FSR to meet crew again.
- I ran with one pacer down mcguire fsr, to liumchen and then off into the final legs of the route as the first bits of daylight on sunday arrived. I took a 5 min dirt nap to restore myself just after sunrise, and we worked our way through to the top of liumchen fsr to meet crew
- We descended the road and then took one more quick crew stop before taking the connector to international ridge and edmeston and ran down the road and back into entrance bay
- Gary had told me the clock stops when I jump in the lake, so as he was there cheering I knew there was no missing that part of this, and despite thinking earlier in the day that there was absolutely no way I would do that, I gave him a look (apparently a look that said a lot of words, haha sorry Gary!), and off I went ending the activity on my watch as I jumped into the lake.
I will do a longer more personal recap on my substack but I do want to thank those who showed up both on the trails, at the crew points, and throughout my preparations for this. This was in no way a solo project and at times I truly couldn't comprehend that I was not racing in an organized event because there just were too many people making this happen for it to be one persons name on the FKT board. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you: Katrina Abram (crew captain), Matt Bolam (partner and video / BTS's), pacers and training partners: Sophie, Christina, Jess, Lukas, Courtenay, Gary (and the partners of these people who supported them to be out there!), and Marz and Alex for photo and videography. Thank You!!!!!
I hope others will consider this route, it offers absolutely every type of challenge on repeat and is a complex route mixing true smooth running alongside steep climbs and technical off trail terrain. I am grateful for all the ways it pushed me and still feel it is surreal to be submitting an FKT on this route as the first woman and second person to do so.