FKT: John Clarke - Chief Illini Trail (IL) - 2023-03-19

Athletes
Route variation
one way
Multi-sport
No
Gender category
Male
Style
Unsupported
Start date
Finish date
Total time
2h 2m 40s
Photos
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Wow, this route was significantly more challenging than I expected! The course was difficult to navigate because much of it was completely covered in leaves. You must continually look for the white blazes on trees to find the way. There were also a large number of downed trees and branches to either hop over or traverse around. Also, it was slippery at times with mud and there were many parts on tight single track off-camber on hillsides. 

Beautiful forest on a sunny day! At times there are homes bordering the park, but I saw no one else out today in fairly cold temps.

Note, my GPX file is for the out and back. My outbound time was 2:02:40 which is slightly faster than the previous outbound FKT (2:04:28). I tried to continue running hard on the inbound but I ran out of gas and backed off. I ended up hiking a bunch in the final few miles.