On Saturday, 6/26/21, Ryan Bruder and I broke the Fastest Known Time on the Canal Loop Trail in Western Kentucky's Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area.
Other than our shoes, watches, and shorts, we took nothing with us, making this an unsupported attempt.
We started and finished in the parking lot near the visitor center and ran clockwise. We ended up taking a wrong turn just before the 3 mile mark, but backtracked and finished the route in its entirely. Due to the wrong turn, our GPS data shows just under 12 miles, about 1.5-1.6 miles more than the 10.4 mile route. Fortunately, we were able to rally and break the record by about two minutes!
We thought this was a beautiful and challenging single track trail route. For other people looking to attempt this, pay attention to the markings on the trees. Basically, you just want to follow the blue markings. This seems obvious but since you will spend a lot of time looking down to watch for rocks, roots, and snakes (yes, we both almost stepped on a massive rat snake), some of these course markings can easily be missed.
submitted by Will Brewster