FKT: Will "Sisyphus" Peterson - Long Trail (VT) - 2024-09-01

Strava Links:

Part 1 - https://www.strava.com/activities/12300935452

Part 2 - https://www.strava.com/activities/12299984178

Part 3 - https://www.strava.com/activities/12300948831

Part 4 - https://www.strava.com/activities/12300643880

Part 5 - https://www.strava.com/activities/12300642527

Beginning at the northern terminus, my crew and I started a supported FKT of the Long Trail at 10am on August 28th. We finished at 7:09am on Sunday September 1st, giving us a final time of 3 days, 21 hours,  9 minutes.

I want to point out that every single person associated with this effort is a northeast native. Additionally, to my knowledge, there wasn’t a single “professional athlete” associated with this effort (myself included, obviously). As I recover and reflect, those facts make this effort even more special to me. This wasn’t a professional operation; it was a bunch of skilled, strong, smart, passionate locals who love the Long Trail and who came together to be the first to take the Long Trail under four days.

I was paced and muled throughout the entire effort, only having to carry one nutrition flask, my segment flashcards, and my phone at any given time. I will have to double check my numbers for the full trip report, but I believe 26 different people paced me at some point throughout the effort. I had an incredible crew who were dialed in from start to finish, headed up by six individuals who came out and crewed the entire effort. I’ll list (I think) everyone below. If I miss you here, I sincerely apologize, but I promise I’ll get you in the full trip report.

Any inefficiencies in this effort are the result of my own shortcomings as an athlete. The crew and pacers legitimately cost me next to zero time. Conditions were overall quite favorable, especially considering we had next to no flexibility with the start date. It rained hard on the drive to the northern terminus and stopped as we arrived at Journey’s End. As a result, Xander and I got pretty soaked during the first few hours due to the overgrown vegetation on those remote trails holding a lot of water. After that, the days were cool and dry until around Stratton on Saturday where we got hit with some solid rain. This rain was off and on until about half way from Glastenbury to Woodford Hollow, at which point the weather cleared for our final push.

There is a lot of interesting data to mine comparing the current three fastest times on the LT (this effort, John Kelly’s effort, and my unsupported effort last summer). I’ll dig into it in the full trip report, but suffice it to say, there’s elements from each of those efforts that shines above the others.

There is a great deal for me to do before I release a full trip report. Part of that is talking to people from the crew and piecing together as much of the story as I can. I experienced this effort through a keyhole, but there was so much more that I didn’t see. When it’s done, I’ll link the full trip report here. In the meantime, here is the list of everyone that came out to help, to the best of my knowledge.

• The six core crew members that came out for the entire effort: Eric and Ann Peterson, Cal Hale, Annika Ringen, Ed Clifford, and Xander Keiter. Finally, Polly, our team mascot pup.
• Other folks who came out and helped with crewing (this is difficult because I feel like a lot of my pacers also helped with crewing when I wasn’t around, but here are a few I remember): Ashlee Korsberg, Bill Tidd, Scott Benerofe, and Katie Rhodes.
• Pacers: Xander Keiter, Bill Tidd, Ed Clifford, Joffrey Peters, Cal Hale, Cara Baskin, Mead Binhammer, Carter Tracy, Gordon Miller, Ashlee Korsberg, Maia Buckingham, Andy Johnstone, Matt Cymanski, Rowan Kamman, Jack Buffington, Dylan Schulte, Scott Benerofe, Holly O’Hara, Will Morris, Dr. Patrick Couchot MD, Marcello Cesario, Chris Connell, Chris Welker, Katie Rhodes, Matt (no Xander not Mark) Walsh, and Philip Carcia.