Photos by Nicki Lygo, Jen Scotney
The Pennine Way is 268 miles long and one of the first National Trails in England. The FKT was held by Mike Hartley for 31 years until John broke it. Less than a week later, his friend Damian Hall broke it again! Both Mike and John in attendance at the finish - FKT action is really hot in the UK right now - will John have another go? I asked him - his answer is very interesting!
John is a native of Tennessee and the last person to finish the Barkley Marathons. He moved to England last year - what is different?
He's been getting after it in his new home - last year he tried the "Grand Round" - self-powered. This is the three biggest "rounds" or link-ups in the UK - the Paddy Buckley, the Bob Graham, and the Charlie Ramsay Round, each done consecutively in less than 24 hours, cycling in between them. That's 180 miles of running/hiking, with 85k of vert, 113 summits, and 400 miles between them. Yikes! What happened?
John is articulate, thoughtful, researches and plans everything to the max, and an amazing endurance athlete. You'll enjoy listening to his answers to these questions, and more.
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John Kelly
- Age: 36
- City of Residence: Stanton Drew (near Bristol, England). Moved there from Washington DC; originally from Tennessee
- Work/occupation: Data Scientist
- Family: Wife and 3 children (4 in September)
- Social Media:
- Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/RandomForestRunner
- Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/RandomForestRunner/
- Twitter - https://twitter.com/RndmForestRunnr
- Strava - https://www.strava.com/pros/16389235
- Website (very good) - https://randomforestrunner.com/
- Pennine Way story: https://randomforestrunner.com/2020/07/a-new-pennine-way-record/
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