Coming to you every Friday: interviews with FKT-setters and other athletes in the world of Fastest Known Times.
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FKT: Pennine Way (UK)
Time: 3d 00h 46m 37s
Notes: The premier long trail in the UK is also very competitive; 8 hrs quicker than her own FKT set 2 weeks earlier
Athlete Comments: "It was typical English weather, which means it rained most of the time.”
Time: 08h 06m 41s
Notes: Unsupported quick double crossing of the Grand Canyon; a Premier Route.
49 people from around the world have been Nominated for the Fastest Known Time Of the Year award! Wow. Let's talk about it with Hillary.
"Can you believe this guy? He not only did the 58 Colorado fourteeners, but he walked the entire distance between them, with no support!"
"I really like what Kelly is doing - she ran Gannet Peak by herself, which is high, remote, and technical."
"Great to see Hong Kong on the List. And 5,000 meters of vert? That's over 16,000 feet in a city that's on the ocean!"
We catch up with the "indomitable force" for a quick introduction to the upcoming Fastest Known Time Of the Year award, and more.
"This is my favorite time of the year! We get to discuss all the cool FKTs."
But first, we delve into the wonderful world of gravel-bike racing. Many runners got into SkiMo, which we've discussed here, but now the new cross-training sport is gravel riding.
Our Co-Founder and our Director of Community Partnerships gives us the scoop - - -
PB: "Races are resuming so FKTs are coming in at a more manageable rate. The UK has a very strong tradition so a lot of action there, including in winter. Australia is active as well."
AM: "It's been an amazing year! We forget that Rob Krar and Mike Foote did R2R2R.alt almost a year ago. Then Stringbean beat the AZT by 3 days after temporarily quitting due to snow."
Allie Mac flies down the trails (USATF Trail Marathon Champion 2 years in a row) and in the air (300 skydiving jumps). And did we mention riding dirt bikes?
"It was super technical. So I revved the engine, closed my eyes, and took off."
"I've gotten hurt way more times from running than from sky diving."
At the Moab Trail Marathon in November, her BASE-jumping friends were on the cliffs high above the course as she went by the halfway point.
John lives in Australia, where the whole country is sports-mad, the runners are fast, the routes long ... and it's now summer.
"Normally it's starting to get hot, 40 degrees, but it's a La Nina year so it's raining now and the conditions are still good."
Gary Cantrell, aka Lazarus Lake, (or is it the other way around?) could be the most creative person in the entire sport. That is a low bar, but possibly by accident he has single-handily changed ultrarunning forever. The Barkley Marathons is an iconic, world-renowned event, and the subject of two films, even though only 40 people enter, there is no website, and the time and even the date of the race is secret.
Jack is a Regional Editor for fastestknowntime.com - he volunteers his time to process your FKT submissions.
And he is young, fast, knowledgable, and passionate. Don't miss this view of our sport from behind the curtain!
"I think the FKT scene is where the elite runners should be. Races are fine, but the courses are not - we can't get permits to hold races on our best terrain. But with an FKT, you can race up the best mountains and the best routes in the country."
"I'm a mom to three teenagers and on the verge of turning 50. The fastest I normally travel is in my mini-van shuttling kids around town. Achieving an FKT as an amateur middle-aged athlete with minimal time to train was a huge stretch of my comfort zone. So adding my name to this roster was one of my proudest and most rewarding moments."