Tag: FKT

The FKT: Forging Knowledge & Tenacity

The FKT (Fastest Known Time) model of running really took off in 2020 when we didn’t have many in-person races to mark on the calendar and gave some ultrarunners “something to do.” This format allows anyone, at any ti...

Fastest Known Times of the Year

Fastest Known Times (FKT) can easily be undertaken while maintaining a distance of six feet (or six miles, in some cases). Not only can runners skip the hassle of lotteries for the privilege of entering...

FKT Around Mount St. Helens

The Loowit Trail circumnavigates Mount St. Helens and is roughly 31 miles with 7,000 feet of elevation gain on very technical terrain. The Volcanic 50 is a race that goes around the mountain and starts in a different loc...

The Granite Womb of FKT

Not all adventure runs are Fastest Known Time (FKT) attempts, but all FKTs are surely adventure runs. Long before Peter Bakwin and Buzz Burrell’s FKT-concept-birthing adventure run on the John Muir Trail (JMT) in 2000 (l...

Darcy Piceu Interview

Darcy Piceu has become one of the most accomplished ultrarunners in the history of the sport. She completed her first ultra, a 50-miler, in 2001 at the age of 26 and then less than a year later completed the Leadville 10...

Joe McConaughy Interview

UR: So now you have the FKTs for the two longest and most iconic trails in North America, the PCT and the AT. Can you give us a little background on how this happened? McConaughy: Well, when I grew up my dad always en...

Most Notable Fastest Known Times of 2017

The Most Notable FKTOYs is back for its second year. And with even more vigor: runners are really going after their personal projects. In June Cat Bradley won the prestigious Western States 100 race, then in November fin...

2016 Most Notable FKTs

Outside Magazine recently headlined, “FKT is the new Podium,” noting the trend of “…world-class ultrarunners prioritizing racking up new FKTs instead of a podium” at a traditional ultramarathon. While many marathon runne...

The Definitive Primer on Fastest Known Times

In 2000 Peter Bakwin and I were going to set the record on the John Muir Trail. But we weren’t sure what the record was. No one was. This is hard to believe in the age of the Internet, where people all over the world...

FKTs Here, There and Everywhere. But Are They Losing Their Significance?

The lure of a fastest known time is strong these days. Facebook and Twitter feeds, particularly in the summer and fall, seem jammed with photos of runners either in the process of chasing an FKT, preparing for an FKT...

Karl Meltzer: Appalachian Trail Fastest Known Time

On Sunday, September 18, at 3:38 a.m., Karl Meltzer emerged from the trail at the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail at Springer Mountain, GA, after departing Mt. Khatadin in Maine on August 3 at 5 a.m. After 2,1...

Grand Teton FKT Attempt

During dinner at the Mammut sales meeting, Dave, the company's hard goods manager, turned towards me and shouted: “That's insane! The Grand Teton in under three hours?” Lots of laughter ensued, some of it directed at Dav...

14ers Record Falls to Andy Hamilton

At 4:18 a.m., Saturday, September 11, Andy Hamilton of Boulder jogged into the Longs Peak Ranger Station. He had climbed all 54 mountains in Colorado higher than 14,000 feet in 13 days, 22 hours, and 48 minutes. The “...