FKT Podcast

It was a busy season on the Colorado Trail as records were broken in nearly every category beginning with Kyle Curtin’s smashing success in June–bringing the record under 7 days for the first time. Today’s episode brings together record setters Brent Herring, DJ Fox, Jeff Browning, and Kyle Curtin. They discuss their route choices as well as modalities–all were supported except for Brent. Hear abo...

For the first time ever, the Appalachian Trail Fastest Known Time has gone under 41 days–taken there by Tara Dower. On today’s episode, Tara and her crew chief Rascal join host and previous AT FKT record holder Heather Anderson to talk trail. Tara opens up about the difficulties of the rainy conditions she had in Maine and New Hampshire including how she handled numerous falls and what it did to h...

Today we’re diving deep into the oak and hickory lined ridges of eastern Oklahoma and central Arkansas as we catch up with Isaac Robinson to hear about his unsupported FKT on the 223 mile Ouachita Trail. Join host Heather Anderson to learn how this resident of North Texas handled the rocks, roots, and ruggedness of this lesser known route. After a previous attempt, Isaac was back for more with a t...

When you hear sandy pine forest trails do you think of Florida? I bet you don’t think of New Jersey. Yet, on this week's episode, host Heather Anderson chats with Rachel Bambrick about her unsupported FKT in the sand laden Pine Barrens of New Jersey. Her 12 hour 35 minute record set a stout bar for the women’s unsupported category. Tune in and discover the details of the Batona Trail–a 53-mile hid...

This week we're traveling to the Midwest for an excursion along Lake Superior. Minnesota’s Superior Hiking Trail is a popular route for FKTs and today Andrea Larson and Alan Chapman will be joining host Heather Anderson to talk about their independent, unsupported FKTs. Find out how Andrea made the last-minute decision to go unsupported and how that resulted in her struggling to keep her pants pul...

West of Toronto, Canada’s 550 mile long Bruce Trail travels along the Niagara Escarpment, from the famous falls northward onto a peninsula that juts into the Great Lakes. This ribbon of wilderness is a well-maintained gem of predominantly hardwood forest. In 2016 a team of 18 women completed the trail relay style in what they called the Wild Bruce Chase. In 2023, one of those women went back for m...

The Colorado 14ers are a prominent mountain list in the United States with a long history of FKTs on them. This week’s guests have been a huge part of that history, with each of them having established multiple FKTs in these mountains over the years. In this episode, we learn how Andrew Hamilton and Andrea Sansone decided to contribute to the 14ers legacy as a team. Despite injuries and personal l...

This week we’re taking a trip to the land of mud, moose, and rocks in northern New Hampshire where Phoebe Seltzer set the supported FKT on the 170-mile Cohos Trail in 3 days, 10 hours. The southern terminus of the Cohos Trail is located at Crawford Notch in the heart of the uber-popular White Mountains. From there it quickly leaves the busier backcountry trails behind and wends northward through t...

In today’s episode we’re traveling to remote Nevada to travel the crest of the Toiyabe National Forest with Jessica Johnson and Cryptic. This non-binary team established a stout unsupported time on this roughly 65-mile long trail through classic basin and range terrain.  Built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930’s, this National Recreation Trail had fallen into disuse. Its revitalizatio...

There are not a lot of firsts left to be done in the world of trail running, but recently Jasmin Paris accomplished just that by becoming the first woman to finish the Barkley Marathons. Tune in to hear about her training for this infamously difficult race as well as what she did differently on this, her third time there. She also shares her passion for protecting the places we run and the actiona...

What route has tea houses, prayer flags, yak jams and is all above 3,000 meters? Join host Heather Anderson on today's episode to travel Nepal's Namche Bazaar to Everest Basecamp route with Rachel Boim. This direct route is well-traveled and only has a few technical sections, but plenty of other obstacles...including the four-legged kind.  Hear all about how Rachel completed the 72K roundtrip in j...

In this week’s episode, we’re traveling across 4 state borders with Meg Landymore. She recently set the women’s unsupported FKT for the AT Four State Challenge. This 43 mile stretch of the Appalachian Trail touches 4 states: Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia. Meg’s familiarity with the local-to-her route brought her within minutes of beating the women’s supported time despite a s...

This week we’re traveling to a park where the trees have a name. The Joshua Tree National Park Traverse is a 37 mile long route in southern California. The park, eponymously named for the large yucca plants that grow there, is more well known as a rock climbing mecca than ultra-running scene. Yet within a few days of one another Darren Thomas and Jake Jackson both set records on this desert route....

In this week’s episode, host Heather Anderson is joined by ultrarunner and body positivity activist Callie Vinson to discuss her supported Maricopa Loop FKT. The Maricopa Loop is an urban trail system connecting all the major and municipal parks that ring the city of Phoenix, Arizona. Despite its accessibility, it is chock full of wild and remote trails and hits many incredible viewpoints along th...

There’s only one FKT that is over 7,000 miles long and takes seven and a half months to complete and in 2023 Billy Meredith crushed the self-supported record on it. The Triple Crown of Thru-Hiking consists of the Appalachian, Pacific Crest, and Continental Divide National Scenic Trail. Each of these is over 2,000 miles long. Attempting to complete them in one year is a rare feat known as the Calen...

This week we’re traveling to Alabama to retrace Martin Luther King Junior’s march from Selma to Montgomery with Sika Henry. 59 years ago nonviolent activists marched between these two cities to protest segregation. Earlier this month Sika, the first Black female professional triathlete, ran this 51-mile historic route in 7 hours 6 minutes.  The granddaughter of a footballer denied admittance to th...

Host Heather Anderson delves into Kristian Morgan's epic Appalachian Trail FKT, an endeavor filled with grit, determination, and unexpected challenges. Join us as we uncover the remarkable story of Kristian, who embarked on this daunting journey supported by an unlikely ally – his own mother, serving as his dedicated crew. Through numerous setbacks and restarts, listeners will be captivated by Kri...

Join host Heather Anderson on the latest FKT Podcast as she sits down with Ivey Smith. Despite battling injuries, Smith tackled the rugged 300 mile Benton MacKaye Trail, setting an unsupported Fastest Known Time. Along the way, she encountered unexpected wildlife and resisted the allure of trail angels, relying solely on her own determination. In this captivating interview, Smith shares her insigh...

In this episode of the FKT Podcast, host Heather Anderson sits down with trail runner Suzanne "Sunny" Stroeer to dive into her remarkable achievement of setting the Fastest Known Time (FKT) for the Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim alt route. Sunny shares her journey, detailing the physical and mental challenges she faced along the way, and the strategies she employed to conquer one of America's most...

This week we’re traveling to the thin air and high alpine peaks of Colorado for a very special episode of the FKT Podcast. Last summer, not one, not two, not three, but four FKTs went down on the Colorado Trail within weeks of each other. All four women—Claire Bannwarth, Tara Dower, Nina Bridges, and Melinda McCaw—join host Heather Anderson to break down their incredible efforts.  The Colorado Tra...

This week we’re thrilled to be joined by our two FKT athletes of 2023: Jenny Hoffman and Karel Sabbe. From not one but three Pacific Crest Trail records, to new FKTs on classics like Nolan’s 14 and the Paddy Buckley Round, to new mountaineering benchmarks on Mount Denali and Mount Blanc, 2023 was one for the history books. (Or more specifically, the record boards at fastestknowntime.com.) Our has...

Ah Iceland, that magical polar island covered in glaciers, hot springs, lava fields, and…mosquitos. Christof Teuscher learned that the hard way this August when he traversed the island north to south on foot, without any aid, covering the 375-mile route in eight days, 11 hours, and four minutes. That was good enough for a new unsupported fastest known time, as Teuscher shaved an astonishing four a...

The Pacific Crest Trail was on fire this year, and not in the usual way. Records fell left and right on this iconic 2,592.6-mile long trail. And etching her name on the illustrious FKT holder list is Jessica Pekari, who set the women’s south-bound supported record in 63 days, seven hours, and 31 minutes. This record was a long-time coming for the veteran mother of three with Blackfeet and Mexican...

Jenny Hoffman has dreamed about running across the United States since she was a child. Spacing out in the car, she’d stare at the open road and think about how she could be running down it instead. The goal loomed over her life as she earned a bachelor’s degree in Physics from Harvard University in 1991, a Ph. D. in Physics from the University of California, Berkeley in 2003, and back in Boston a...

For some FKTs, the beauty lies in the solitary nature of human and landscape. Other FKTs derive meaning from the collective effort needed for safe and successful passage. Hillary Geradi married the two on June 6, 2023, when she set the FKT on Mont Blanc, the 4,805-meter (15,766-foot) glaciated massif that looms above Western Europe. Gerardi, an American living just downvalley from Chamonix, France...