Scott Jurek Appalachian Trail Record Attempt

LSD walking is better for you wrote:

Was the course measured with a short course protection factor?

How much advantage is there to knowing the course so you can run along the optimum tangents?

Do they drug test randomly along the course or just at the end?

LOL. It's time for YOU to get into your pj's.

11:11 pm

Scott has run past the beginning of Rainbow Lake.

As of 1 am Sunday, looks like he's nearing the east end of Rainbow lake, so about 23 more miles to go, and 16 hours to do it. Can he afford to stop and rest? Or can he afford not to?

onwards wrote:

As of 1 am Sunday, looks like he's nearing the east end of Rainbow lake, so about 23 more miles to go, and 16 hours to do it. Can he afford to stop and rest? Or can he afford not to?

What is the exact clock time he needs to be finished before to break the record?

I'm in my Doctor Dentons is that OK with you! Bed time is in 4 minutes for me.

I have an off shore account!

Is Scott gonna run the Badwater? The organizers secured the old/traditional route.

new language? wrote:

new math? wrote:

Unless we're reading something other than English, I'm right.

Original post very clearly says 100 METERS is closer to a mile than 100mi is to the AT.

100m to 1mi = ratio of 1:16.0934

100mi to 2189mi = ratio of 1:21.89

We clear now, buddy?

One can understand his confusion with the Original post. After all, using 100 meters as any kind of legitimate comparison to 1 mile, 100 miles, or 2189 miles is asinine.

Secondly, are you using the terms "pal" and "buddy" in a genuine, or condescending way? If the later, it's a bad habit that won't really help you in life.

George31321 wrote:

Scott Jurek started on May 27.

Going South to North (Georgia to Maine)

Approximately 2200 miles.

Current record is 46 days, 11 hours, 20 minutes by Jennifer Phaff Davis.

The toughest portion of the trail is in New Hampshire and Maine.

He'll need to average about 50 miles a day to break the record.

Here's a few links:

His Facebook page (daily updates):

https://www.facebook.com/ScottJurekhttp://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php/111652-Scott-Jurek-on-Appalachian-Trailhttp://fastestknowntime.proboards.com/thread/6/appalachian-trail

I hope he sets a new record!

3:30am - Less than 18 miles to go. Scott is 3 miles west of Abol Bridge, and Abol is about 15 miles from Katahdin's summit, which he needs to reach by 5:15pm to best Jenn Pharr Davis' AT record, which she did Maine>Georgia. Both Jenn and Scott have been supported by their spouse and crew. Great stories.

7 am and he's up and moving. I think he has fewer than 15 miles to go and 10 hours to do it. It's hard to imagine he wouldn't make it now. I do worry about how little sleep he seems to be getting. The only possible wrinkle is that he needs to have started up Mt. K by noon (although it's hard to imagine a ranger refusing to let him go if he got there at 12:30 or something....)

So, looks like we'll have a new FKT by early afternoon. Will be really interesting to get the debrief when this is all over

How is it possible that a "runner" is only marginally (at best) faster than a hiker?

This is a bad day for ultrarunning.

There are no 42 day events in trail/ultra running.

Rhdgss wrote:

How is it possible that a "runner" is only marginally (at best) faster than a hiker?

This is a bad day for ultrarunning.

Because he's basically not running and most runners aren't very good at walking.

He should make it. Many years ago, I started in Abol around 6AM, with backpack, and reached summit by 2PM.

As I recall, the first part of trail up the mountain is mostly dirt, Scott could run this if he's still physically able to do so. Above the timber line, there are some big boulders he has to scramble up. The rest of the trail is not bad. Of course, weather could be a factor.

Looks like he'll be at the campground by 10:15 or so. I've never climbed Katahdin, but hard to believe he wouldn't finish this by 3 pm. Amazing, though, that, after 46 days, the difference between Scott and JPD is going to be less than 4 hours. It's like a marathon being decided by less than a second.

COND TEMP FEELS DESCRIPTION PRECIP HUMIDITY WIND

9:15 AM

Sun, Jul 12

sunny

73°F 73° Sunny 0% 64% W 10 mph

10 AM

Sun, Jul 12

sunny

75° 75° Sunny 0% 60% WNW 10 mph

11 AM

Sun, Jul 12

sunny

78° 78° Sunny 0% 52% WNW 9 mph

12 PM

Sun, Jul 12

sunny

81° 81° Sunny 0% 43% WNW 10 mph

1 PM

Sun, Jul 12

sunny

82° 81° Sunny 0% 39% WNW 11 mph

2 PM

Sun, Jul 12

sunny

84° 82° Sunny 0% 34% NW 10 mph

2:15 PM

sunny

84° 82° Sunny 0% 34% NW 10 mph

2:30 PM

sunny

84° 82° Sunny 0% 33% WNW 10 mph

Looks like he got to Golden Road, just before Abol Bridge Campground, around 4:40, and started up again just before 7 am, so he got a couple hours of rest -- not a lot, but something. The climb up Katahdin is almost 4000 feet, so he will have to gear way down especially when he gets to Katahdin Stream Falls. His last four miles may be excruciatingly slow -- or maybe he's fueled by adrenaline and sails up at 1mph...

I wonder how many folks meet him for the final hike? I saw on the whiteblazes message board that the day use permits were maxed out for today at Baxter.

phantom wrote:

There are no 42 day events in trail/ultra running.

Wrong. The Sri Chinmoy 3100 mile race has a limit of 60 or so days. The leader after 28 days has been averaging 76+ miles a day (running allowed between 6 a.m. and midnight with enforced 6-hour break each day) and would break the event record at that pace--he'd finish in under 41 days.

On a flat surface with unlimited aid station opportunities.

Best of luck to Scott up the last climb.

The Appalachian Trail is obviously comprised in large measure of going up and down mountains. A lot of those trails aren't even particularly runnable.

When I was growing up, I read that the cross country walking record was faster than the running record. It's not that hard to walk all day every day, but very hard to run much more than a marathon every day for many days. Look at how few people want to even do more than 100-120 miles per week during marathon training, and that's just about 14-17 miles per day.

I've been following this over the past few days...this facebook thread seems to be updated pretty regularly with pictures, for those interested:

https://www.facebook.com/GaryAllen26.2/posts/1071333086227766