Across the Smokies: The New Endurance Record

Back in May I received an email from David Worth, announcing that he had just broke the record for the fastest trek across the Appalachian Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains. David ran/walked/trekked 72 miles - from Fontana Dam to Davenport Gap - in 14 hours and 50 minutes, besting the previous record set by Will Harlan of 15 hours and 57 minutes.

I didn't realize it at the time, because I don't know him, but David is a park ranger for the Smokies, and works as an interpretive ranger atop Mt. LeConte.

Earlier in the week the Great Smoky Mountains Association published a video about his recent feat. The narrator makes the points that David gained a total of 18,660 feet as he crossed the crest of the Smokies. This compares to "only" 13,000 feet of elevation that climber gain from base camp to the summit of Denali in Alaska.

David is also quoted as stating that he may be interested in tackling the speed record for the entire Appalachian Trail someday. He might want to note that his goal is about to get a little tougher. Jennifer Pharr Davis is just days away from shaving roughly a half-day off the existing record of 47 days, 13 hours and 31 minutes.

Anyway, here's the video:


� GSMA 2011. All rights reserved.



Jeff
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Much Pharr-ther down the road

Since the last time we checked-in on her, Jennifer Pharr Davis has made some serious progress in her quest to break the overall record for the fastest hike of the Appalachian Trail.

By my calculations she's hiked 1656 miles through 36 days, and has averaged 46 miles per day! During one 5-day stretch Jennifer put in a whopping 261 miles!

Although the terrain in Maine is quite tough, I was a little concerned that her daily mileage was a little low after averaging "just" 40 miles per day over the course of the first 10 days. But once she got into New York her daily mileage really picked up.

On the latest blog posting, which is likely through July 20th, her crew estimates that she will be finishing up at Springer Mountain in Georgia either on Sunday night, July 31st, or Monday morning, August 1st.

As of that last posting she was in southwest Virginia, and has 524 miles to go, meaning, she expects to average roughly 47.6 miles per day over the final 11 days of her quest. This also means she will have surpassed the current record of 47 days, 13 hours and 31 minutes, by roughly a half day!


Jeff
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Jennifer Pharr Davis set to begin A.T. odyssey this week

If all goes as planned, sometime this week Jennifer Pharr Davis will begin her much anticipated attempt at breaking the overall Appalachian Trail speed record. Jennifer already owns the Women�s Speed Record for the fastest thru-hike of the A.T., setting the record in 2008 after completing the trail in just over 57 days.

To break the overall record she'll have to hike the entire 2,180-mile trail in less than 47 days, 13 hours and 31 minutes. That's an average of 47 miles a day!

She plans on making a southbound hike on this occasion. Her start date will depend on trail and weather conditions in northern Maine, and she'll only depart from Mount Katahdin if there's a clear forecast.

As part of her strategy, when possible, she plans hiking up mountains and running down them. To get through her 16-hour days she'll consume at least 6,000 calories per day. This is 3 to 4 times what the average person typically consumes in a day!

As you might expect, Davis has generated quite a bit of publicity after making her formal announcement of the attempt back in April. Women's Adventure Magazine published a nice feature article on her in late May, and earlier in the week, National Geographic Adventure published an excellent Q&A with her.

Also, take a look at author Johnny Molloy's interesting piece in Blue Ridge Outdoors about the recent phenomenon of "speed hiking".

I'm not sure how often her team will be providing updates, but she told me in an email that people will be able to keep up with her progress on her blog.


Jeff
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