Post by Peter Bakwin on Nov 4, 2009 23:06:47 GMT -5
Kilian Jornet holds the FKT, 38h32m, September 28-29, 2009.
Tim Twietmeyer had the previous supported FKT, 45h58m, set August 27-29, 2005.
Krissy Moehl as the women's supported FKT, 47h29m, September 28-30, 2015.
Amber Monforte had the previous women's supported FKT, 49h17m, September 5-7, 2014.
Sean Ranney has the unsupported FKT, 51h45m, July 10-12, 2015.
Mike Tebbutt had the previous unsupported FKT, 54h17m, June 25-27, 2015.
JB Benna had the previous unsupported FKT, 58h43m12s, September 29 - October 1, 2013.
The Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT) is a 165-mile long loop trail around Lake Tahoe. The trail was only completed over the last several years, and its "grand opening" celebration was in September 2001. Nevertheless, the TRT has already seen several speed record attempts -- a testament to the quality of the trail as well as its location near to the hub of ultrarunning in North America. An interesting feature of the trail is that, since it is a loop, one can choose basically any starting/finishing point, and can run in either direction (clockwise or counter-clockwise). No doubt different runners will have different ideas on the most efficient approach.
The first speed run of the TRT took place before the trail was completely finished. Robert Sobsey, Rolland Martin and Joe Braninburg ran the route in 66h20m on September 13-15, 2000. For an article in the Tahoe Daily Tribune, Braninburg said this:
To me it's just amazing to have something like that so close to us. It's so accessible. I can't compliment the people enough who have worked on it. It's just a dynamite trail. The view from Freel Peak is the most spectacular view I've ever seen in my life. You look down the center of the Sierra and I swear you can see Mount Whitney. The vistas and scenery up there are incredible, and hell, you can run in chest-high wildflowers and on the west side you run by lake after lake. -- Joe Braninburg
According to this site Betsy Nye did the TRT in 55h22m in 2004, which would have been the overall FKT at the time. We have not been able to find any details on this trip. sacramentorunning.com reported that Jenny Capel ran the TRT in 53h39m, July 2013. Again, we have no details. Below, Amber Monforte reports running the TRT in a new women's supported FKT of 49h17m on September 5-7, 2014. Monforte had attempted the trail in June, but was shut down by GI issues. The Delorme track will probably disappear sometime, so I'll mention that I confirm the track and that the first point is apparently at 5:56am Sept. 5, and the last at 7:25am Sept. 7. Monforte's FKT stood for just over a year, and was bested by champion ultrarunner Krissy Moehl, who ran clockwise in 47h29m on September 28-30, 2015 (verified by publicly available, real time SPOT track). Moehl & Monforte's times are the 3rd and 4th fastest overall on the TRT, after Jornet and Twietmeyer. Trail Runner Magazine did a nice article on Moehl's run, and irunfar.com did an interview.
Previous to Jornet, the TRT record was held by ultrarunning legend Tim Twietmeyer, 45h58m, set August 27-29, 2005. Among his many accomplishments, Twietmeyer has finished the Western States 100 mile an astonishing 25 times all under 24 hours, and won the race 5 times. An interview with Twietmeyer on his TRT record is here. Twietmeyer's trip was fully supported, including pacers much of the way. He ran the route clockwise, starting at the Truckee River in Tahoe City.
In the summer of 2009, Spanish ultra/mountain running phenom Kilian Jornet announced that he would attempt to break the record on the John Muir Trail. However, his permit request was refused because "the administration doesn't want the JMT to become a performance playground" (according to Jean-Yves Couput of Salomon), so he switched to taking on the TRT record. Jornet ran the 165-mile loop in 38h32m, taking over 6 hours off Tim Twietmeyer's already outstanding time. Jornet's trip was fully supported & paced. The Tahoe Daily Tribune has a brief account of Jornet's run. Jornet ran the loop clockwise starting in Tahoe City, as did Twietmeyer. He slept about 2 hours, and lost about an hour - and ran an extra 5 miles - due to getting lost. A 3-minute YouTube video shows Jornet running well after 120 km. Some slick videos of the run are on Salomon's website, complete with helicopter footage of the TRT, and a telephone interview with Twietmeyer. Jornet, who is sponsored by Salomon, exploded onto the European mountain running scene in 2007, at age 19, winning every race he entered and the World Series. In 2008 he again won every race he ran, including the 165 km Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) in course record time (he repeated the UTMB win in 2009). Jornet also holds the FKT for the GR20 in Corsica, and many mountain running records (Matterhorn, Mont Blanc, Mt Olympus, etc.)
“Kilian’s goal is to inspire people to experience the joy of the trails and the great outdoors -- and in the process he is reinventing the sport of trail running.” -- Jean-Yves Couput, Director of Marketing for Salomon USA
Peter Lubbers attempted to better the TRT speed record on August 15-18, 2008, but was unable to match Twietmeyer's time. Lubbers completed the route in 57h54m. Details are on his blog.
Aaron Sorenson made an attempt at the unsupported FKT on the TRT in July 2009. He ran counter-clockwise from Tahoe City, and covered 64 miles in the first 24 hours, but stopped at mile 67 at Big Meadows. A hiker who wishes to remain anonymous here got the first real unsupported FKT when he did the route in 85h47m50s on July 27-30, 2010. His previously available detailed trip report has been removed. "I carried all food on back that I needed, never resupplying for the distance of the trip," the hiker said. "I also only used natural water sources forcing me to have to carry water for 35 miles on the east side from Dagget Creek near Heavenly to Marlette Peak Campground. Didn't accept any handouts from other hikers either (not that any where offered). When I did the math for my data book of the TRT I came up with a mileage of 168.6? I am guessing the 165 is a nice round # but not accurate? My calculations show that to be a pace of 46.8 miles a day. Slept for only 10hrs during the full 86hrs and was coming apart at the end. I couldn't have gone another day at that pace." This record may have been broken by Michael Popov just about 1 month later (Aug. 29 - Sept. 1, 2010). Apparently Popov's Facebook page said that he did the trail unsupported in 77h13m. However, we have no trip report or details on Popov's trip & no confirmation from Popov himself (who is tragically now deceased), so we consider this information unreliable at this time. Popov reported a new unsupported FKT of 63h54m4s, set September 22-24, 2011 (see below). This time was bested by JB Benna, who did the TRT in 58h43m12s on Sept. 29 - Oct. 1, 2013, as reported below. A new unsupported FKT was established by Mike Tebbutt on June 25-27, 2015, at 54h17m, as reported below. Finally, just 2 weeks after Tebbutt's effort, Sean Ranney did the TRT unsupported in 51h45m, the current FKT (see below). Ranney had made an earlier attempt, in September 2014, but ran into more snow than expected.
Trail Runner Magazine reports that Tom Flahavan ran the TRT in the second fastest time ever, 45h34m, August 2-4, 2012. However, no further details or confirmation are available.
Tim Twietmeyer on the TRT
Tim Twietmeyer had the previous supported FKT, 45h58m, set August 27-29, 2005.
Krissy Moehl as the women's supported FKT, 47h29m, September 28-30, 2015.
Amber Monforte had the previous women's supported FKT, 49h17m, September 5-7, 2014.
Sean Ranney has the unsupported FKT, 51h45m, July 10-12, 2015.
Mike Tebbutt had the previous unsupported FKT, 54h17m, June 25-27, 2015.
JB Benna had the previous unsupported FKT, 58h43m12s, September 29 - October 1, 2013.
The Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT) is a 165-mile long loop trail around Lake Tahoe. The trail was only completed over the last several years, and its "grand opening" celebration was in September 2001. Nevertheless, the TRT has already seen several speed record attempts -- a testament to the quality of the trail as well as its location near to the hub of ultrarunning in North America. An interesting feature of the trail is that, since it is a loop, one can choose basically any starting/finishing point, and can run in either direction (clockwise or counter-clockwise). No doubt different runners will have different ideas on the most efficient approach.
The first speed run of the TRT took place before the trail was completely finished. Robert Sobsey, Rolland Martin and Joe Braninburg ran the route in 66h20m on September 13-15, 2000. For an article in the Tahoe Daily Tribune, Braninburg said this:
To me it's just amazing to have something like that so close to us. It's so accessible. I can't compliment the people enough who have worked on it. It's just a dynamite trail. The view from Freel Peak is the most spectacular view I've ever seen in my life. You look down the center of the Sierra and I swear you can see Mount Whitney. The vistas and scenery up there are incredible, and hell, you can run in chest-high wildflowers and on the west side you run by lake after lake. -- Joe Braninburg
According to this site Betsy Nye did the TRT in 55h22m in 2004, which would have been the overall FKT at the time. We have not been able to find any details on this trip. sacramentorunning.com reported that Jenny Capel ran the TRT in 53h39m, July 2013. Again, we have no details. Below, Amber Monforte reports running the TRT in a new women's supported FKT of 49h17m on September 5-7, 2014. Monforte had attempted the trail in June, but was shut down by GI issues. The Delorme track will probably disappear sometime, so I'll mention that I confirm the track and that the first point is apparently at 5:56am Sept. 5, and the last at 7:25am Sept. 7. Monforte's FKT stood for just over a year, and was bested by champion ultrarunner Krissy Moehl, who ran clockwise in 47h29m on September 28-30, 2015 (verified by publicly available, real time SPOT track). Moehl & Monforte's times are the 3rd and 4th fastest overall on the TRT, after Jornet and Twietmeyer. Trail Runner Magazine did a nice article on Moehl's run, and irunfar.com did an interview.
Previous to Jornet, the TRT record was held by ultrarunning legend Tim Twietmeyer, 45h58m, set August 27-29, 2005. Among his many accomplishments, Twietmeyer has finished the Western States 100 mile an astonishing 25 times all under 24 hours, and won the race 5 times. An interview with Twietmeyer on his TRT record is here. Twietmeyer's trip was fully supported, including pacers much of the way. He ran the route clockwise, starting at the Truckee River in Tahoe City.
In the summer of 2009, Spanish ultra/mountain running phenom Kilian Jornet announced that he would attempt to break the record on the John Muir Trail. However, his permit request was refused because "the administration doesn't want the JMT to become a performance playground" (according to Jean-Yves Couput of Salomon), so he switched to taking on the TRT record. Jornet ran the 165-mile loop in 38h32m, taking over 6 hours off Tim Twietmeyer's already outstanding time. Jornet's trip was fully supported & paced. The Tahoe Daily Tribune has a brief account of Jornet's run. Jornet ran the loop clockwise starting in Tahoe City, as did Twietmeyer. He slept about 2 hours, and lost about an hour - and ran an extra 5 miles - due to getting lost. A 3-minute YouTube video shows Jornet running well after 120 km. Some slick videos of the run are on Salomon's website, complete with helicopter footage of the TRT, and a telephone interview with Twietmeyer. Jornet, who is sponsored by Salomon, exploded onto the European mountain running scene in 2007, at age 19, winning every race he entered and the World Series. In 2008 he again won every race he ran, including the 165 km Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) in course record time (he repeated the UTMB win in 2009). Jornet also holds the FKT for the GR20 in Corsica, and many mountain running records (Matterhorn, Mont Blanc, Mt Olympus, etc.)
“Kilian’s goal is to inspire people to experience the joy of the trails and the great outdoors -- and in the process he is reinventing the sport of trail running.” -- Jean-Yves Couput, Director of Marketing for Salomon USA
Peter Lubbers attempted to better the TRT speed record on August 15-18, 2008, but was unable to match Twietmeyer's time. Lubbers completed the route in 57h54m. Details are on his blog.
Aaron Sorenson made an attempt at the unsupported FKT on the TRT in July 2009. He ran counter-clockwise from Tahoe City, and covered 64 miles in the first 24 hours, but stopped at mile 67 at Big Meadows. A hiker who wishes to remain anonymous here got the first real unsupported FKT when he did the route in 85h47m50s on July 27-30, 2010. His previously available detailed trip report has been removed. "I carried all food on back that I needed, never resupplying for the distance of the trip," the hiker said. "I also only used natural water sources forcing me to have to carry water for 35 miles on the east side from Dagget Creek near Heavenly to Marlette Peak Campground. Didn't accept any handouts from other hikers either (not that any where offered). When I did the math for my data book of the TRT I came up with a mileage of 168.6? I am guessing the 165 is a nice round # but not accurate? My calculations show that to be a pace of 46.8 miles a day. Slept for only 10hrs during the full 86hrs and was coming apart at the end. I couldn't have gone another day at that pace." This record may have been broken by Michael Popov just about 1 month later (Aug. 29 - Sept. 1, 2010). Apparently Popov's Facebook page said that he did the trail unsupported in 77h13m. However, we have no trip report or details on Popov's trip & no confirmation from Popov himself (who is tragically now deceased), so we consider this information unreliable at this time. Popov reported a new unsupported FKT of 63h54m4s, set September 22-24, 2011 (see below). This time was bested by JB Benna, who did the TRT in 58h43m12s on Sept. 29 - Oct. 1, 2013, as reported below. A new unsupported FKT was established by Mike Tebbutt on June 25-27, 2015, at 54h17m, as reported below. Finally, just 2 weeks after Tebbutt's effort, Sean Ranney did the TRT unsupported in 51h45m, the current FKT (see below). Ranney had made an earlier attempt, in September 2014, but ran into more snow than expected.
Trail Runner Magazine reports that Tom Flahavan ran the TRT in the second fastest time ever, 45h34m, August 2-4, 2012. However, no further details or confirmation are available.
 TRT map |  Jornet on the TRT |
Tim Twietmeyer on the TRT
