Sam Fox's PCT record attempt has begun!

[Jupiter]

Hi everyone!

I just read the post about Scott Williamson's current attempt to break his old PCT unassisted speed record and thought I'd post up another record attempt that just got underway. The athlete's name is Sam Fox and he's doing this to raise money for Parkinson's research. His stated goal is to complete the trail in under 65 days.

The main website: http://www.runwhileyoucan.org/
The blog his support crew is updating: http://www.runwhileyoucan.org/follow-sam/

He started at the Canadian border at midnight on Thursday the 25th, knocking out the first 66 mile section in 21 hours. He has a support team of two friends in an RV with 40 planned resupplies along the trail.

After reading about Williamson's attempt, am I correct in saying the overall PCT speed record is Scott's 65 day unassisted hike? Nobody has beat his 65 day attempt on an assisted hike?

[Miner]

Scott “Bink” Williamson and Adam “Krudmeister” Bradley broke the assisted and unassisted record last year at 65 days, 9 hours, 58 minutes, and 47 seconds. Scott is on the trail this year again trying to break that record but is going SoBo this time around having left Aug 8. Leaving this late in August might make sense in terms of the snow pack this year, as Scott mentioned that he had almost continuous snow coverage for much of Washington. However, Sam Fox is increasing his chances of encountering snow storms while hiking in the Sierra Nevada. This isn't the best year to try to set a record. I think Scott is only trying because he pretty much hikes the PCT every year no matter what. David Horton who had set the previous assisted record before Scott and Adam broke it, also picked a high snow year to hike and it cost him time.


Good luck to both Scott and Sam this year.

[sbhikes]

I don't know about Sam's chances. It seems to me that he is killing himself to run 24 hours at a time, then he crashes and has to sleep for a really long time. Plus he seems a little, I don't know, eating disordered or something. He might learn a few things from Scott about how to pace yourself.

[Mags]

Between Scott and Adam's PCT record along with Jenn Pharr's new AT record, seems like HIKING is the way to go for long distances. More efficient in the long term even if the days are longer.

I wonder if other record attempts will adapt the long days at a steady pace vs running in light of recent successes. FWIW, many people who get accused of hiking too fast (myself included ) are people who just do long days.

[sbhikes]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking, Mags. That it's actually faster, more efficient and more sustainable to go a little slower. I'll be following Sam's journal, but I forsee he either learns about sustainable long-distance travel or he burns out quickly.

[Del Q]

At 52 these numbers are somewhat disheartening from a "competitive" standpoint, 66 miles, sometimes that taks me 5 days!

............hike your own hike, gotta love it.

The human race continues to show more and more capacity

[Jupiter]

I don't know what Scott's splits were (so to speak) but Sam has finished Washington State in 13 days 19 hours and 12 minutes. That was 3-4 days ago and he's currently working his way through Oregon. It does, however, sound like he's had to re-route a bit due to the wild fires in the area. I guess the question as to whether this immediately invalidates his record attempt is a valid, and perhaps personal, one.

[sbhikes]

I'm really surprised he's still going. Maybe he will make it further than I thought.