Those are respectable numbers... while we've had some total clown attempts before... that's a respectable start that shows she's in the ball park.
Long story short- she's not making a total fool of herself.
DOH! Nevermind; she just did make a fool out of herself.
So... here's where things do get mildly interesting on all this. I don't think this is any big state secret so shouldn't be a big deal to share...
Last season regarding Ms. Ninja's exploits on the trail one of the primary nails in the coffin was her hitching a ride in the Shennies. (and other places) As a result- Matt Kirk, Peter Bakwin, and myself (for reasons no one can comprehend) were also reviewing this issue with hitching and unfortunately there was not a clean consensus.
Best to look at this from two camps-
Amongst LD hikers: Williamson is really the modern leader/gold standard on Self-supported FKT's and the GUIDELINES. This does discount Ward Leonard (only from a guideliines aspect) as his trip was not really documented at all nor refined in a way that would level the playing field. It has come to light that Ward did hitch in and out of town- which is fine. However since then Williamson adopted the no-hitching guideline and EVERY significant self-supported trip since then has adopted that rule. This includes the PCT, AT, CDT, JMT, LT, AZT and others. The first documented self-supported hike on the PCT (Williamson) and AT (Kirk) both followed the no hitching rule...
In my opinion- That standard has been set and in the case of the AT and PCT, that standard has been followed by the person who set the record and in both cases by the person to subsequently set a new FKT. In this case both trail records are held by Anish. So not only did the pioneer of a modern FKT set this guideline (no-hitching), but subsequent successful attempts have proven that the guideline is not onerous to follow.
In addition this guideline further levels (improves) the playing field for subsequent attempts by removing ambiguity.... was it truly unplanned support when you hitched? Who cares... just don't get in a car at all for any reason and we don't have to wonder.
Can't recall it off hand- but Peter pointed out a gentleman who set the Colorado Trail FKT while maintaining a vow of silence. Though that gentleman did not make that a guideline he pointed it out as an example of an onerous guideline that could have been set but was not relevant to the FKT. Similar to how folks joke here about the FKT for "dudes in skirts with pigtails"... the guidelines do have to have some structure and practical sense... not just be stuff you pull out of your butt to make it harder, unique or that cannot be practically repeated.
Amongst Ultrarunners (for lack of a better term):
So back to our buddy Joey Camps. When discussing this with Peter I was a bit surprised to hear that there was a different issue at play. From his perspective: Joey disqualified himself not when he got into his father's car but when he called for assistance. It was the call and acceptance of planned assistance that disqualified him from self-supported and made the trip supported. That was the line crossed in his opinion. So Joey was DQ'd for different reasons from each camp... but since we both came to same conclusion it wasn't really discussed. Matt put up a nice post, Peter put up a blurb on the proboards and I spouted my nonsense here... Joey's a badass but didn't earn an FKT.
So I guess here's the rub:
Peter is not really an AT guy, so Doyle and Horton are folks he consults with regarding AT matters. Their rough position is that hitching is totally part of "Thru hiker style" and they have been using that definition. Ward Leonard and Doyle hitched at various points when pioneering records on the AT and Horton was fully supported.
So from their end... in theory "thru-hiker style" is the standard by which to judge.
From our end... the Williamson standard is the definition of self-supported recognized.
I certainly can't discount Horton, Doyle, or Bakwin... but I feel it's a very fair argument to make that the Williamson standard has become the gold standard to use for self-supported efforts on long distance hiking trails.
It is a very fair, clear, and competitive set of guidelines. No hitching only improves the standard prior to it (thru-hiker style) as it eliminates any questions about hitching.
And again- if you look at Ward Leonard's hike as a pioneering effort- it is very fair to say that both Williamson and Kirk are the ones who set what we now know as an FKT on the PCT/AT.
They properly documented their hikes and turned in documentation in a timely manner.
They notified people in advance and were respectful of those who came before them.
They established and followed a self-imposed and fair set of guidelines for any who would like to follow them or attempt to best their efforts.
Now- Peter was very clear... this is supposed to be a community effort. This isn't him and Buzz sitting in a room doling out awards and medals. There are none. There is no rules committee, no courtroom, no lawyers. No group of old white males sat in a dark room and gave the thumbs up or down to Ninja (as some think). This whole thing was always and simply a friendly competition between competitive people who all basically knew each other. Even if it wasn't always friendly it was intended to be honorable. In many ways that has not changed... though things have grown. The goal is to spell out guidelines by which to compare efforts.
So if you really want to get down to it:
Kathryn could potentially hitch all she wants and get to Big K faster than Heather. In theory since she did it "thru-hiker style" she could be recognized on the FKT boards as the current name in bold at the top of the pages.
That said; As a community I don't think that effort would be recognized as besting Anish. While it could be recognized as it's own record, I think the better route would be what happened with Joey Camps- a serious and heartfelt honorable mention- but not an equal effort to the current FKT holder's effort.
There is nothing that says that you can't do something different. But at this point there is enough precedent set and repeated that it is as close to RULES as you're going to get.
By hitching you are not improving the standards but degrading them.
I don't personally find it complicated; but enough people do that I think one standard should be used; and for self-supported LD hiking trails I believe the Williamson standard is it.
I would publically encourage Peter, Doyle, Buzz, and Horton to consider an update to the main page to accept that standard as the base set of guidelines for (at the very least) the AT/PCT and politely but strongly suggest they be used for similar efforts on other Long Distance hiking trails. Though as Peter correctly pointed out- each trail is it's own place and has it's own history and community and a blanket set of guidelines is not quite right, fair, or practical either. However as the triple crown trails are the highest profile ones it seems reasonable to make an effort there to iron these out... and likely it will carry through and simplify the other trails that will inevitably follow. There are some unique trails and FKT's... but for the most part they aren't that dramatically different. Water issues or resupply on remote trails are really the only major difference... even something like the canoe ferry on the AT (technically a vehicle) has been resolved cleanly in Williamson's guidelines as they require you to follow the official route.
If we are "paying our respects to those who came before you"... including the current and most recent holders of these FKT's then I see no reason not to honor those guidelines as well and use them as a baseline of comparison for subsequent efforts. That is really the gist of the goals that Peter and Buzz set up for all of us. Try something, tell others, and when others come they should match or improve on your effort and move the hobby as a whole forward together.
Disclaimer- I shot this all off from memory while also doing my dayjob. I don't speak for any of these folks and sorry if I put words in anyone's mouth or selectively paraphrased or flat out screwed up. I don't really have any axe to grind with anyone and totally understand everyone's point of view on these efforts.
I would just like to see this resolved in some way so we can move on... Every season we spend half the season discussing the "rules" and it's really not that complicated. Right now the minor ambiguity between Peter's site and the hiking community is leaving some wiggle room in there. That opens the door for negative things to happen like last season... and potentially opens the door to another heartbreak similar to Joey for this gal Kathryn to deal with if she does do well somehow. That's pretty crappy to set people up who honestly come to the Proboard site to research only to then run into a different set of standards set by those who actually hold the FKT they are chasing. The guidelines should be clearly noted for these hikes, even if they may be in conflict with the "read this first" general guidelines. Some might say it's pretty simple, just click on Heather's post and copy her rules... but I vividly recall a journalist writing on Kaiha's hike explaining to me that she interviewed Doyle who said hitching was no big deal... so that then gets published and then somebody reads it and then... here we are again. Like it or not there was some truth to the Ninja's argument that there were gaps in the rules. The effort made didn't justify further entertainment but it could have.
For the same reason we can't have blanket rules for all trails... we should honor these specific rules for these specific trails and not entertain general loopholes. In my mind it's pretty simple- you declare you are going after the FKT held by so and so (Anish in this case) then you are held to the standard set by that record holder. Period.
Also- to be fair- this is really "their game" and we are just butting in.
This is really just a hobby for all those fellas too... nobody takes any pleasure in being the referee or intended to be and they mainly want to live their lives and let others live theirs.
All the people involved are very good people!
Hikers are relatively new to the party and should be respectful guests... though despite some occasional comments here... Ultrarunners and hikers are two peas in a pod and then some. And if you're talking AT stuff... From Doyle, Horton and Leonard on down to Jen, Matt, Joey and Heather (Scott and Karl too)... these people all know each other in some form and on various levels of connections from pen pal to close friends. So it really is still just a hobby among folks who know each other and are pushing each other and supporting each other to do something amazing.
I want more stories of how Karl helped Scott and Scott helped Karl achieve a dream... How Matt cleaned up a busted GPS track to help Heather and how crazy good people to crazy amazing things.
So please, lets put this crap to bed.