Karel Sabbe Sets New FKT On Appalachian Trail | Crushes Old Speed Record By 4 Days!

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Mountain Journey
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In 2018, 28-year-old Belgian dentist Karel Sabbe set a new speed record on the 2,189-mile Appalachian Trail. Sabbe completed the AT in 41 days, 7 hours, 39 minutes. He beat the old record of 45 days, 12 hours, 15 minutes set in 2017 by Joe “Stringbean” McConaughy. Congrats!

In the year 60 B.C., Julius Caesar wrote: “Of all Gauls, the Belgians are the bravest.” Over 2000 years later there is still some truth in that sentence. We have set a new speed record on the epic Appalachian Trail !! The Fastest Known Time is now 41 days 7 hours 39 minutes, which is over 4 days faster than the previous record, held by an incredibly strong and unsupported @thestring.bean. I want to thank my dear friend @jorenbiebuyck from the bottom of my heart as without his incredible crewing and support I would never have made the PCT as well as the AT speed records. Fun facts: nobody has ever held Pacific Crest Trail and Appalachian Trail speed records at the same time. Nobody had averaged more than 50 miles on the Appalachian Trail. More than proud, I feel privileged for having lived these incredible adventures. It was a blast from start to finish ! Thanks @skinssportwear for making this possible, without you there would have been no new FKT. Thank you everybody for the support!  #AppalachianTrailSpeedRecordAttempt  #teamSKINS #BestInCompression #HOKAONEONE#TimeToFly #TraKKs #Suunto #Selfpropelled#Ledlenser #kleankanteen #nordisk #trekneat #ultramarathon#speedrecord #AppalachianTrail #ultrarunning #ultratrail #trailrunner #trailrunning

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Sabbe started the AT at Springer Mountain, Georgia on July 18, 2018. For the next 41 days, he averaged over 50 miles per day – that’s almost 2 marathons per day! His recording setting supported trek was recorded on both FastestKnownTime.com and on Strava.com.

Sabbe also holds the speed record for the Pacific Crest Trail that he set in 2016. He is the only person to hold both the AT and PCT speed records at the same time.

GearJunkie.com notes that “Because it was a supported effort, Sabbe had a crew following along and providing aid and supplies when needed. This is different than self-supported attempts, in which hikers coordinate all their own supplies and gear.”

We will try to update this post when more information is available.

Read more about Karel Sabbe AT speed record from the following sources:

Information in this post was found using Google Translate. There may be errors in this information. Please use the sources listed above to verify all facts.