Jurek Attempts Appalachian Trail Speed Record
Needs to beat 46 days, 11 hours
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Forty-one-year-old ultrarunner Scott Jurek set out on Memorial Day in an attempt to break the supported speed record on the Appalachian Trail, according to Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine. He is heading north on the trail and hopes to reach Maine’s Mount Katahdin in early July.
The record to beat: Jennifer Pharr Davis completed the A.T. in 46 days, 11 hours, 20 minutes in 2011. She covered an average of 47 miles per day and was supported by a team of three that included her husband, Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine reports.
Jurek has won a number of elite ultrarunning events and, in 2010, he set a new U.S. all-surface record in the 24-hour run with a distance of 165.7 miles. He was featured prominently in Christopher McDougall’s 2009 bestselling book on distance running, Born to Run, in which he ran in the Copper Canyon Ultra race with native Mexican Tarahumara runners.*
*This story has been revised from the version first published on May 28, 2015, because it inadvertently used similar language to what was published in Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine. Outside apologizes for the error and is investigating all previous work of the writer.