EverUltra

With several impressive feats under his belt, ultrarunner John Kelly is no stranger to rewriting the record books. 

With three Barkley Marathon completions, Winter Spine Race wins, and fastest known times on routes like the Pennine Way, Wainwrights 214, and the Big Three UK Rounds (cycling between), Kelly is currently taking on his recent challenge: the Appalachian Trail. 

Stretching over 2000 miles, the trail spans the breadth of the eastern United States, crossing through fourteen states including Georgia, Tennessee, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. As the longest ‘hiking-only’ footpath in the world, it covers over 464,000ft of elevation, equivalent to climbing Mount Everest 16 times.

Travelling north, Kelly began his attempt in late May, running from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine. Describing it as his ‘running dissertation’, the Tennessee native has had this attempt in his sights for a long time. 

“My Running Dissertation”

Writing in a social media post: “Before I knew what ultrarunning was, when Frozen Head was nothing more to me than a local park, and I had never seen another mountain range or really even been outside the East Tennessee Valley (other than the annual family pilgrimage to Myrtle Beach). Back when 5K was long & before I had any idea what a bog, fell, or mince pie was. There was the AT. 

“It captivated me, and overwhelmed me. Do people really walk that far? How could this trail through my mountains lead farther from home than I’ve ever been in my life? Is someone else standing on it a thousand miles away, wondering the same thing?

“It was always there in my mind, always a second-tier priority. One day. College, marriage, grad school. It’s still there… I’ll get to it one day. Kids, startup, move to another country, move back. One day. One day I’ll do it.

“It is still there. Hurricane Helene ripped apart the mountains themselves, but thanks to an extraordinary effort by trail crews, the AT remains. I hope it always will.

“But I will not. I have a window this year, after I’ve made it far enough in my career to take the time off, before the kids have their own big summer obligations, and while I’m still young enough to not only see the whole trail but to see what I’m capable of on it. All my experience, knowledge, and fitness from the last decade in this sport – they’ve all built towards it. This is my running dissertation.”

Three Weeks on the Trail

Now 22 days into his challenge, Kelly spoke on his social media that he was around 1,226 miles deep, opting for a shorter day of running to catch up on (a well-deserved) sleep. The tracker shows he is currently ahead of the record as he heads north through Philadelphia into New York. 

Current Record

Tara Dower is the current record holder, covering 2,197.4 miles in 40 days, 18 hours and five minutes, finishing late on Saturday 21 September 2024 to take 13 hours and 32 minutes off the previous fastest known time, set by another Barkley Marathons finisher in Karel Sabbe in 2018. 

Kelly described the feat as “Possibly the most impressive FKT ever.” 

Other records set on the Appalaichan trail include Karl Meltzer (2017), Joe ‘Stringbean’ McConaughy (2017) and Jennifer Pharr Davis (2011). Locals of the trail will know of hiking pioneer Grandma Gatewood (Emma Rowena Gatewood) who became not only the first woman to complete the trail alone but the first person to walk it twice and three times.