David Hedges on Achieving Life-Long Goal of Nolan’s 14 FKT, At Age 25 -#209

While the trail running world fixated on the Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run in southwestern Colorado, David Hedges put down a performance for the ages a few hundred miles to the northwest in Colorado’s Sawatch Range.

At only age 25, David completed the largely off-trail open route across the 14 14,000-foot peaks in 39 hours, six minutes, and 40 seconds. It’s the fastest time ever recorded on this strenuous 100-ish mile route with about 40,000 feet of climbing.

David joins host Heather Anderson on the FKT Podcast to break down his prodigious effort. Discover how a kid growing up in Chicago grew fixated on mountain running and the Nolan’s 14 line specifically. Learn about his unconveniontal training regimine, how he assembled a crew at the last minute, and the pivotal experience on the route in 2018 that put Nolan’s on his horizon. 

David chose to do Nolan’s in a supported style largely because Joey Campanelli’s unsupported FKT of 41 hours and 33 seconds is mindblowingly impressive and daunting. While Joey’s time stands as the unsupported FKT, David officially bested Alex Nichols’ 2018 supported FKT of 46:41:00.

Check out David’s full Nolan’s recap on fastestknowntime.com. And follow along with his adventures on Instagram. 

Thank you so much, Merrell, for supporting the show and fastestknowntime.com! If you’re looking for a new shoe in which to test yourself on the trails, check out the MTL Skyfire 2, the ultra-lightweight, award-winning trail shoe from our friends at Merrell Test Lab. See what all the buzz is about at www.merrell.com.