FKT ATTEMPT BY REDFERN

Contributed by Stephen Redfern, AURA member

‘Blue Mountains Creek To Peak’ FKT run attempt, June 5-6, 2020

The previous FKT (fastest known time) was held by John Newman who ran the route in 27:45:05 on May 18, 2020 (supported). The Creek to Peak is a 130km loop with about 5000m of vertical gain; Stephen Redfern started in Blaxland and ran the course in an anti-clockwise direction, the same as Newman.

The loop was 130km long and had approximately 5000m of elevation.

I ran the FKT attempt solo and un-supported and managed to complete in 18h:42m:38s, which was just over 9hrs quicker than the previous record set. 

I decided to start and finish at Blaxland, in the lower Mountains and run in a counter clockwise direction, choosing to start at 8pm in the evening (Friday, June 5) with the hope of finishing sometime during the next day, having a goal time of 18hrs.

After seeing the new 130km loop circumnavigating the Blue Mountains in NSW, that was created by a local runner John Newman, who was able to complete the gruelling loop as a supported run in 27h:45m, I was excited to give it a go.

The run starts and finishes in a massive loop of the Blue Mountains with a mix of amazing single technical tracks, fire trails and a small amount of roads to allow the joining of all the tracks to make up the loop.

With it being able to run in either direction and started at any point being a loop run, I wanted to be true to the original attempt, so I decided to start from the same place and run it in the same direction.

The first 65km of the run is mostly on technical single trails taking you from the lower mountains up to the highest point in Katoomba, which I chose to start and run at night to make my un-supported attempt more of a challenge.

Upon reaching the highest point in the loop at Katoomba on daybreak with wonderful views over the Kedumba Valley, the rest of the run back to the finish, was on a mix of fire trails including the Sublime Point, Inga & Oaks Fire Trail, bringing you back to the lower mountains and finishing with a last technical track down to Duckhole pool on Glenbrook Creek and back to the selected start finish point in Blaxland.

With my attempt being done as a fully un-supported run, I had to carry all my gear and nutrition for the complete run and was only allowed to pick up water from public taps or waterways along the way which I did at three locations, being at Tom Hunter Park in Springwood, Leura Cascades and lastly at the Oaks Trailhead.

An amazing and challenging loop that now exists highlighting the best of what the Blue Mountains has to offer, this is definitely one challenge that was worth having a go.