A trail runner has set a new unsupported fastest known time (FKT) on Vermont’s Long Trail, smashing the previous record by nearly a full day.
Tori “Chewy” Constantine recently completed the 272-mile Long Trail in 5 days, 19 hours, and 29 minutes. The previous unsupported record for a female runner was 6 days, 11 hours, and 33 minutes set by Mikaela Osler in 2021.
According to her Instagram account, Constantine set out on the trail at around 2 a.m. on July 31. She headed south on the trail from the Canadian border and completed the trail on August 5.
The Long Trail features 68,000 feet of vertical gain over its length running from the Canadian border to Massachusetts. It traverses most of the largest mountains in Vermont, directly summiting or coming within 0.2 miles of summiting all five of Vermont’s 4,000-foot peaks.
Constantine said her introduction to thru-hiking was on the Long Trail in 2020. Since then, she has thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2021 and the Pacific Coast Trail in 2022.
She described her record-breaking effort as hard, and according to her photos, she dealt with many obstacles, including a horrifying blister.
This is the second FKT of a well-known New England challenge set this summer. Last month, Andrew Drummond set a new unsupported FKT of the White Mountains Diretessma, completing the challenge of connecting all of New Hampshire’s 48 high peaks in under five days.
