Joedy Dalke Gets FKT on Skyline Traverse in Jasper

Albertan Joedy Dalke has got the fastest known time (FKT) on the 44-kilometre Skyline Traverse near the town of Jasper in the Canadian Rockies.

He did what many have been wondering could be done for a long time and broke the four-hour make with a time of 3:59:18. There have been rumours of it being done in under 3:45:00, but no proof.

Dalke said after, “Cold rain, bit of smoke, beat the bonk, get a real fast time. Not a race but kinda, definitely a good workout and it’s a very long run.”

I don't have anything all that intelligent to say about FKT's or the Skyline Trail, as I experienced both for the first time on Saturday. What I have gleaned from the experience is that it hurts a LOT. It's like a time trial. It's just you against you while you're on the trail. There is a time you're chasing, but a mere ghost on the trail. Hard to gage how you're really doing. So I just kept pushing, expecting my body to reject the effort and James (@dalkin8r , who finished just over the previous FKT, and ran ~19km the next day…he's fit y'all!!) to catch me in a bonk. I did get in a low, but it wasn't energy as much as heavy unresponsive legs. After the creek crossing at the second last campground, I got ~4 wasp stings..OW! A distraction from other pains as I eagerly awaited the stinging to subside. At this point I was begging the trail for the final downhill as I trudged along, trying to be efficient and quick without tripping over the technical terrain. When it finally came I tried to let gravity do its thing, and it felt like it was working better than the pace my watch displayed. That stinkin road is long! I knew I was under 4:10, but I went hard to break 4, and just snuck under. I know someone will crush my time sometime soon, but I feel better knowing they're going to hurt like I did in the process. Can't wait to see it happen. Go get it?? #attitudeoveraltitude #painface ?: @whereisjayden

A post shared by Joedy Dalke (@jdalke) on Aug 13, 2018 at 12:37pm PDT

Fellow runner Adam Campbell said after the the fast run, “This is rad! There are lots of awesome trails around the Rockies and Canada that are calling for people to throw down on and/or to look at in a different way with new linkups and connections of different trails and areas.

“There is no better training than a good hard effort and many of these are amazing objectives in themselves. Even though I am a race series owner (5 Peaks Trail Running) – I love the freedom and personal challenge that FKT attempts promote. Be safe, be smart, get creative and go hard.”

The Skyline Traverse is one of the busiest backpacking trails in the Canadian Rockies with over 25 kilometres of trail above treeline.

Most people take two to six days to hike the trail by connecting campgrounds and it’s best hiked from south to north.

This is not Skyline. But I didn't get any great photos cause it was wild out there! My whole body hurts, but I was able to dip juuust under 4hrs for the trail from Maligne Lake north. @dalkin8r was also out there grinding and took a wrong turn but ran super well, in about 4:13. Time to eat a lot of food. ? #skyline #attitudeoveraltitude #jasper #traininghurts

A post shared by Joedy Dalke (@jdalke) on Aug 11, 2018 at 6:25pm PDT