The memes poking enjoyable at runners asking family and friends to crew for them for ultramarathons are infinite. Whereas somebody giving up a weekend to crew a runner is one factor, giving up weeks, and even months, to crew for a long-trail supported quickest recognized time (FKT) try is a complete completely different beast. However with out these crews, who deal with all the logistics — from assembly up with a runner a number of occasions a day, making ready meals, pacing, doing laundry, and numerous different duties massive and small — it’s truthful to imagine the numerous FKTs could be considerably slower.
These crews, for the unimaginable quantity of labor that goes into supporting these efforts, are all the time gratefully thanked by their runner however hardly ever acknowledged by the broader world. Who’re these individuals, and the way do they operate like a well-oiled F1 pit crew, as somebody described Karel Sabbe’s staff on his FKT on the Te Araroa (TA) in New Zealand earlier this yr?
Tara Dower, who in 2024 broke Sabbe’s general supported FKT on the two,197-mile Appalachian Path, says it effectively throughout an interview with iRunFar after her effort: “I might name it a staff effort throughout. With out [my crew], none of this might have been attainable. I can see myself in a 100-mile race … I might in all probability survive off the help station meals and perhaps simply grit it to the top … However, for any such lengthy, supported file, it’s only attainable to do it with a crew, particularly the general file.”
Tara Dower (proper) and her crew chief, Rascal, having fun with miles collectively on the Appalachian Path. Photograph courtesy of Tara Dower.
These skilled with multi-day supported efforts perceive the significance of well-functioning crews, however their efforts are largely invisible to the surface world. There’s minimal glory in crewing, even when a runner does effectively and achieves their objectives. But, when speaking to the crews of three of the most important FKT efforts up to now 12 months — Kyle Curtin on the 490-mile Colorado Path (CT), Sabbe on the 1,898-mile TA, and Dower on the AT — one will get a way of their unfaltering dedication to getting their runner from begin to end as shortly as attainable in addition to their willingness to place all the things else of their lives on maintain to assist their individual obtain their objectives.
The Three Crews
The runners of those three FKT efforts as completely different as they arrive — Sabbe, a Belgian dentist, is finest recognized for ending the 2023 Barkley Marathons and setting FKTs on the AT in 2018 and the Pacific Crest Path in 2023; Curtin is a Colorado-based runner who completed ninth on the 2021 Western States 100; and Dower, who not too long ago moved to Colorado, and is understood for her 2023 supported FKT on the Colorado Path and ending fourth within the 2024 Hardrock 100. Their crews had been equally various in measurement, expertise, and the way they execute their roles.
Sabbe’s crew for the TA consisted of the identical core crew that he used when he set his FKT on the PCT in 2023: his spouse Emma Vandoorne, Emma’s cousins Marie and Anna Vandoorne, long-time pal and journey accomplice Henri Deveene, and important pacer Kobe Blondeel. Deveene has the extra enjoyable of trying just like Karel, and says, “When the hair and the beards match, we generally look alike, and so I’ve this example the place individuals mistake me for him.”
Karel Sabbe’s Te Araroa crew functioned like a well-oiled machine. Photograph courtesy of Karel Sabbe.
Dower’s crew chief was Megan Wilmarth, maybe higher recognized by her path title, Rascal. In an interview with iRunFar after Dower’s FKT, Rascal explains how they grew to become buddies whereas each mountain climbing the AT in 2019, immediately clicking as two girls eager to do large miles. Rascal says of the top of the journey, “We summited [Mount] Katahdin collectively. It was a very particular second. We’ve been finest buddies ever since.”
Rascal would go on to crew Dower on her FKT on the 1,175-mile Mountains to Sea Path in North Carolina in 2020 and fell naturally into the function, saying, “I simply actually loved pushing her and pushing myself and determining the logistics on the fly.” She goes on to say, “We made a whole lot of reminiscences and realized quite a bit about ourselves and one another, so it was value it.”
Curtin put collectively a small crew largely based mostly out of his hometown of Durango, Colorado, together with his accomplice, Sarah Ostaszewski, and Michael Robertson, a neighborhood runner with thru-hiking expertise who’d additionally paced Dower on her FKT on the CT. Dower and Robyn Lesh, one other extremely skilled ultrarunner, cut up the third crew place. Ostaszewski, who had by no means crewed a long-trail FKT, says the group measurement was intentional, “[Curtin] did such an excellent job of getting such a small, dialed crew. He knew who he wished on the market.” She goes on to clarify the effectivity, “Every individual has a process, as in comparison with too many individuals making an attempt to do the identical factor.”
Kyle Curtin had a small however environment friendly crew for his Colorado Path FKT. Photograph: Kyle Curtin
Pre-Planning Efforts
One of many largest logistical hurdles of FKT efforts is planning crew stops. In contrast to organized races the place crews solely have the chance to see their runner at set assist stations — and infrequently they’ll get driving instructions to the help stations from the occasion web site in addition to parking attendants telling them the place to go — it’s as much as a runner and their crew to find out the very best intervals and places to fulfill up, making an allowance for path entry, highway high quality, drive occasions, the necessity for assist, and the place the runner will sleep every night time.
All three teams took completely different approaches to pre-planning. Ostaszewski says that Curtin put collectively a “big spreadsheet” of all of the potential crew spots and the logistics wanted to get him from Denver to Durango. Curtin, Ostaszewski, and Robertson then had a single assembly earlier than the try and go over the main points. Each Curtin and Robertson had been intimately conversant in the path, whereas Ostaszewski, who knew far much less of the path, thru-hiking, and long-trail FKT makes an attempt on the whole, says of the assembly, “They had been all, ‘This is smart. Sounds nice.’ I’m like, ‘Wait a minute. I’ve obtained to enter depth right here with these Google Maps and routes and ensure I do know the place I’m driving!”
For Sabbe on the TA, Deveene helped with the pre-planning of the logistics, one thing he was skilled with after taking over the identical function throughout the PCT. Deveene says, “There’s a whole lot of time that goes into the preparation when it comes to we speak about it for a very long time, however in effort you set into it, it’s not too unhealthy. We’ve all carried out this, so all of us have the grasp of it.” He continues, “It’s extra for Karel and me simply to take a look on the path and what may very well be particular, what may very well be areas that we have to deal with, methods to attain him, and stuff like that. Nevertheless it’s not too intense.”
The distinctive yellow van that was Karel Sabbe’s Te Araroa crew automobile. Photograph courtesy of Karel Sabbe.
Dower had Iceman [David Martin] on her crew to assist with logistics on the AT. Rascal says, “[He’s] an FKT god. He’s been with Kristian Morgan [southbound supported AT FKT holder], he’s been with Karel Sabbe, he is aware of these roads [around the AT] like the within of his eyelids.”
Flexibility and Planning on the Fly
No matter how a lot or how little the teams deliberate their logistics forward of the FKT try, the idiom of “The perfect-laid plans of mice and males usually go awry” holds true, and it was as much as the crews to take care of always altering circumstances. Climate, path situations, drained runners, and infinite different variables factored into how far the group might get every day. The crews hoped to operate in a method that they may decrease the psychological vitality that their runner needed to put into planning each day logistics. The runner’s job was merely to run.
Deveene says that whereas on the PCT, he might plan Sabbe’s schedule two to a few days prematurely, however the TA was much more unpredictable. “There have been a whole lot of surprising issues that occurred. Normally we make a plan for the following day, after which we comply with the plan for the day, after which perhaps some stuff occurs and we go a bit additional, or we do a bit much less, after which throughout the day I’ll begin making a plan for the following day.”
Henri Deveene (left) speaking via planning with Karel Sabbe at a crew cease. Photograph courtesy of Karel Sabbe.
Rascal didn’t begin making mileage plans for Dower till they had been out of the rugged and sluggish miles of Maine and New Hampshire. She says, “Mother [Debbie Komlo, Tara’s mother] and I did some math, and we had been like, ‘We’re far behind Karel’s file.’ … So it was like, ‘Okay, we have to bump up the mileage.’” Rascal calculated the variety of miles Dower wanted to do per day and added one or two to that quantity to determine how far she needed to push Dower every day. “Nickels and dimes,” she known as the additional miles that finally added up.
Curtin’s effort, considerably shorter than the opposite two, appeared to play out as one steady effort fairly than one damaged up into discrete days. Whereas he’d cease and sleep for a few hours each 24-hour interval, Ostaszewski says the each day planning on the fly consisted of small conferences the place “the crew sort of made just a little little bit of a plan to get some extra groceries earlier than the following crew entry level.” That they had two automobiles, three individuals, and sufficient flexibility that one in every of them might run to get last-minute provides whereas the others headed as much as the crew spot.
Robyn Lesh and Sarah Ostaszewski await Kyle Curtin on a mid-trail crew-stop. Photograph courtesy of Kyle Curtin.
Routines, Effectivity, and Inter-Crew Dynamics
If racing ultras is finally a sport of minutes and seconds, long-trail efforts enlarge the significance of saving even the smallest quantities of time each time attainable. A number of minutes saved at crew stops add as much as hours over the complete period. Take the stress of making an attempt to operate as effectively as attainable, add to it a number of sleep-deprived individuals current in shut quarters, and in Sabbe’s case, the necessity to operate in another country — even whether it is New Zealand — one might think about disagreements simmering and tempers flaring below the strain.
Whereas all of the crews say that it took just a few days to gel and get into their routines, plainly their dedication to their runner — and fairly presumably the persona sort that will result in somebody being a part of a long-trail crew — finally led to fairly peaceable existence inside the crews.
Sabbe’s crew appeared particularly calm and centered. Deveene is fast to level out, “I believe since you spend 30 or 40 days collectively in a automobile, and also you don’t sleep very a lot, there’s positively occasions the place somebody is perhaps irritated. I imply, you’ve got it at house as effectively. It’s nothing to placed on TV.” The truth is, he says that their digital camera crew throughout the PCT effort appeared disillusioned on the ease with which all of them obtained alongside. “They need some sort of actuality TV with numerous drama. You’re not going to get it with us.”
Karel Sabbe’s crew hauling in in a single day gear for a bit of the path inaccessible by van. Regardless of the challenges, the staff labored collectively peacefully all through. Photograph courtesy of Karel Sabbe.
Functioning as a well-practiced staff, the crew merely obtained on with the job at hand. Deveene would get up 20 minutes earlier than Sabbe at 3:40 a.m. and put together breakfast in order that Sabbe might stand up, put his sneakers on, and begin shifting at 4 a.m. sharp, consuming whereas strolling. The 4 a.m. departure each morning made for one much less determination every day, and Deveene would stroll these early miles with Sabbe. He says of at time collectively, “We speak a bit about potential issues that is perhaps fascinating all through the day, sections that we should be cautious of, some sections which may not be as pleasing, and by the point he finishes his breakfast, I have to stroll again 20 minutes to return to camp.” By then, the remainder of the crew is up and able to begin the day.
Dower’s crew took some time to search out their groove. Rascal says, “The primary week, even into the second week … I wished to give up each single day. I used to be crying my eyes out every single day.” She continues, “There was this enormous studying curve at first. The sleep deprivation was the toughest factor to adapt to. It was so intense in weeks one and two that I might barely operate.”
Tara (prime proper), Rascal (backside left), and the remainder of the crew. Photograph courtesy of Rascal.
Curtin, together with his comparatively small crew and shorter effort, used quick crew stops to claw again worthwhile minutes and seconds from the jaws of inefficiency. At every crew cease, he’d choose up a brand new pacer, so his crew largely targeted on ensuring that pacer was geared up with all the things they wanted to be able to go as quickly as Curtin arrived. The crew stops had been quick: Somebody would deal with Curtin’s toes, he’d eat one thing, and he’d depart. If Curtin wanted to sleep, Robertson’s van — a minivan with burly tires specifically outfitted for the trouble with a fridge, freezer, and air fryer — was arrange with a mattress. The three-person crew made positive all the things occurred as shortly as attainable. Ostaszewski says, “I believe we sort of obtained into the rhythm fairly simply. I really feel like there wasn’t a ton of dialogue forward of time about what every individual does.”
Pacer Energy
All three runners relied closely on their pacers to hold their gear for them, permitting them to maneuver as unencumbered and carrying as little weight as attainable.
Sabbe’s staff is fast to level out that the bodily energy of their crew allowed them to be versatile with their planning and each day mileage. Marie Vandoorne says, “It’s an enormous asset we’ve as a staff — the bodily energy Henri has, and likewise Kobe.” For Sabbe, his important pacer, Kobe Blondeel was bitten by free canine whereas on the North Island, leading to a visit to the hospital and a damaged elbow, sidelining him from his important job of accompanying Sabbe for as many kilometers of the path as attainable. Needing to fill in, Deveene stepped as much as the duty. He says, “I did near 900 kilometers of working and mountain climbing mixed, round 25 to 30 % of the path.” The others did large pushes as effectively, and Marie Vandoorne recounts, “We did a hike of 15 kilometers to achieve [Sabbe] for supply of lunch and a contemporary backpack.”
Curtin lined up an all-star crew of pacers, together with Courtney Dauwalter, Jeff Browning, and Maggie Guterl. Ostaszewski says that Curtin was capable of scale back the quantity his crew needed to drive on tough roads by counting on robust pacers, saying, “He lower out some entry factors as a result of he mentioned his pacers might do extra work and longer sections, and the crew can skip a number of the very distant, rugged highway spots.”
Watching Mates Endure
Lengthy-trail FKT makes an attempt are sometimes completed with an enormous closing push the place a runner forgoes sleep on the ultimate night time. For crews, it is a notably intense time as there’s no room for error, their runner is on, or effectively previous, the brink of exhaustion, and everyone seems to be drained. It’s additionally a time when crews have to observe their runner dig actually deep and undergo, and it’s by no means enjoyable watching a pal or cherished one in that situation.
Dower’s closing push was slightly below 100 miles. Rascal explains that 59 miles into it, issues began to unravel. She says of the crew cease with 41 miles to go, “I had carried out these final 5 miles [with Dower], and he or she was a multitude. She was falling left and proper. She was bawling her eyes out.” However Rascal needed to put her feelings apart and inform her finest pal that she was solely allowed a 20-minute nap earlier than she needed to stand up and go till the top.
Tara Dower, after setting an general supported quickest recognized time on the Appalachian Path. Photograph: Pete Schreiner/@schreinertrailphotography
Within the closing 100 miles of the CT, Curtin began coping with tendinitis points in his ankle. He’d requested Ostaszewski and his pal Devon Olson to tempo the ultimate 18 miles of the path outdoors of Durango. Ostaszewski says the toughest a part of the entire expertise for her was watching Curtin undergo these closing miles. She says, “It’s darkish, and it’s raining, and Kyle’s ankle was simply actually getting irritated. It appeared like he was in simply a lot ache making an attempt to make it to the end.” She goes on to say, “As a pacer, we’re giving him the water and the meals and all the things that he wants, however we will’t do something in regards to the ankle.” In ache, Curtin continued on and was greeted on the end by his native run membership. Ostaszewski says, “I used to be so blissful for him to have such an enormous welcome again to Durango.”
Kyle Curtin’s crew finishing up a foot test. Photograph courtesy of Kyle Curtin.
Almost everybody who noticed or interacted with Sabbe on the TA described him as upbeat and blissful, however when his crew livestreamed his closing miles to Slope Level, it was apparent he was bodily struggling. When requested how somebody offers with seeing their pal in a lot ache, Deveene says that Sabbe’s spouse, who has been a constant a part of his crew throughout a number of FKT runs, has the very best reply. He states she all the time says, “It’s his personal alternative. If he’s too drained or in an excessive amount of ache, he can all the time cease.”
A Group Effort
It’s simple to grasp the satisfaction of finishing a long-trail FKT for a runner. It’s a concrete, private achievement. However for the crew, how would one clarify to a lay individual that you simply’ve spent greater than a month chasing a runner down a path, assembly up with them three, 4, six occasions a day to be sure that they’re fed, sheltered, and supported to the purpose that the one factor they’ve to fret about is placing one foot in entrance of the opposite?
The resounding theme in these three crews was being a part of a staff and dealing towards a better objective collectively. When requested what drives him to assist Sabbe, Deveene says, “There’s one objective, and that’s to make it as snug as attainable for Karel to go from the begin to the end, and all the things pertains to that. Every little thing we do is due to that one mission. We’re all emotionally invested in it as a result of he’s a pal.” Anna Vandoorne echos the sentiment, “It’s all people coming collectively for the primary objective and dealing collectively. It’s the very best staff I’ve ever been part of.”
One can sense the satisfaction crew members have of their runner and the satisfaction they really feel in a job effectively carried out. Ostaszewski says, “I used to be simply proud to see that all of it got here collectively. We had been simply blissful to see him get it carried out.”
Sarah Ostaszewski (second from the left) with Kyle Curtin (heart) and the remainder of his crew after reaching Durango and setting a brand new general supported FKT on the Colorado Path. Photograph courtesy of Maggie Guterl.
Name for Feedback
- Have you ever skilled crewing for an FKT or lengthy race?
- Have you ever ever had a crew that you simply felt notably indebted to?
