When Jamieson Hatt set the inaugural unsupported Bruce Path FKT (quickest recognized time) in 2022, he knew his benchmark wouldn’t stand ceaselessly. His mark of 14 days, 5 hours and 20 minutes on the gruelling 900-kilometre trek from Tobermory to Queenston, Ont., was lowered a 12 months and a half later by Canadian ultrarunner Cody Taylor, who shaved off 5 hours.
Hatt was proud to see the report progress, however the concept of getting it again by no means totally left his thoughts. “There was part of me that knew I may do rather a lot higher,” Hatt advised Canadian Working. “My purpose [in 2022] was simply to complete.”
He deliberate a second try for early Could 2025, however two days earlier than his begin date, his father, Ken, died abruptly. “It got here as a shock—I believed my dad was in excellent well being,” says Hatt. “I knew I needed to put the Bruce Path away for some time and help my household.”
Within the weeks that adopted, the 45-year-old stepped away from the game. However with time, he realized what his dad would have needed. “There’s nothing he would’ve needed greater than for me to be on the market coaching and doing the factor I like to do,” Hatt displays. “A number of weeks later, after finishing a yard extremely, I knew what I needed to do.”
The second try
With Hatt’s window narrowing, he selected to tackle the Bruce once more in late August. “There are execs and cons to doing it this late,” he says. “The warmth and vegetation are robust: a lot of tall grass, morning dew, every little thing continuously soaked. However the upside was that I may pack mild. My base weight was simply 6.25 lb. (2.8 kg), and I didn’t want a lot cold-weather gear.”
Once you’re operating and mountain climbing for greater than every week, wrestle is inevitable. On the second day, it drizzled nonstop, leaving Hatt’s ft soaked. “By the third night time, I questioned if I’d even be capable to proceed. I known as my spouse, and she or he advised me, ‘You by no means decide at night time.’”
The subsequent morning, he pushed ahead, leaning on his easy mantra: maintain displaying up. “That was the turning level,” he says.
Reaching the report
On Aug. 30, Hatt reached the southern terminus in Queenston, Ont., in 12 days, 11 hours and 38 minutes, smashing Taylor’s unsupported Bruce Path FKT by a day and a half.
“It’s cool to get a superb time, however what I’m most happy with is overcoming adversity and making it by means of,” Hatt says. Whereas he imagined the feelings of ending, he mentioned he by no means let himself get too far forward of himself. With greater than 60 FKTs now to his identify, he is aware of these challenges might be 50/50 at greatest—one clip of a rock, or root, and it may very well be over.
The unsupported type is taken into account the purest (and infrequently most revered) type of FKTing: athletes should carry every little thing from the beginning, with no resupply or exterior support, relying solely on pure water sources.
Hatt says he’s not sure what problem lies forward, or whether or not he’ll sort out the Bruce Path once more, however the factor that’s stored him operating for the previous 27 years is the drive to take one step additional.
