John Harrison Pockler has set the fastest known time (FKT) for the Bruce Trail. According to Pockler’s website and Instagram story (@jpultra), Pockler finished the entire 890km of the Bruce Trail on Sunday September 20th at around 11:00pm. Pockler completed his FKT in an amazing 9d 17h 2m, taking 4 hours off the previous record. He consistently put in 16 to 17 hour days on the trail, getting by on little sleep. Pockler was crewed during the entire FKT by two brothers, Alexander and Connor Emeny who he met in May, earlier this year.
According to Canadian Trail Running Magazine, Pockler moved to Canada from Germany 4 years ago. He has posted some impressive results since his move including winning the Niagara Ultra 50km and placing 4th at the Canadian Death Race – both races in 2017.
My friend and I paced with Pockler for just under an hour when he ran through Georgetown on Friday, September 18th (video below). I was impressed with how well Pockler was moving and his positive attitude. He was running just under 10 minutes / km after 8 full days of running on very challenging terrain. Pockler mentioned that he decided to take on the FKT only 11 weeks ago. He told us that a lot of the runners who came to pace Pockler said that they’ve always wanted to run the whole length of the Bruce Trail. Pockler explained that there’s never an ideal time for an adventure like this and that it was important for him to go for it.
John Pockler has taken the speed record of the Bruce Trail from Adam Burnett, an impressive endurance athlete. I’ve given a short history of the previous FKT holders below as well as the current female record holder, Chantal Demers. There’s also the self-supported FKT of 16d 21h 21m, held by Charlotte Vasarhelyi since 2016.
Men’s Fastest Known Times (Supported):
Time: 9d 21h 14m
Start date: September 1, 2017
Adam Burnett lowered the previous FKT by over 13 hours. He completed the FKT at 2:44am on September 11th, 2017. Adam Burnett’s record stood for 3 years, withstanding an attempt on the FKT by accomplished runner Jamieson Hatt in 2018. I’ve had a chance to discuss the FKT with Adam and he has nothing but good things to say about his experience. Adam shared that he was hampered by rainy days, early in the FKT attempt which gave him blisters. The blisters changed his running gate which eventually led to a knee injury. Adam displayed amazing grit by pushing on despite the injury. Prior to the Bruce Trail, Adam completed the notoriously difficult Badwater 135 and Leadville 100 races. He also finished on the podium, in 3rd place for the local races Haliburton 100 and Sulphur Springs 100 in 2014.
Time: 9d 21h 14m
Start date: September 7, 2014
Jim Willett lowered the previous FKT by almost 2 days. The previous FKT was held by Orangeville’s Cody Gillies, set in 2012 at 12d 7h 39m. Perhaps what’s most impressive about Willett’s accomplishment is that he is a cancer survivor, he beat colon cancer in 2010. In a 2014 article in Canadian Running, Willett credits the tenacity that he learned from his cancer experience for helping him get the FKT.
Women’s Fastest Known Times (Supported):
Time: 12d 15h 14m
Start date: July 1, 2017
Chantal Demers (formerly Warriner) took 13 hours off the previous women’s FKT. Virginia Gingras held the previous FKT of 13d 6h 28m which she set on September 23, 2015. Demers amazingly completed the FKT in the heat of July – all of the other recent Bruce Trail FKTs were set in the cooler weather of the Fall. Demers recently set the 387km, self-supported FKT for the Ganaraska trail with a time of 5d10h30m. According to Demers’ notes on the FKT website, the Ganaraska trail is a mix of “…paved road, dirt road, rail trail, ATV trail, single track, bushwhacking and beaver dam crossings.”.
Fastest Known Time (Self Supported):
There are three different styles for FKTs: unsupported, self-supported and supported.
Unsupported means that you carry everything that you need – food and water. You can’t have a pacer and you need to get your water from natural sources or readily available sources like public taps. Once you buy water from a store, your FKT becomes self-supported.
You don’t have to carry all of your supplies with self-supported FKTs. You can leave caches of food and water along the trail. However you can’t pre-arrange for people to come and help you.
Supported means that you can accept any kind of external support during your FKT attempt. You can have a pacer and accept water and food from supporters.
Time: 16d 21h 21m
Start date: July 30, 2016
It’s very impressive that Charlotte completed this FKT sef-supported. I can’t imagine the fortitude needed to spend almost 17 days mostly alone on this challenging trail. I couldn’t find any other material on this FKT other than the posting on the FKT web site. Vasarhelyi previously held the outright Bruce Trail FKT for men and women in 2010 with a time of 13d 10h 51m.