Fastest Known Times (FKTs) for hills and trails near Fort Collins, CO

    In the spirit of friendly competition, and because it's interesting, I'm compiling a list of Fastest Known Times (FKTs) for trail runs in the Fort Collins area. Hopefully, this will encourage more Fort Collins runners to get out and enjoy running hills.

    What is a Fastest Known Time (FKT)?  In the context of this page, it is simply the fastest time clocked by a runner on a particular (often informal) set course. The reason I do not call these times 'records' is because I do not pretend to be all-knowledgeable about whether someone has ever run the course faster in the past. Hopefully, if they have, they will report it to me so I can list their time. So, by definition, 'fastest known time' means the fastest time that has been reported to me.  Of course, full honesty in reporting times is vital, otherwise they won't mean anything.  

    If you have a time to report, please send it to me. 

Fort Collins FKT News for 2009

        06/05/09    A bevy of runners smashed the previous ascent FKT for Towers Road this morning (the previous FKT of 0:34:41 had been broken by Dan Turk on 04/30/09). The time to beat is now 0:30:47, set by Eric Bergman. Eric was ascending at an average rate of 3508 ft/hr! A little over a minute behind Eric was Nicholas Clark, with 0:31:56. Francis Antonelli ran 0:33:04, and Dan Turk was next with 0:33:44. Pete Stevensen hit the top in 0:34:31. All five of these runners were faster than the previous FKT! Dennis Vanderheiden ran a respectable 0:40:07. A time trial report and some pictures are available on Nicholas's blog.

       04/30/09    Today, Dan Turk set the bar a little higher for the Towers Road ascent FKT. The new time to beat is 0:34:41 (Dan held the previous FKT of 0:34:52, set back on 03/08/08). 

       01/17/09    Today Francis Antonelli smashed the FKTs for the Blue Sky Double and the Northbound. He ran from Devil's Backbone to Soderberg and then back in a total time of 2:51:05, breaking the previous time of 3:00:05 set by Jonathan Vigh on 10/07/07. Francis' first leg lowered the northbound FKT to 1:24:26 (the previous time of 1:32:31 was set by Jonathan Vigh on 10/07/07 on his return leg of the double). On the return trip, Francis ran the southbound leg in 1:26:45 - this did not better the FKT of 1:24:10 set by Jonathan Vigh on 10/07/07 (his first leg of the double).  

       01/10/09    Today Nicholas Clark broke the ascent FKT for Round/Sheep Mountain with a time of 0:58:23. The previous time of 0:58:37 had been set by Matt Bedoukian on 08/18/05. He wrote up a report on his blog.    

Click here to see the chronological progression of FKTs from previous years

• Fort Collins Loop or Point-to-Point Runs

  Route	FKT holder	Time	Date	Distance	Vertical Gain	Notes	Full Results
  Devil's Backbone Loop	Todd Rivas Suzette Vandivier	0:53:26 1:00:27	05/22/05 03/19/07	6.2 miles	1070 ft	During a Fort Collins Trail Runners run  Source: personal communication, Suzette Vandivier	Full Results
  Coyote Ridge Loop	Steve Saleeby	0:48:12	09/27/76	7.0 miles	1230 ft	During a Fort Collins Trail Runners run	Full Results
  Horsetooth Mountain Trail Race Route	??	0:50:02	??/??/??	~7.3 miles	1850 ft	Course record holder (set during race), course may have been shorter than current race course.
  Park-to-Park Trail Race Route	Jonathan Vigh and Todd Rivas	1:20:56	09/18/05	~8.3 miles	2000 ft	Ran the race route backwards (counter clockwise). I'm sure there were faster times in the race though . . .
  Mill Creek Short Loop	Jonathan Vigh	1:11:51	07/06/08	8.92 miles	1900 ft	Old FKT of 1:15:56 was set by Jonathan Vigh  on 09/09/07 during a Fort Collins Trail Runners run.
  Mill Creek Long Loop	Jonathan Vigh	1:47:48	07/25/06	11.4 miles	2760 ft	I'm posting my time as a straw man time . . .
  Redstone Canyon				13.0 miles	1150 ft	Out and back, starting from the canyon entrance and turning around at the private road gate at 6.5 miles
  Blue Sky Trail (N -> S)	Jonathan Vigh	1:24:10	10/07/07	10.4 miles		Soderberg Trailhead to Devil's Backbone Trailhead	Full Results
  Blue Sky Trail (S -> N)	Francis Antonelli	1:24:20	01/17/09	10.4 miles		Devil's Backbone Trailhead to Soderberg Trailhead	Full Results
  Blue Sky Trail Double	Francis Antonelli	2:51:05	01/17/09	20.8 miles	2700 ft	Ran north from Devil's backbone to Soderberg and back	Full Results
  Blue Sky Marathon	Johannes Rudolph and Lindsay Habermann	3:23:46 4:30:09	10/05/08	26.2 miles	~4000 ft	Course record for inaugural race!	Full Results
  Blue Sky Half Marathon	Jonathan Vigh Susan Nuzum	1:31:30 1:43:19	10/05/08	13.1 miles	970 ft	Course record for inaugural race!	Full Results

   

• Fort Collins Area Peaks, Roundtrip

  Peak, route	FKT holder	Time	Date	Distance	Vertical Gain	Notes	Full Results
  Arthurs Rock, via Arthurs Rock Trail	Mike Smith	0:33:31	07/06/06	~3.4 miles	1140 ft	Source: personal communication, Mike Smith	Full Results
  Horsetooth Rock, South Summit	Jonathan Vigh	0:43:36	10/30/07	~5.13 miles	1495 ft	During a Fort Collins Trail Runners time trial	Full Results
  Horsetooth Rock, North Summit	Matt Bedoukian	0:44:37	09/03/05	~5.2 miles	1495 ft	Source: personal communication, Matt Bedoukian	Full Results
  Greyrock Mountain	Todd Rivas	1:15:??	??/??/02	~6.6 miles	2180 ft	Source: personal communication, Todd Rivas	Full Results
  Towers Road	Jonathan Vigh	0:54:37	06/27/08	~6.8 miles	1800 ft	Old time of 1:02:09 was set on 10/08/06	Full Results
  Arthurs Rock, via Timber Trail	Phil Klotzbach	1:23:24	06/15/04	~7.0 miles	1700 ft	Source: e-mail from Phil Klotzbach	Full Results
  Round/Sheep Mountain	Jonathan Vigh	1:45:20	06/30/05	~9.2 miles	3100 ft	During a Fort Collins Trail Runners time trial	Full Results

             

• Fort Collins Area Peaks, Ascent only

  Peak, route	FKT holder	Time	Date	Distance	Vertical Gain	Notes	Full Results
  Arthurs Rock, via Arthurs Rock Trail	Mike Smith	0:20:04	07/06/06	~1.7 miles	+1140 ft	Source: personal communication, Mike Smith	Full Results
  Horsetooth Rock, South Summit	Matt Bedoukian	0:27:26	09/01/05	~2.56 miles	+1495 ft	During a Fort Collins Trail Runners time trial	Full Results
  Horsetooth Rock, North Summit	Matt Bedoukian Sarah Rawley	0:27:05 0:34:56	09/03/05 10/20/04	~2.6 miles	+1495 ft	Source: personal communication, Matt Bedoukian  During a Fort Collins Trail Runners time trial	Full Results
  Greyrock	Todd Rivas	0:44:42	07/25/04	~3.3 miles	+2140 ft	Source: personal communication, Todd Rivas	Full Results
  Towers Road	Eric Bergman	0:30:47	06/05/09	~3.4 miles	+1730 ft	During a Fort Collins Trail Runners time trial	Full Results
  Arthurs Rock, via Timber Trail	Dan Turk	0:41:50	08/10/04	~3.5 miles	+1400 ft	Source: e-mail from Phil Klotzbach	Full Results
  Round/Sheep Mountain	Nicholas Clark	0:58:23	01/10/09	~4.6 miles	+2900 ft	Source: personal communication, Nicholas Clark	Full Results

   

• Fort Collins Area Peaks, Descent only

  Peak, route	FKT holder	Time	Date	Distance	Vertical Loss	Notes	Full Results
  Arthurs Rock, via Arthurs Rock Trail	Jonathan Vigh	0:12:01	07/04/06	~1.7 miles	-1140 ft	Source: personal communication, Jonathan Vigh	Full Results
  Horsetooth Rock, South Summit	Jonathan Vigh	0:15:23	10/30/07	~2.56 miles	-1500 ft	During a FortCollinsTrailRunners Time Trial	Full Results
  Horsetooth Rock, North Summit	Jonathan Vigh	0:15:36	09/26/06	~2.6 miles	-1500 ft	Source: personal communication, Jonathan Vigh	Full Results
  Greyrock	Todd Rivas	0:30:??	??/??/02	~3.3 miles	-2140 ft	Source: personal communication, Todd Rivas	Full Results
  Towers Road	Dan Turk	0:18:14	06/17/07	~3.4 miles	-1700 ft	During a Fort Collins Trail Runners run	Full Results
  Arthurs Rock, via Timber Trail	Dan Turk, Phil Klotzbach, and Jotham Matabi	0:35:39	08/10/04	~3.5 miles	-1400 ft	Source: personal communication from Phil Klotzbach	Full Results
  Round/Sheep Mountain	Jonathan Vigh	0:37:18	07/28/06	~4.6 miles	-2900 ft	During a Fort Collins Trail Runners time trial	Full Results

*** Jeff McCoy ran the south summit of Horsetooth Rock roundtrip in 0:48:23 in the summer of '81. Assuming that his time to the top was about the same as the current FKT, then his descent time would have been ~17 min.

• Boulder Area FKT's for ascents

  • S. Boulder Peak           Galen Burrell    0:45:20    06/08/04    ~3.8 miles    3000 ft    [Source: Bill Wright's South Boulder Peak Page]
  • Green Mountain          Nathan Shultz   0:34:08    ??/??/??     ~3.0 miles    2500 ft    [Source: Bill Wright's Green Mountain Page]
  • Mount Sanitas              Scott Elliot         0:14:40    ??/??/??     ~1.5 miles    1300 ft    [Source: Bill Wright's Mount Sanitas Page]

For more Boulder Trail running records (other routes, both short and long), go to Bill Wright's Boulder Trail Running Records page. 

     Some of these times comes from Bill Wright's Speed Climbing site, which has a very extensive list with separate subcategories for Boulder, Rocky Mountain NP, Indian Peaks, and some Colorado 14'ers. His site is a bit difficult to navigate and includes a lot more information on the record progression. Since many of the pages can't be linked to directly, I've collected some of the results that are most interesting to me (generally, well-defined routes up recognizable peaks local to the Fort Collins-Boulder area). If the FKT is from Bill's site, I've included a link if possible under source. The other FKT's are times that people have e-mailed to me, or from my friends in the Fort Collins Trail Runners.