This ultrarunner just broke the speed record on the Pacific Crest Trail

On Thursday afternoon, a French ultrarunner hustling through the remote mountains of Washington State reached the Canadian border and tagged the northernmost end of the Pacific Crest Trail, completing the 2,600-mile route in record time.

Aurélien Sanchez, 35, set out June 7 from the U.S.-Mexico border with the goal of setting the so-called fastest known time on the famous wilderness trail, which weaves through mountain ranges in California, Oregon and Washington.

It’s a competitive record, having fallen three times in the past decade and been unsuccessfully attempted by ultrarunners and speed hikers on several more occasions. The record Sanchez had to beat – 46 days, 12 hours and 50 minutes – was set in 2023 by Belgian ultrarunner Karel Sabbe, who covered nearly 57 miles per day on average.

According to Sanchez’s GPS tracker, he completed the mammoth trek from Southern California to the Canadian border in
 
45 days and about 15 hours, coming in roughly one day earlier than the previous record.

Before setting out, Sanchez, who set a speed record on the John Muir Trail in 2018 and is one of the few runners to complete the notoriously difficult Barkley’s Marathon in Tennessee, told the Chronicle that the opportunity to attempt the PCT speed record was a dream come true.

“Either I’ll fail and learn my limit or I’ll succeed,” he said.

In recent Instagram posts documenting his journey, Sanchez was seen speed-hiking through the woods in shorts and a hydration vest, eyes on the ground ahead, clicking his trekking poles into the dirt while listening to French pop music. Most days he hiked for about 16 hours, slept for seven and spent an hour eating and getting body treatment, with intermittent breaks to speak with hikers he encountered on the trail, filter water and use the bathroom.

Hikers attempting the speed record have given up due to all sorts of maladies that come with hammering out the equivalent of back-to-back marathons daily, including stress fractures, renal failure and other overuse injuries.

Ultrarunner Lucille Malgouyres, Sanchez’s girlfriend and pacer, indicated on social media that the extreme nature of the feat was taking a toll on Sanchez in his final days on the trail. She noted he was dealing with “severe foot pain.”

“Aurélien is suffering,” she wrote in a recent post. “His body is exhausted.”

Most PCT thru-hikers take about six months to complete the long journey and stop along the way at trail towns to resupply and rest. The endurance athletes who chase the speed record, however, adhere to the mantra of relentless forward progress and spend most of their waking moments pushing to gain ground.

According to his tracker, Sanchez had been trailing Sabbe’s record-setting pace for much of his trek. But in the past two weeks, Sanchez ratcheted up his daily distance to more than 59 miles per day, pulling ahead of Sabbe’s pace in the final days.

The record Sanchez had been pursuing is a supported northbound thru-hike of the trail. As with record-setting supported hikes before, Sanchez was aided along the way by a small crew of friends who prepared meals, set up camp, tended to his body and sorted out the logistics of the feat.

The arbiter of speed records in the trail community is FastestKnownTime.com, and securing a record requires submitting a package of verification materials like GPS tracks and photos. Once Sanchez files for the record, it could take a week or longer for the group to certify it.

Sanchez wasn’t immediately reachable.

Just before he started his record bid, Sanchez wrote in an email to the Chronicle that he wasn’t motivated by one-upping previous record-holders as much as testing his abilities.

“I am more proud about finishing, pushing my own limits – and why not inspire others,” he wrote.

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This article originally published at This ultrarunner just broke the speed record on the Pacific Crest Trail.