McConaughy Sets New Fastest Known Time on 220-Mile John Muir Trail

The Seattle ultrarunner covered the Sierra route in 2 days, 16 hours and 17 seconds, knocking roughly two and a half hours off a record that had stood since 2017.

Seattle running coach Joe "Stringbean" McConaughy, 33, is the new record holder on the John Muir Trail. He reached the Happy Isles trailhead in Yosemite Valley at sunrise Wednesday after covering the 220-mile route in 2 days, 16 hours and 17 seconds.

The previous overall mark had gone unbroken for nine years, set by French runner François D'Haene. McConaughy bettered it by about two and a half hours. He began Sunday afternoon at Whitney Portal near Lone Pine, equipped with trekking poles and a hydration vest, and first climbed to the summit of Mount Whitney before following the High Sierra crest north to the finish behind Half Dome.

Fastest known time attempts on premier American trails are a major goal for competitive endurance runners, who typically try to finish the John Muir Trail in under three days while sleeping little. Backpackers, by contrast, commonly take two to three weeks on the route.

The record capped a multi-year pursuit. McConaughy set fastest known times on the Pacific Crest Trail in 2014 and the Appalachian Trail in 2017. He ran the John Muir Trail in 3 days and 1 hour in August 2022, only for another ultrarunner to beat that time by 14 minutes days later, and a 2024 attempt was hampered by fatigue, sleep deprivation and disorientation.

For this run, a crew of ultrarunners paced and supported him, including Caroline Himbert, who set her own John Muir Trail speed record last month. "It was so fun," McConaughy said by text after finishing. "It was one of those days where everything went well."