Joe "Stringbean" McConaughy tagged the trailhead marker at Happy Isles at sunrise Wednesday and stopped the clock at 2 days, 16 hours and 17 seconds. The Seattle ultrarunner had just covered the 220-mile John Muir Trail from Whitney Portal to Yosemite Valley faster than any human ever has, slicing more than three hours from a record that had held for nine years.
Three hours peeled from a nine-year fortress
The mark belonged to French ultra legend François D'Haene, who ran the route in 2 days, 19 hours and 26 minutes in October 2017. D'Haene's run was itself a landmark — the first to dip under three days and a twelve-hour improvement on the previous best. McConaughy, a 33-year-old running coach, set out Sunday afternoon and simply redrew the ceiling.
A record lost, a return two years in the making
McConaughy knows how brief a reign can feel. In August 2022 he set an unsupported JMT mark of 3 days and 1 hour. Another runner stripped it away 14 minutes faster days later. He told reporters that made him eager to "build on that, which is exciting and fun and motivating." A 2024 attempt unravelled when fatigue and sleep deprivation left him disoriented. This September he returned for what he called "round 3 on a JMT FKT."
He marshalled a crew of pacers who met him at remote Sierra passes. "He's going amazing," she reported from the trail. "We're running a lot of downhill and flats still, which is impressive." Another rival, Antoine Clément, started his own supported bid a day ahead of McConaughy but did not finish.
The route begins with a brutal grind up Mount Whitney's summit and winds north along the High Sierra crest for over 200 miles before finishing in Yosemite Valley. Backpackers take two to three weeks. Ultrarunners push through in under three days, often forgoing sleep. McConaughy jogged toward the finish in the dark in good spirits, calling out, "We're rolling!"
"It was so fun," he texted upon finishing. "It was one of those days where everything went well."
The JMT leaderboard is, as FKT co-founder Buzz Burrell has noted, a "who's who in the ultra world." McConaughy already owned fastest known times on the Pacific Crest Trail, the Appalachian Trail and the Long Trail. This one, with its nine-year-old barrier and the sting of 2022 behind him, lands differently.
