Kaiha Bertollini (Disputed) AT Record 2016

Controversy, you say?

https://gearjunkie.com/kaiha-bertollini-breaks-appalachian-trail-record-2016

Her story seems inconceivable. She has no GPS tracking and is an unknown in the world of record-breaking thru-hikes. But this weekend, on the heels of Karl Meltzer, Kaiha Bertollini trekked to the top of Springer Mountain at the southern end of the Appalachian Trail in Georgia and proclaimed a world record time of 45 days, 6 hours, and 28 minutes.

Yup, I have been watching that "controversy". Various reports is she has pulled back from various electronic media when folks started having a tough time connecting the dots. Some have mentioned the name Rosie Ruiz. The references to Karl Metzler's hike which is heavily supported and sponsored hike makes things very suspicious. Anyone doing this as a self supported hike would need to take runs to town which in some cases adds 20 to 30 miles for each supply run. This would not be needed on supported trail run.

Ultimately the AT issues an 8x11 certificate to anyone who self reports a completion, and I expect they will gladly supply her one if she asks for it

Well her claim is pretty thoroughly and resoundingly debunked on whiteblaze by analyzing known locations as posted on her internet feeds and actual sightings. Not even really a debate as much as it is "this didn't happen and here's why."

http://whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php/120840-Kaiha-Bertollini-Real-FKT

So she is defiantly asserting her proclaimed record and calling out her naysayers. Public Facebook statement issued within the last hour.

A bit rambling, but here ya go ...

How I Did It

From Outside Magazine:

The Problem with Claiming a Fastest Known Time in the 21st Century

This girl sounds like a complete crackpot. I got 20 seconds into that ramble and could go no more.

Perhaps her angle has nothing to do with wanting to hold the FKT.

Maybe her angle is publicity.

She has certainly become a hot topic of conversation and is now being written about by writers at Outside.

Whiteblaze closed their thread after it became apparent that she not completed an AT FKT.

I would suggest the same.

Well, that's the rub, isn't it?

For starters, the whiteblaze thread was closed after 21 pages and a lot of interesting and informational posts. This thread has less than 10 total posts and was created by the Mods as a spin-off of the Meltzer thread to separate the two hikes and give each its own area.

Beyond that, there is no governing body for FKTs and no definitive "proof" that she didn't do it. That's the whole point of the Outside Magazine article. Sure, I think it's BS, but she is sticking to her claim and her "claim" is better than Meltzer's record.

Perhaps the simple addition of the word "Disputed" to the thread title would be best. Had I started this thread myself, I would never have given it the current title. This issue is only a week old. I'm sure there will be more news to come about it as the months go by.

Raven said:

Perhaps her angle has nothing to do with wanting to hold the FKT.

Maybe her angle is publicity.

She has certainly become a hot topic of conversation and is now being written about by writers at Outside.

Click to expand...

Gaining publicity for a worthy cause is admirable. However, by claiming this record, she is doing at the expense of two other worthy people. That's where I think the problem arises.

The Outside article glosses over the missing time gaps, which have been proven, and talks only about the trackability and how to submit it today.

Why does this name come to mind? Rosie Ruiz

Puma concolor said:

Beyond that, there is no governing body for FKTs and no definitive "proof" that she didn't do it.

Click to expand...

The burden of proof lies on her to prove she did it, as a claim that hasn't been disproved doesn't default to 'true'. It seems the skepticism here is justified. Of course, if she can prove it good for her, but simply claiming it doesn't mean it happened. Her post felt a lot like a politician's answer (rambling, few facts, etc).