Doyle set a speed record on the AT 50 years ago, long before YouTubers and partying twentysomethings had flooded the iconic trail. Through his Appalachian Trail Institute, which he’s run since 1989, he’s still trying to convert a new generation of thru-hikers to his personal philosophy of what the trail should be.
Claire Bannwarth is a trail running machine. Then she ran the Transgrancanaria 128K in the Canary Islands in February (seventh female), followed by the Cursa di Ciclopi 500K in Sicily in April (second female), and the UTMB Ultra-Trail Snowdonia 165K in Wales in May (third female). Bannwarth, who lives in Village-Neuf, France, went on to run Colorado's Hardrock 100 in July (fifth place female), and then win the Tahoe 200 a week later in Lake Tahoe, California.