I just got an email from Ryan Ghelfi, a 17 year-old from Redding, California, who runs Half Dome for time every summer. He did the round trip from Happy Isles in 2:48 this summer and hopes to break the record next summer. Of course, it gets exponentially harder to shave off minutes as you close in on a record, and the one for Half Dome is pretty stout now (2:38 by Hari Mix). As far as I know this is the second fastest ever. Buzz Burrell ran it in 2:49 back in 2004, which was the fastest time ever, finally beating Mark Spencer's 1982 time of just under 2:52. Then Hari Mix lowered it to 2:38 in June, 2005.
So Ryan's time would have been the record if he had done it prior to June 2005. I think it's really exciting to see someone that young out chasing a tough trail record and I'd really like to see him nab the record next year. And then see Hari take it back. And then see Ryan take it back. And so forth!
In any case, this is the JUNIOR record for sure. I have no idea what the previous junior record is, but since this is one minute faster than the previous overall record, it has to be the junior record.
Anyway, I'm going to drop Ryan a line and see if he might want to get back to us with some additional details.
Ryan sent me an email with
Ryan sent me an email with some additional details on splits and just in general. Here's what he has to say:
He also added a bit about his run
Awesome Ryan! Looking forward to next year's time.