Andrea Sansone has set a new women’s supported fastest known time (FKT) on the Nolan’s 14 route, in a time of 45 hours and 52 minutes, shaving almost three hours off Sabrina Stanley’s 2020 record of 48:49. Her tracker information and splits can be viewed here.
Sansone began her attempt — running south to north — in the early hours of the morning on Saturday, September 10, 2022, and finished less than two days later, on the morning of Monday, September 12. Her run takes the women’s supported record well under the iconic two-day barrier.
The route comprises 14 peaks of greater than 14,000 feet (4,267 meters) in the Sawatch Range in Colorado. There is free route choice between the peaks, and the challenge amounts to around 95 miles with roughly 44,000 feet (13,411 meters) of elevation gain.
Andrea Sansone training to set the women’s supported Nolan’s 14 fastest known time. All photos courtesy of Andrea Sansone.
Sansone — a neonatal intensive care nurse who lives in Colorado — previously held the women’s overall FKT when she completed the challenge with her partner, Andrew Hamilton, as a self-supported team in a time of 53 hours and 14 minutes in August 2020.
Although the pair still hold the mixed team FKT, Sansone’s overall women’s record didn’t stand for long back then, with Sabrina Stanley besting it by almost two hours, with a supported run of 51:15, just five days later. The record was lowered twice more in the fall of 2020 — by Meghan Hicks in a time of 50:32, and again by Stanley, whose 48:49 finish time remained the benchmark for almost two years.
Sansone’s valiant second effort at the Nolan’s 14 didn’t come out of the blue. On July 31 of this year, she set a new overall Colorado 14er 24-hour record, summiting 12 Colorado peaks of above 14,000 feet in 22 hours and 16 minutes. The previous women’s record had stood at eight peaks in 24 hours.
Two months previous, on May 31, she set a record on the Manitou Incline for the greatest number of ascents of the popular Colorado trail by a woman in 24 hours — totaling over 35,700 feet (10,881 meters) of elevation in 19 repetitions.
Of her latest record-breaking run, Sansone told iRunFar. “This was by far the most challenging of my successful FKT attempts this year. As I’ve trained incredibly hard and had an amazing crew, I knew quitting and letting my team down was never going to be an option.”
Andrea Sansone with partner Andrew Hamilton between Mount Yale and Mount Columbia, before Andrew started pacing Andrea for several mountains.
Andrea Sansone (in pink) with some of her crew at the Leadville, Colorado, fish hatchery on Monday, September 12, 2022, after she set a new women’s supported fastest known time on the Nolan’s 14 route.
