For the second time in his running career, David Hedges has set a men’s supported fastest known time (FKT) on the Nolan’s 14 mountain running route located in Colorado — this time finishing in 35 hours, 23 minutes, and 15 seconds.
This bests the record set by François D’Haene in July 2025, which was 35 hours, 33 minutes, and 41 seconds, by 10 minutes and 26 seconds.
David Hedges setting a men’s supported Nolan’s 14 fastest known time in September 2025. Photo: Peter Maksimow
Nolan’s 14 is an enchainment of 14 of Colorado’s 14ers, the nickname for mountains taller than 14,000 feet. In the state’s Sawatch Range, these 14 mountains link up in a route about 95 miles long that has 45,000 feet of climbing in a roughly north-south direction. The line is open, meaning athletes can travel on foot by any route, so long as they start and finish at the designated trailheads and they reach all 14 summits. Most folks travel a similar line, however, with small differences for an athlete’s preference.
Remarkably, Hedges has held this FKT once before, from a July 2023 effort where he finished the line in a record 39 hours, 6 minutes, and 40 seconds. That record stood until D’Haene’s successful effort earlier this summer. Now, a bit more than two months after D’Haene’s FKT, Hedges has reset the record once again.
David Hedges’ FKT Effort
Hedges published a live tracker so friends and fans could follow along with up-to-the-minute updates — and where iRunFar collected approximate splits.
Hedges traveled south to north on the line — the direction most FKT-seekers run — starting at the Blank’s Cabin Trailhead on Sunday, September 14, at 6:40 a.m., and finishing at the Fish Hatchery Trailhead on Monday, September 15, just after 6 p.m.
The first snow of September had fallen a couple of days before this attempt, with the weather system clearing out only the day before, so Hedges experienced lingering snow on the first several mountains. Reports from the northern part of the route on the second day, however, were that the weather was ideal and the snow had melted.
David Hedges on his way to setting a men’s supported Nolan’s 14 fastest known time — for a second time. Photo: Peter Maksimow
Hedges summited the first two mountains, Mount Shavano and Mount Tabeguache, at just about the same pace as D’Haene, but moved ahead on record splits on Mount Antero and Mount Princeton, the third and fourth peaks. Then, as Sunday turned to evening and the overnight hours, Hedges fell behind D’Haene’s splits by a small amount at first, and then by 30 minutes by Huron Peak, the 11th mountain in the enchainment. D’Haene had summited Huron Peak in about 22:03 elapsed, while Hedges did the same in about 22:35.
Slowly, as the second day of mountain running unfolded, Hedges’ summit splits drew closer to D’Haene’s. On mountain 12, La Plata Peak, Hedges was 25 minutes behind D’Haene’s split. Then, one mountain later, on Mount Elbert, he’d halved that and was roughly 12 minutes behind. On the final mountain, Mount Massive, Hedges tagged the summit at about 33:55 elapsed, now just about 7 minutes slower than D’Haene’s split.
Hedges ran the final descent to the Fish Hatchery Trailhead, arriving in 35:23:15, and setting a new record.
David Hedges’ Nolan’s 14 FKT Approximate Splits
These splits are approximations from Hedges’ live tracker.
- Mount Shavano – 1:30 (hours:minutes elapsed)
- Tabeguache Peak – 1:50
- Mount Antero – 3:35
- Mount Princeton – 6:50
- Mount Yale – 11:30
- Mount Columbia – 14:20
- Mount Harvard – 15:45
- Mount Oxford – 18:10
- Mount Belford – 18:50
- Missouri Mountain – 19:50
- Huron Peak – 22:35
- La Plata Peak – 26:10
- Mount Elbert – 30:30
- Mount Massive – 33:55
- Fish Hatchery Trailhead – 35:23:15
David Hedges (left) looking happy and relieved after his first successful men’s supported Nolan’s 14 fastest known time in July 2023. On the right is one of his 2023 pacers Jack Kuenzle. Photo: Nikki LaRochelle
