The original version of this story was published on iRunFar.
Before dawn on Tuesday, August 19, 2025, Tara Dower reached the southern terminus of the 272-mile Long Trail at the Vermont–Massachusetts border. She had set a new overall supported fastest known time (FKT) on the route with a time of 3 days, 18 hours, and 29 minutes.
This bests the previous overall supported FKT, set by Will Peterson in 2024. Peterson ran the trail in 3 days, 21 hours, and 9 minutes, by 2 hours and 40 minutes. Alyssa Godesky held the prior women’s supported record with a time of 5 days, 2 hours, and 37 minutes.
Dower completed the trail southbound. She started at the Canadian border near North Troy, Vt., at 10 a.m. on Friday, August 15, 2025. The trail closely follows the main ridge of the Green Mountains, covering some 68,000 feet of elevation gain.
Built between 1910 and 1930, it is considered the oldest long trail in the U.S. It is credited with providing inspiration for the construction of the Appalachian Trail (AT). In fact, the Long Trail shares the final 100 miles with the AT, which, of course, Dower is intimately familiar with, having set an overall supported FKT on the 2,197-mile trail in 2024.
Huge Win After Hardrock Setback
This Long Trail FKT comes after a bit of a frustrating summer for Dower. She had been on a steep upward trajectory in the ultrarunning world when she got sick the week before the 2025 Western States 100 and ultimately had to drop from the race. She then languished as the first person on the waitlist for the Hardrock 100. Ultimately, she didn’t gain a last-minute entry.
Instead of throwing in the towel on the season, she turned all that fitness and motivation around into an incredibly fast time on the Long Trail.
The Long Trail maintains a reputation for being rocky, rough, and slow. However, Dower started off fast, covering nearly 80 miles in the first 24 hours. She was about 140 miles in with 48 hours on the clock. She had covered about 200 miles when the clock ticked over on 3 days elapsed, on Monday morning, August 18.
As Monday afternoon rolled around, she took one more quick sleep. Then, during the overnight hours of Monday night and Tuesday morning, she pushed through the final 37 miles to the finish.
History With Long Distance Trails
Dower puts together a closely knit crew for these types of efforts. She was supported by her crew chief, Megan Wilmarth, a.k.a. Rascal, who served in the same role during her AT FKT. She was also joined by photographers and videographers Pete Schreiner and Emily Cameron.
The core crew was assisted by a host of pacers, many of them local to the area. It appears that Dower was also accompanied by many runners in the area, all excited to come out to support the monumental effort.
The Long Trail is perhaps the shortest FKT effort Dower, who goes by the trail name Candy Mama as a nod to her love of sweets, has undertaken. In addition to the AT, after which she discussed her efforts with iRunFar in an in-depth interview, Dower also briefly held the women’s supported FKT on the 486-mile Colorado Trail in 2023.
In 2020, Dower set the women’s supported FKT on the 1,175-mile Mountains to Sea Trail. That route travels from Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tenn., to Nags Head, N.C. She then went on to set the women’s supported FKT in 2022 on the 288-mile Benton MacKaye Trail. That trail travels from Springer Mountain, Ga., to Big Creek in Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee.
Tara Dower FKT: Running for a Cause
As with the AT, when she fundraised for Girls on the Run, Dower used her Long Trail effort to raise money. This time it was for the Green Mountain Club, the organization that maintains the Long Trail and publishes guidebooks and other resources for the trail.
She’s already exceeded her goal of raising $10,001, and you can add to that by donating here.
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