This past Saturday morning, Austin Killips reached the Arizona/Utah border, setting a new overall record for the Arizona Trail 800. Her time was an astonishing 8 days 23 hours 27 minutes, besting Alex Schultz’s previous record of 9 days, 5 hours, and 43 minutes!

The AZT 800 is a gruelingly difficult route and finishing in under 9 days is truly a feat. The Arizona Trail starts at the border of Arizona and Mexico and traverses mostly single track across the entire state to the border with Utah.

Though many wilderness areas are avoided due to mechanized travel limitations, the AZT 800 requires the Pusch Wilderness Bypass hike-a-bike up the famed Lemmon Drop near Tucson and a backpack bike portage from rim to rim across the Grand Canyon. Austin completed both of these challenging aspects of the ride.

Spencer dropped Austin off at the start of her ride and snapped a few photos when she took off. She’s now back in Tucson, relaxing and recovering, with her eyes on the triple crown (Tour Divide, Arizona Trail, and Colorado Trail). She recounts the race as “An all-consuming endeavor that I am still processing, which scratched a certain itch.” She continues, “I’m excited to recover, dissect where I can improve, and prepare for the next bikepacking race.”