First Bagger Bragging Rights

I spent the better part of Sunday evening and Monday morning sitting on the deck with my buddy Gary Robbins laughing, tipping back a few cool ones and trading war stories.  Top of our agenda was first bagger bragging rights.

Gary, you see, just did something quite extraordinary.  To me, Gary is right up there with Sir Edmond Hillary (the first person to climb Mount Everest and live to tell the tale.)  This past weekend, he ran the 74Km long West Coast Trail. He then ran 8K on the road from the pier at Port Renfrew to the start of the 48Km Juan de Fuca Trail.  Then he ran the Juan de Fuca Trail.  What's more, he did the whole thing in under 24 hours.  To my knowledge, Gary is the first person in the history of the world to run both trails non-stop.

Gary's accomplishment secures him membership in that elite club of trail runners who can say, "I done done it first!"

Which internationally-recognized authority grants membership into this exclusive club?  If truth be told, there is no Guinness World Book of Trail Running Records that I know of.  Those who care know.  I don't even have a clue as to what accomplishment would qualify.  I suppose it has to be something that takes a lot of guts and determination.  Something that elicits a, "Gee whiz.  You did what?" from your peers.

What's it worth?  Unlike the New York Marathon, there is no shiny new Mercedes Benz or $100,000 check to the first bagger.  There are bragging rights. 

How long did it take you?  To the first bagger, it's not the time that matters, it's being the first.  Even if someone comes along the next day and runs the same course in half the time, the first bagger is always the first bagger.  The first bagger sets the bar that all others who follow respect and use as a benchmark.

It would be cool to know of other folks who have earned first bagger status and their accomplishments. They've earned the recognition.  Maybe we have a First Bagger board somewhere on the Club Fat Ass website?

In this area of the world, I can think of the first to run the Indian Arm Trail.  (Murray Comley.) I believe my non-stop run of the Sunshine Coast Trail qualifies. (Gary, by the way, helped me on that one, so I am currently overwhelmed with guilt that I could not help him.  Hell... he probably picked a date for the attempt based on knowing I couldn't join him as, when it comes right down to it, he knows I'd have likely tried to trip him in sight of the finish line had I run with him!)  I think a group of 6 Vancouver runners were the first to run the Capilano watershed.  I believe Kevin Valley and friends were the first to run the Stein Valley. 

For certain types of runners, being a first bagger is a powerful driving force.  What's left?  Any ideas?