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Karel Sabbe’s Crew Attacked by Wild Dogs During Te Araroa FKT Attempt
Karel Sabbe is no stranger to ultrarunning, holding supported records on the Appalachian Trail (completed in 41 days, 7 hours, 39 minutes in 2018, making him the fastest man to complete the trail) and the Pacific Crest Trail (46 days, 12 hours, 50 minutes in 2023) and completing the Barkley Marathons in 2023.
Still, when he and his team set out to set the supported record on New Zealand’s 3054 km (1898 mi) Te Araroa this month, he hadn’t figured on getting attacked by feral dogs. Yet that’s exactly what happened over the weekend, just three days into the attempt.
In a Monday Instagram post, Sabbe said that he and crew member Kobe Blondeel had been attacked the day before. “Yesterday Kobe and I were attacked by wild dogs. Kobe got bitten, fell and broke his elbow, I was unharmed. Locals who were following brought Kobe to the hospital where he received first care,” reads the post.
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In the meantime, Sabbe and the remainder of his crew pressed on with the attempt. The current supported record on Te Araroa is held by George Henderson, who completed the trail in 49 days, 14 hours, 27 minutes in 2020.
New Zealand’s longest footpath poses some unique challenges compared to many of the world’s other premier long-distance routes. In some places, hikers (and runners) must time beach crossings carefully to coincide with low tide.
Sabbe and his team described missing the window for one such crossing yesterday, forcing them to wait six hours before they could proceed. “Now that we know how narrow these windows can be, we’ll adjust our sleeping schedule to lose as little time as pos,” wrote Sabbe’s crew.
Blondeel, Sabbe’s injured pacer, was able to return to the crew as of yesterday despite the dog bite and broken elbow.
Follow Sabbe’s live progress at live.karelsabbe.com.
Featured image: A portrait of Karel Sabbe from 2023. Xander Cottens, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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