Lost Dogs & Englishmen
The Jordan Trail is 650km of wild mountains, expansive deserts and jaw-dropping Wadis. Dan Lawson and Robbie Britton set out to break the Fastest Known Time (FKT) but ended up with a lot more than a record.
“If you want to experience a country, then what better way is there than on foot?” smiles Britton. “The people of Jordan were so welcoming and the Jordan Trail took us to a whole swath of places that you might not normally have visited.
From the start at Um Qais, in the North, it felt like a road less travelled for the pair. “The trail was difficult to follow, but also simply non-existent at times,” continues Robbie, “and the north of Jordan was a lot less touristic than the more well known highlights like Petra and Wadi Rum in the south of the country”.
The two runners are no stranger to long distances, with both representing Great Britain over 24hrs and medalling at international championships with distances over 260km in a single day. Yet the Jordan Trail posed its own challenges and pushed each in different ways.
“I’m no stranger to the desert,” says Lawson, “and I’ve learned that nothing comes quickly in the desert. Wadi Rum was no different. There were these huge rock formations and we just felt so tiny in comparison.”
The ancient city of Petra is rightly one of the seven wonders of the world and to experience running alone through the city before it wakes to the tourists was a special treat, but it was one of a myriad of spectacular sights in the Middle Eastern country.
As the trail continued south to Petra, it became a lot drier and harder for the support team to access the trail.
Robbie and Dan would run 40-50km without any resupply and water was a big issue, in more ways than one.
“We had planned several wild camps in the regions with bigger Wadis, just because of the way the days fell, but the Tourism Board warned us against certain camp sites as some hikers had been killed by flash floods.” said Britton. It’s easy to imagine if you see the slot canyons with steep, hundred metre plus sides and the torrents of water gushing down.
As the days passed you could see the fatigue building, especially in Britton with his shuffling running style. It almost looked painful at times, but a smile and a joke was never far away, even in the darkest moments.
Did they break the record? It took them just over nine days even with a few mishaps and misadventures along the way, but the pair dealt with adversity well. It certainly didn’t look easy but nothing worth achieving ever is.
