Jacob Sims (United States) and Julien Brewster (Australia) conquered the trail which ascends from the trailhead at 225-m to a staggering 1,813-m over 10 steep kilometres in a verified elapsed time of 2 hours, 26 minutes and 36 seconds – breaking the previous record by more than an hour.
The old record was set in 2020 by another duo of foreigners, David Minetti and Fred Zalokar. Minetti is a former French Special Forces soldier and adventure tourism entrepreneur (C4 Adventures). The late Zalokar was a renowned American trail runner who had set speed and first ascent records on peaks around the world. Zalokar was most famous for being the first person to win the Master’s age
group at all five of the world’s marathon ‘majors.’ Jean-Benoît Lasselin, also of C4, validated the duo’s record on February 17, 2020.
Sims and Brewster first climbed Phnom Aural in late 2021 as part of a multi-day hike with fellow adventurers Luke Weatherson (Canada) and Ben Johnson (United Kingdom).
As Sims retold it, “Just before the hike, Luke sent the link to Fred and David’s record and said, ‘bet you can’t do this, Jake.’ So, it became kind of an inside joke and a challenge during the hike.”
Brewster – who has worked in Cambodia on and off since 2011 – organised the initial expedition by contacting Chhim Chhoen of Community Tour Aural Mountain Guide Company. “We had a great experience with Chhim and his guys, but really felt for them given the downturn in tourism due to COVID-19 lockdowns.”
Zalokar and Minetti’s 2020 record-setting ascent offered significant publicity to C4 Adventures. Sims and Brewster hoped breaking it would do the same for their local guides.
“Beyond just wanting to prove Luke wrong and do something crazy and sweaty and muddy, we wanted to be a part of something that raised the profile of Cambodia’s local guide community,” said Sims.
On April 2, Sims and Brewster drove the 140-km from Phnom Penh to Sre Kan 3 village at the base of the mountain with several other friends.
From there, the group hiked the 2-km trail to camp 1 to spend the night. Then at 4:45am on April 3, Sims, Brewster and Vott Saw (a guide from Community Tours Aural Mountain) departed Camp 1 to descend back to the base for the official start of their record attempt.
At 5:55am they left from the established trailhead with Sims setting a controlled, conservative pace.
Sims is an accomplished endurance athlete in his own right having competed in marathons on five continents (including a victory at the 2016 Mount Kilimanjaro Marathon), Ironman Triathlons and a run from the South Rim to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, among other exploits.
Brewster too is a lifelong athlete — an avid outdoorsman, a skilled rock climber, and the starting centre on Phnom Penh’s Cambodian Eagles Australian Rules Football Club.
Just above Camp 1, the trail becomes very steep with a section of fixed line ropes for support. Alongside the steepness, the heat, humidity, and slick terrain are also considerable factors. During this section, Vott Saw had to slow his pace and the team carried on with another guide, his brother, Samboo Saw, who was waiting at a check-point.
“When we got above the ropes section, we were sad to lose Vott but still felt great and more or less knew we had the record in our sights. So, we picked up the pace from there,” said Brewster.
Sims continued to set the tempo but moved the team into a rhythm where they ran the flats and shallow grades, returning to a brisk hike during steep sections.
By 8:21am, it was all over. Sims and Brewster celebrated with a quick photo at the summit hut and then started their descent. “The vibe at the top was incredible. Total fog cover but this great group of local guys who were doing traditional Buddhist tattoos welcomed us to warm up by their fire pit,” Brewster recalled.
Upon return to Sre Kan 3, Chhim Chhoen officially validated the record-breaking ascent on behalf of Community Tours Aural Mountain.
According to khmertimeskh.com
