Spotted on Strava: FKTs Galore, Comrades & Perry the Platypus

From ridiculously impressive FKTs to a new course record at one of the world's oldest ultramarathons, there has been plenty to look out for on Strava this week.

There must have been something in the water in Europe over the last 10 days. Because not only was there a lot of racing going on, there were some seriously impressive FKT-ing (yes, we did just try to turn that into a verb) happening as well.

Let's start at the top of the continent, where Jack Kuenzle set a new ski FKT on Europe's highest mountain, Mont Blanc (15,764 ft / 4,805 m). Kuenzle made the 20.4 mile / 32.96 km round-trip - which incidentally includes 12,680 ft / 3,865 m of elevation gain - in 4 hours, 48 minutes, and 44 seconds - two minutes faster than Kilian Jornet's previous best.

While Jack was doing that, Finlay Wild was busy beating Kuenzle's FKT on Tranter's Round in the UK. The famous 36 mile / 58.31 km loop takes in 18 Munros (mountains) around Glen Nevis with a total elevation gain of 20,075 ft / 6,119 m. Finlay completed his "best ever run" in 8 hours, 27 minutes and 53 seconds - some 10 minutes faster than Kuenzle's previous best.

Finlay wasn't the only person making the Rounds this week, because over in Wales Anjay Hanspal was setting a new FKT on the monstrous 131.9 mile / 212.33 km Double Paddy Buckley Round. Anjay covered 94 summits during the challenge, notching up 58,536 ft / 17,842m of elevation gain in the process.

Tired? We haven't finished yet. Because while all of that was happening, Sophie Power was recovering after she became the fastest woman to run the length of Ireland - an incredible 347 mile / 558.49 km route that took a 'mere' 84 hours and 7 minutes (she did allow herself to sleep for two hours over the three days).

Sticking with impressive running achievements, but turning away from Europe for a second, the legendary Comrades Marathon was taking place in South Africa this week. One of the oldest ultramarathons in the world, the direction of Comrades changes each year - racing 'up' from Durban to Pietermaritzburg one year (5,728 ft / 1,746 m elevation gain), and 'down' from Pietermaritzburg to Durban the next. This year was an 'up' year, and Gerda Steyn smashed the course record to win the women's race in 5 hours, 49 minutes, and 53 seconds.

Needless to say, there's been plenty of two-wheeled action to watch out for over this last week as well. Lotte Kopecky won the Tour of Britain, 17 seconds ahead of Anna Henderson. Meanwhile, at the Criterium du Dauphine - one of the major lead-up races to the Tour de France - Primoz Roglic took the GC ahead of Matteo Jorgenson (+ 8 seconds).

And, finally, Kristian Amoyen had a prolific week generating Strava Art in the Philippines. Alongside Bart Simpson and a cat, Kristian also produced this impressive likeness of Perry the Platypus during a walk in Banguio.