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2016-AT Speed Record Attempt

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    • TrafficJam wrote:

      max.patch wrote:

      waste of time.

      don't let the near hour long length stop you from listening if you are interested; she is done in about 40 minutes.

      the main problem is that the interviewer let her tell her story. he says he is inclined to believe her.
      People who believe their own lies can be very convincing.
      And that is the truth.
      "Dazed and Confused"
      Recycle, re-use, re-purpose
      Plant a tree
      Take a kid hiking
      Make a difference
    • if ya believed ms. bertollini and was waiting for her to release her proof -- well -- jenny meatballs issued a "press release" a couple weeks ago. put a fork in it- it's done.

      here's an excerpt:

      • FKT controversies – several controversies regarding the validity of Ms. Bertollini’s record attempt arose over social media and within private forums in the hiking community related to her self-supported vs. crew supported hiking contexts, the lack of clear standards regarding the requirement of a GPS location device, and a heightened standard of scrutiny by the ultra-running community in relation to other record holders; neither Freedom2Fit, Inc. or myself will further validate or refute any of these controversies; we give our full support to Ms. Bertollini in her honest attempt and respect her right to make her claim to the FKT within the realm of the guidelines provided to do so; in a public Facebook post authored by myself and posted with Ms. Bertollini’s approval on the Hike for Our Lives public page, I stated that we would release a comprehensive evidence package to maintain transparency and accountability for the project; since that time, Ms. Bertollini has decided to keep her evidence package private and has requested that neither I nor Freedom2Fit, Inc. speak on behalf of the project; this request will be granted and both I and this organization will respect the right of Ms. Bertollini to maintain or rescind her claim at any time as well as to revoke her consent to release any evidence to the public and/or reserve the release of her evidence package to anyone she personally deems appropriate.
      2,000 miler

      The post was edited 1 time, last by max.patch ().

    • here's the whole thing (interesting :) set aside an hour or 2 and read it.)

      edit: longer than 10k characters; gotta break it up into 2 posts.

      Dear Donor,
      I would first like to take this time to thank you once again for your contribution to the Hike for Our Lives project to raise awareness about the power of fitness and permaculture to help heal trauma especially from sexual assault. The project received many types of assistance including moral support, social media awareness, trail magic, cash donations directly on the trail, PayPal donations, and in-kind contributions from several corporate donors including Hoka One One, ZPacks, Feminist Apparel, Classlink, Inc. This mission would not have been possible without the assistance of each and every single one of you.
      Today, I am writing this letter solely on the behalf of myself and of Freedom2Fit, Inc. to clarify any misunderstandings about the project from our perspective. As noted on our website, Freedom2Fit, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit public charity. As the Founder and Executive Director of the organization, I feel responsible to be transparent about the collection and use of all of our funds for charitable purposes. In the case of Hike for Our Lives, the relationship between the organizations was not formally contracted from the start. This negligence was due to the organic and time sensitive nature of the partnership between Kaiha Bertollini and myself. The spiritual calling I received to help ensure Kaiha’s survival as a friend by providing support on her journey resulted in many unanticipated complications between the organizations that we hope to explain here. What we can guarantee is that all funds raised were used to complete the joint mission we were highly transparent about. The scope challenges that arose in criticism of the project are outlined below:

      • Lack of resources – Kaiha Bertollini had informed me before she began the official FKT attempt that she had little to no resources to complete her Southbound thru-hike record attempt safely including no official sponsorships and not enough sneakers; before any discussion of a partnership, Ms. Bertollini offered to split any money raised for her cause beyond her hike necessities between non-profit organizations ARC 38 and Freedom2Fit, Inc.; when I decided to assist her in achieving her personal goal as well as raise awareness and money for F2F, we discussed the idea that I should pursue my own hike to understand her healing process and needs better, to best support her by raising awareness directly on the trail, and to experience the healing powers of hiking as a relief from my own PTSD; at this time, Ms. Bertollini graciously offered to share my stories of sexual assault on her website and to equip me with the right supplies for my hike through donations of used gear and some funds raised mutually; in exchange I offered to assist her with organizational management such as web design, fundraising, and curating educational materials for our joint mission; during the attempt she informed me on several occasions of various personal needs including a bivvy bag, long johns, replacement trekking poles, a replacement water filter, and most importantly monetary resources for food, shelter, and medication that were necessary to keep her physically safe and as healthy as possible; these needs were met through a variety of sources including her personal contacts, my personal contacts, Freedom2Fit, Inc. contacts, and the trail community at large
      • Ambiguous sponsor relationship – Kaiha Bertollini originally was very clear both to me and to the public that she intended any money or gear raised to be used first to fund her hike and that any leftover funds would be donated to F2F, specifically to help bring yoga to Camp Kesem in August 2016; after we agreed that I would hike as well, a portion of the funds were used for my gear; this intention was made clear on the Hike for Our Lives website; despite my strong recommendation that a formal contract was completed for F2F to be the fiscal sponsor on this project (in order to receive tax-deductible contributions before and during her record attempt) she started her attempt 3 weeks early, leaving our sponsor relationship not formally contracted; given the urgent and pressing need to obtain resources for her literal survival, Freedom2Fit, Inc acted in accordance with it’s values of solidarity, charity, and healing and began to collect resources through our networks and overhead costs to at least secure the minimum items needed for her safety (e.g., 4 pairs of shoes, 1 bivvy bag to prevent hypothermia) as well as cash donations for her food, hostels, showers, etc particularly based on her personal communications with me of her dire needs over the course of her southbound hike and my needs

      • Funds for Camp Kesem – the Hike for Our Lives project was posted on the Freedom2Fit, Inc. website after Kaiha’s decision to leave early without all resources pre-secured in order to accrue additional resources for Kaiha to literally survive; cash was accepted for our respective immediate food and shelter needs while PayPal money went directly into Kaiha’s personal bank account so that she had one hundred percent discretion as to her survival needs while attempting one of the most dangerous physical and emotional challenges known to the international hiking community; when it became clear that there would not be enough funds for both the hike and the Camp Kesem overhead, a very small portion of PayPal donations was reserved and with Ms. Bertollini’s approval was used in conjunction with the last of my personal funds to directly further Freedom2Fit, Inc.’s mission of bringing yoga to Camp Kesem – a camp for children who have a parent battling cancer while she used her personal funds to complete her mission
      2,000 miler
    • and...part 2:

      • Additional partnership for personal support – additional monies were exchanged between Kaiha and myself from our personal funds which were both extremely limited and included coverage for any activities not deemed directly related to the Hike for Our lives project (e.g. our respective bills) so that our essential off-trail needs were secured as we continued to ensure one another’s safety and work toward our joint mission
      • Overlap between Fastest Known Time (FKT) attempt and Hike for Our Lives – as formally stated on Hike for Our Lives and Freedom2Fit, Inc. websites, Kaiha’s Hike for Our Lives project consisted of a 90 day self-supported challenge for her southbound thru-hike; the FKT attempt was a personal goal intended to bring increased media exposure to the larger cause about sexual assault; the Hike for Our Lives and Freedom2Fit, Inc. partnership was focused primarily on educating the public about rape culture, consent culture, the magic of solidarity and community, and the power of fitness to be a tool for emotional healing for all types of trauma; to this end, Freedom2Fit, Inc.‘s interest in Kaiha’s FKT record being validated by the community extended from the two-fold objective of protecting her honest attempt, supporting her claim to completion, calling attention to the various other types of trauma being addressed by F2F projects using mainstream media coverage, and protecting the reputation and platform for all survivors who open up about a wide range of sexual disrespect from silencing, harassment, shaming, attempted assault, assault, rape, and victim blaming.

      • FKT controversies – several controversies regarding the validity of Ms. Bertollini’s record attempt arose over social media and within private forums in the hiking community related to her self-supported vs. crew supported hiking contexts, the lack of clear standards regarding the requirement of a GPS location device, and a heightened standard of scrutiny by the ultra-running community in relation to other record holders; neither Freedom2Fit, Inc. or myself will further validate or refute any of these controversies; we give our full support to Ms. Bertollini in her honest attempt and respect her right to make her claim to the FKT within the realm of the guidelines provided to do so; in a public Facebook post authored by myself and posted with Ms. Bertollini’s approval on the Hike for Our Lives public page, I stated that we would release a comprehensive evidence package to maintain transparency and accountability for the project; since that time, Ms. Bertollini has decided to keep her evidence package private and has requested that neither I nor Freedom2Fit, Inc. speak on behalf of the project; this request will be granted and both I and this organization will respect the right of Ms. Bertollini to maintain or rescind her claim at any time as well as to revoke her consent to release any evidence to the public and/or reserve the release of her evidence package to anyone she personally deems appropriate.

      Shaming, threats, mistrust of women – Freedom2Fit, Inc. believes that emotional healing includes reducing shame of any kind; we understand that sexual assault laws vary from state to state and that the definition of rape is not only different from state to state, but that the conversation often does not include a plethora of sexual violations of non-consent that fall outside the scope of “rape” but within the scope of sexual misconduct and rape culture; we believe that this entire mission was completed in integrity and that all survivors need a platform to be heard – a platform that we provided through this project; we understand that when it comes to rape culture, our legal language is not an effective or reflective way to describe the nuance of moral truth and particularly not sufficient to describe the experiences of sexual violation of varying degrees across state borders; we concede that even statements made by victims of all ages and genders that may appear to be “untrue” are subject to this phenomenon of conflicting and unclear legal and moral definitions of this crime; ultimately we believe in right intention, action, relation, integrity, listening to all victims and survivors without blame and shame, and a culture of affirmative consent; the backlash that Ms. Bertollini and I received regarding our motivations, our stories, and our integrity were not only uncalled for but they were precisely reflective of the exact culture of shaming which Freedom2Fit, Inc. is working to reduce; this is a culture that mistrusts women, that shames female sexuality, that shames female sexual agency, that blames victims, and that re-traumatizes victims to meet an arbitrary burden of proof depending on the state; similarly, we believe that Ms. Bertollini was held to an arbitrary burden of proof from the FKT community that did not appear to be in alignment with their past standards of scrutiny; while we understand the desire of the community to validate her claim and cannot interject in this matter, we do not condone public shaming of any kind of Ms. Bertollini, or family, or her cause including but not limited to social media harassment, body shaming, and slut shaming; we respect the concerted effort of Ms. Bertollini to shut down any platform that became a platform for trolling and do not believe it reflects poorly on the integrity of her mission or the validity of her claim to the FKT.

      Rather, we are proud to have been a part of helping two women (myself included) to find healing from sexual trauma through fitness and to assist Ms. Bertollini in being a stellar example of the Freedom2Fit, Inc. movement by striving to reach her full potential as a hiker/trail runner. We were honored to work together in raising awareness about our larger overall mission of finding creative ways to educate people about the power of holistic health to help us realize our full potential. In addition, we have compiled a specific list of the public benefits of this project:

      • Created a platform for victims of sexual violence to share their stories publicly (a research driven healing mechanism)
      • Created a safe channel for victims of sexual violence to share their stories privately (with either Kaiha or myself) as sworn advocates and confidants
      • Created a platform for educating the general public on the issue of consent (via Learn from the Experts page on the Hike for Our Lives website)
      • Fostered ongoing consciousness raising, networking, and creative applications of healing in socially progressive and humanitarian industries by creating a variety of open leadership positions to help design a community infrastructure based on F.I.T. ideals – that families and individuals are thriving
      o Curriculum Design – Trauma-Informed Yoga featuring the Finding Your Win technique
      o Program Implementation at Camp Kesem – 22 youth ages 6-21 received trauma-informed yoga; we scored an average of 7.6/10 overall; 55% of youth reported feeling better after class while none reported feeling worse
      o Ongoing support for permaculture and fitness initiatives including the 2nd annual PermaJam Festival in Vernon, NJ where I first met Ms. Bertollini as well as a second partnership with the HeARTbeat Collective, host of the Unifier Transformative Healing and Arts Festival in Tolland, MA.

      To learn more about our future initiatives, please visit http://www.freedom2fit.org.
      If you have any further questions regarding the Hike for Our Lives project, please contact Ms. Bertollini directly. If you have further questions regarding my personal or our organizational involvement with her project that was not outlined here, please email us at freedom2fit@gmail.com
      Namaste,

      Jenny Carrington
      2,000 miler
    • [raised hand]

      "Yes Mr. Tortoise... do you have a question?"

      "No. It's too late for the shoes. I'm just trying to save my watch."
      Trudgin' along the AT since 2003. Completed Sections: Springer Mountain to Clingmans Dome and Max Patch NC to Gorham NH

      "The days I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations...those are pretty good days." Ray Wylie Hubbard
    • My take away is not to trust Jenny or Bertollini for the truth about anything on any topic for any reason. Jenny is so full of BS and so blinded by her "goal" that she fails to see that Bertollini's lies brought the exact things upon the organization that she was trying to eliminate by organizing the hike to begin with. To declare Bertollini as some kind of hero is making me nauseous. Both of these two are whack-a-doodles that are operating in a different plane of reality than the rest of us...
    • Well. I had no problems reading it. Didn't take me very long either. I understood it just fine. I doubt any of you have a literacy problem. So if a guy had made identical claims, based on past posts in here, you guys would have accepted his claims. The alleged problem occurred because a woman made the claim.
      --
      "What do you mean its sunrise already ?!", me.
    • JimBlue wrote:

      Well. I had no problems reading it. Didn't take me very long either. I understood it just fine. I doubt any of you have a literacy problem. So if a guy had made identical claims, based on past posts in here, you guys would have accepted his claims. The alleged problem occurred because a woman made the claim.
      you shouldn't attempt to discuss something you know absolutely nothing about.
      2,000 miler
    • JimBlue wrote:

      Well. I had no problems reading it. Didn't take me very long either. I understood it just fine. I doubt any of you have a literacy problem. So if a guy had made identical claims, based on past posts in here, you guys would have accepted his claims. The alleged problem occurred because a woman made the claim.
      No, sexism is not why we are making fun of Wildcard Ninja for claiming she broke Heather Anderson's speed record.

      I didn't follow this saga particularly closely, however it's been going on for months. The claimed time seems unrealistic, bordering on impossible for an unsupported hike and multiple witnesses have come forward to dispute specifics of the story. The only reason this story is still afloat is because the team claimed there was hard evidence to support the claim.

      Reading that they have reneged and decided not to release the supposed evidence is all that I needed to know.
      Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.

      The post was edited 1 time, last by Sarcasmtheelf ().

    • JimBlue wrote:

      Well. I had no problems reading it. Didn't take me very long either. I understood it just fine. I doubt any of you have a literacy problem. So if a guy had made identical claims, based on past posts in here, you guys would have accepted his claims. The alleged problem occurred because a woman made the claim.
      The alleged problem comes because Ninja is a proven liar. She was caught drinking, smoking cigs, taking lengthy off trail breaks, riding in a pickup truck, etc... And she denied it all and claimed to have GPS proof. And promised everybody that proof. And now? Poof! No proof.

      The problem everyone has is that Ninja is a lying scammer who stole from Jenny an others and Jenny is such a zealot that she can't admit she has been taken for a fool by Ninja and exploited by Ninja and instead doubles down and says that despite no proof, its still the truth. Nobody believes either of these lying fools and it has absolutely nothing to do with their sex.
    • max.patch wrote:

      JimBlue wrote:

      Well. I had no problems reading it. Didn't take me very long either. I understood it just fine. I doubt any of you have a literacy problem. So if a guy had made identical claims, based on past posts in here, you guys would have accepted his claims. The alleged problem occurred because a woman made the claim.
      you shouldn't attempt to discuss something you know absolutely nothing about.
      I would've been less polite, but your reply will do.
      Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more, you should never wish to do less. - Robert E. Lee
    • JimBlue wrote:

      Well. I had no problems reading it. Didn't take me very long either. I understood it just fine. I doubt any of you have a literacy problem. So if a guy had made identical claims, based on past posts in here, you guys would have accepted his claims. The alleged problem occurred because a woman made the claim.
      Evidence your wrong about us being sexist with record attempts

      Anish announces FKT attempt

      There is also support on this site for Jennifer Pharr Davis.
      Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.
      Dr. Seuss Cof123
    • Rasty wrote:

      JimBlue wrote:

      Well. I had no problems reading it. Didn't take me very long either. I understood it just fine. I doubt any of you have a literacy problem. So if a guy had made identical claims, based on past posts in here, you guys would have accepted his claims. The alleged problem occurred because a woman made the claim.
      Evidence your wrong about us being sexist with record attempts
      Anish announces FKT attempt

      There is also support on this site for Jennifer Pharr Davis.
      I'm an equal gender jake ace...it matters not your dangly bits
    • uncle meat wrote:

      Rasty wrote:

      JimBlue wrote:

      Well. I had no problems reading it. Didn't take me very long either. I understood it just fine. I doubt any of you have a literacy problem. So if a guy had made identical claims, based on past posts in here, you guys would have accepted his claims. The alleged problem occurred because a woman made the claim.
      Evidence your wrong about us being sexist with record attemptsAnish announces FKT attempt

      There is also support on this site for Jennifer Pharr Davis.
      I'm an equal gender jake ace...it matters not your dangly bits
      Aye... 'tis true. But it does matter the size of said dangly bits. Or so I've been told.
      Trudgin' along the AT since 2003. Completed Sections: Springer Mountain to Clingmans Dome and Max Patch NC to Gorham NH

      "The days I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations...those are pretty good days." Ray Wylie Hubbard
    • I'm surprised that Jenny Meatballs didn't find a way to include LUNCH SHAMING into her statement.
      Trudgin' along the AT since 2003. Completed Sections: Springer Mountain to Clingmans Dome and Max Patch NC to Gorham NH

      "The days I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations...those are pretty good days." Ray Wylie Hubbard