You mignt get 15 minutes of fame by niche trail runners and especially FKT niche. Like S. Canaday said. It's like when Kilian or Ueli Steck break a new record and a week after someone else breaks it. Not much fame for the other guy.
I really wanted Scott to fail after seeing how close he was from Jennifer's record. I thought he would shatter it and maybe if he failed, he would have to do it again, better prepared this time. Just like Karl Metzner had to do, he's an amazing runner, but it took him lots of tries to beat the record, often because of logistics, crew problems and weather like when he had huge downpoors at the start and had to wait.
But look at some facts for Scott Jurek which made it hard on him or why he could have been so close to a woman's time:
-He's not in his prime, he's relatively old
-It's a crazy distance, anything can go wrong, the longer the distance the more risk of things going bad can happen
-He might have wanted to shatter the record, but with all the trouble he had I think he decided to just beat the time, just like Bekele can sit and kick in a race.
-Weather could have been harder it can do crazy things even in small mountains (lighting, flash floods...)
-Going northbound is harder, but it's more prestigious especially when you finish on Kathadin
-He hit his knee, not the kind of TMTS or overuse injuries. He wasn't disabled but he had to manage it.
-He never did the trail before and this is a huge psychological advantage.
-He might suck in downhills, lots of skinny runners suck with downhills, especially fast marathon runners. The course is very technical and elite technical racers all have big legs (ie Ben Nephew, Ryan Atkins).
-Obviously he did not run the whole trail, maybe 5%, who cares, but we still call it running when the pace is fast, just like race walking, if you leave the road once with both feet you get disqualified and become a "runner".
-No one can run the technical uphills, it's impossible, even FKT on short sections of trail have to be walked.
-Yes, it's a record not that contested and a lot could beat his time, but it takes a huge effort and lots of preparation. You need a crew to follow care for you for 2 month!