The North Face

Nov 28 | The North Face Endurance Challenge Championship Preview

By The North Face

The North Face Endurance Challenge Championship weekend is just around the corner and with rain expected to pummel the San Francisco Bay Area through Sunday, it should be a particularly exciting race. Both the men's and women's elite fields are deep with competition, and The North Face endurance team will be out in full force. 

Some of the The North Face endurance team that will be making a play for the first place finish in the Gore-Tex 50-miler and the $10,000 prize: Five-time Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc winner and 2013 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year Nominee Lizzy Hawker, 2012 ECS Champ Mike Wolfe, 2012 UTMB 3rd Place Finisher Mike Foote, 2012 Hardrock 100 Winner Hal Koerner, 2012 Western States 100 2nd Place Finisher Rory Bosio, Mountains-to-Sea Trail Record Holder Diane Van Deren, 2010 USATF Ultrarunner of the Year Kami Semick and 2012 San Francisco Marathon Winner Devon Yanko (formerly Crosby-Helms).

Be sure to check out the full race preview and up-to-the-minute updates from our good friends Bryon Powell and Meghan Hicks at iRunFar.com.

Nov 20 | The North Face Ultra Challenge - Join, Run, Win!

By The North Face

The North Face® is excited to announce our partnership with Strava^TM to provide two opportunities this Fall to take on segment and global challenges to see how runners stack up on the Strava Segment Challenge Leaderboards.

Registered runners in the San Francisco Endurance Challenge on December 1-2 will have one mile segment challenges embedded into their courses, with leading men and women receiving prizes from Strava.

The North Face Global Ultra Challenge kicked off in October, challenging Strava members to run 50k during the weekend of the sold out Endurance Challenge Championships in San Francisco, CA December 1-2.  Even if someone can't be on-site in San Francisco pounding out the miles on December 1st or 2nd, they can still take part in the Championship by participating.

If you want to join The North Face Ultra Challenge, log into Strava (signup is free) and go to The North Face Global Ultra Challenge page to join.

On the weekend of the event, runners can record their run(s) using the Strava Run app or their own GPS enabled device and upload them to Strava to see how they stack up against fellow competitors. Athletes who complete the 50k Challenge will receive glory and the admiration of their peers, as well as a boost to their own level of fitness. Additionally, The North Face will select some "exceptional performances" to reward with some special surprises.

Once entered runners can spread the miles out over two days, or join the 50k race competitors on Saturday and do the entire distance in one run.

Strava's on-site participation at the Championships will be as follows:

There will be a one-mile Segment Challenge along the course on both Saturday and Sunday to challenge participants on a significant climb during the race.  They will have large 'Start' and 'Finish' flags to alert runners to the segment.  Prizes will be offered to the male and female winners, three deep, on each day.  

Strava will offer loaner Garmins, while supplies last, for participants interested in testing out the Strava experience with a GPS-enabled device.  

The Strava team will sponsor an aid station along the course.

Post-race, Strava will provide small towels to wipe off all that dirt and some warming/cooling goods depending on the weather.  

At the Festival, Strava will have upload stations for any participant who signed up for Strava or wanted to sign up for Strava to upload their run directly from their GPS watch right away and see how they did in the segment challenge.  This will also be an opportunity for them to get some free Strava goodies for uploading.