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ONE BEAR OF A RACE

Athletes dig deep at The North FaceŽ Endurance Challenge 2008 inaugural race

Bear Mountain, New York – The North FaceŽ Endurance Challenge presented by Gore-TexŽ was founded with the goal of helping outdoor athletes to surpass their preconceived notions of what is possible. By all accounts, the series’ inaugural 2008 event on the craggy slopes of Bear Mountain, New York, achieved that goal, all while showing a sold-out field of almost 900 10K, Half Marathon, 50K, and 50-Mile runners a new side of the sport.

In the week leading to Race Day, April 12, the weather was as fickle as a boyfriend and girlfriend trying to agree on a rental video. It was winter one day, with chilly temperatures and frost. The next, the sun shone through. Finally, the two seasons compromised on a mix of rain, fog, and humidity more typical to this time of year in the Hudson River Valley.

81 Accelerade 50K runners marveled at a grueling Bear Mountain course that some claimed was the toughest in the East – maybe in the country. The technical total of over 10,000 feet in elevation change only bolstered that claim. In all, 77 completed the run – a staggering finishing percentage, considering the course layout. Alex Fyfe of New York, NY, took home top honors for men, with a blazing chip time of 5:37:17. Susan Nowell, also from New York City, won the women’s race, cracking the finish line in the peaceful meadow of Bear Mountain State Park with a time of 7:38:07.

Tom Palomba of Middlebury, CT, cherished his well-earned Accelerade 50K finisher’s medal afterwards. “This was my first ever Endurance Challenge and although it was the hardest thing I ever did in my life, I have to say I enjoyed the Challenge, he said. “For a Race of this magnitude, out in the mountain trails, I do not think it could have been run any better.” Palomba sent a special thanks to the Aid Station volunteers (which he described as “…set up like a Race Buffet”).

Cadet Corporal David Swanson took on the Accelerade 50K course and came away exhausted and elated about his 15th-place finish (7:29:56). “My biggest rave is about how well the course was marked,” he exclaimed. “Huge kudos and applause to those who were tasked to mark that beast.” Swanson also had the “opportunity” to experience the Endurance Challenge medical teams twice, both times to have his ankles taped.

Swanson agreed the real story was the course. “I've told my parents and friends that this is the single hardest thing that I've ever done,’" he said. “And West Point hasn't been a cake walk, by any means! I find myself looking with sadistic interest at the September 6th Endurance Challenge event in Washington, DC.”

The Half Marathon saw a whopping 218 runners lace up their trail-running shoes (and, for some unwise souls, racing flats) to tackle the 13.1-mile course that confronted runners with countless steep climbs and quad-cramping descents. Olver Obagi (2:15:37) outran Shaun Chandler (2:22:08) of West Point, NY, for the men’s crown while The North FaceŽ Endurance Athlete Nikki Kimball of Livingston, MT, won the women’s race, finishing third overall with a time to 2:25:33, 26 minutes ahead of her closest challenger. In all, there were 208 finishers.

After the Half Marathon, Blaise Gregory, who finished 139th overall, said, “The race lived up to the profile and its name. It was the most technical race I have done to date and also the most fun.” Like 50K finisher Tom Palomba, Blaise gave the aid station volunteers credit for helping him reach the finish. Several local groups graciously volunteered to help staff aid stations and the Finish/Start area and sent runners to take part, including: Reservoir Dogs Racing Team, Van Cortlandt Track Club, and the Albany Running Exchange.

Half Marathoner Diana Wall of Dalton, CT, placed third in the 40-49 age group and left impressed. “The race was true to its name—an endurance challenge,” she said. “I challenged myself, met some great people, and had a really good experience.”

A 10K Like No Other

The 10K race enjoyed the largest field of the day, with 296 runners setting the pace up the course’s first stiff climb. Kirby Davis from Falmouth, MA, won the race with a time of 51:55, nipping second-place finisher Mario Souza (52:14). Christine Barile (1:03:32) from Verona, NY, beat the women’s field for top honors. Emily Kindlon from Brooklyn, NY, clocked a time of 1:07:40 for second place in the women’s race.

As finishers from the 10K, Half Marathon, and 50K race mingled at the post-race party, 50-milers did battle with what some runners soon discovered was a course unlike any others found on the Eastern Seaboard. The highly technical, non-stop layout was littered with loose rocks, tight singletrack, and rivers of mud that challenged runners at every turn – along with an estimated 10,000 total feet of elevation gain.

Chris Rice, a 34-year-old veteran of over 75 ultramarathons from Suffern, NY, managed to outlast the 50-mile course, eventually finishing seventh. "This was truly a trail ultra,” he said. “It put runners up against challenging terrain without adding in road sections ... no fluff." And Rice knows endurance – he juggles three sons and a demanding job at Bank of America in between racing and training.

Into the Unknown

Some of the day’s most epic tales of dirty derring-do came from the intrepid 50-mile adventurers. Still, relative calm prevailed at 5 a.m. on Race Day as some of the region’s top ultra-endurance runners stood at the starting line, their headlamps aglow in the pre-dawn darkness. In all, 86 runners started the 50-Mile Endurance Challenge. At least one of them wore a pair of hiking boots – arguably a smarter choice than the road-running shoes worn by a few others.

The calmness would not last.

Among the runners, Leigh Schmitt on Conway, MA, reigned as one of the pre-race favorites. Schmitt, 35, won the 2007 Endurance Challenge regional in Washington DC, and placed an impressive third at the Championship three months later in San Francisco. This year, he has his sights set on the series once again.

“I went into it (the Bear Mountain race) a little blind,” said Schmitt. “I hadn’t run the course and had never spent any time in that area – it was all new: the terrain, topography, everything.”

As a result, Schmitt didn’t know what to expect in terms of a finishing time. “There was a bunch of us that started out together,” he explains. One of them was East Coast ultra-speedster Glen Redpath, who had finished second to Schmitt at the 2007 Bull Run Run 50, a trail ultra in Virginia. In the early miles, Schmitt turned to Redpath, who knows the area well, and asked, “How long do you think this is going to take us?” Redpath estimated nine hours – at least an hour longer than Schmitt’s original estimate. “Immediately,” says Schmitt, “I knew I had to scale back and change my game plan.”

Schmitt had to deal with another obstacle as well – the weather. Just 20 minutes after the race began, runners felt the worst of a storm system sitting over the region. All hell broke loose. “I could barely see beyond my hand,” he said. “And, since it was still early in the spring, a lot of those hiking trails hadn’t been cleared of leaves and debris.” Schmitt agreed with other runners that the first five miles of the Bear Mountain 50-Miler were some of the most technical anywhere.

But there was a silver lining to the thick clouds overhead. “Those first miles saved my legs,” says Schmitt, who described the early pace as snail-like and “pedantic.”

The rain passed after some time and 50-mile runners quickened the pace as the skies lightened. “When the sun came up, I felt more confident,” says Schmitt. “I felt like I could pick up a little speed.”

Overall, the first 20 to 25 miles of the Bear Mountain course were very technical, but Schmitt tackled it at a faster pace than any other runners out there, including Redpath. Over the second half of the course, Schmitt capitalized on some more forgiving segments. “Early on, you really couldn’t take your eyes off the trail,” he says. “Later in the course, there were some vistas and you could open it up a little bit more.” Schmitt’s time reflected that fact; he ran negative splits from Mile 26 to the finish.

Schmitt’s finishing time of 8:26:21 easily cleared the nine-hour estimate by Glen Redpath, who finished behind Schmitt with a time of 9:39:30 and took home the second-place prize of $600. As the Bear Mountain winner, Schmitt was awarded $1,000 plus a trip to The North FaceŽ Endurance Challenge Championship in San Francisco in December. Marc Gravatt of Gardiner, NY, finished in 10:44:45, strong enough for third place and a cash prize of $350.

Will Schmitt head to California for the championship?

“That’s a no brainer,” laughed Schmitt, who said that he’d bring his wife and probably his two kids on the trip this time around. “Doing that course out there in California, you feel like you’re a part of something bigger – from the redwoods to the Muir Woods to the ocean.”

Epic, Rocky Glory

“It was epic that first hour,” said Deborah Livingston, who lives in Bolton, CT, 15 minutes east of Hartford.

Livingston was referencing the insane weather that hammered Endurance Challenge runners during the early miles of the Bear Mountain 50-Mile regional. “The sky lit up and the skies opened up – and it was coming down hard,” she recalls. “It felt like we were hiking up a stream bed. All you could see was water and dead leaves through the downpour.”

Livingston was grateful she chose to dress for the race in layers. As the race wore on and the conditions changed, she simply peeled off layers and handed them to her crew and top fans—her husband, Tom, and their 20-month-old son, Shepard. “It was still foggy for quite awhile – there were some parts where you couldn’t see 10 feet in front of you.” Later, the fog lifted and runners were rewarded with fantastic views of the Hudson River Valley.

Livingston, who has been running ultramarathons since 1999, was also grateful that she chose this particular Endurance Challenge event. “All of the trails around here are boulder trails,” she explains, referring to her home trails in New England. “That’s what I feel I do my best running on. When it gets to be good footing, I don’t have the foot speed in those situations to keep up with people. I like sharp ups and downs and lots of rocks.” While other runners accustomed to pavement or groomed paths may have been fish out of water on the Bear Mountain slopes, Livingston gobbled the rocks and boulders like a piranha.

As the 50-mile race progressed, it grew increasingly evident that Livingston was in her element and some other runners were struggling with the terrain. Early on, she trailed Elizabeth Carrion from New York, NY, before overtaking her on a sharp uphill. From there, Livingston seemed to have the women’s race in hand.

Even better, it dawned on her that she was near the front of the men’s pack as well. “At Mile 27, I realized I was fourth overall,” she says. “I heard there was a guy who was just a little bit ahead of me. I had seen him during one of the short out and backs, so I had a good handle on where he was.” Livingston eventually caught the runner around Mile 31, boosting her into third place overall.

Still, there were 19 miles to go and anything can happen over such a large distance. Yet Livingston held strong. While reflecting on the race afterward, she was surprised that she never experienced a rough patch like she normally does during a 50-mile event. “I never had that in this race,” she says. “I think that was because of the terrain and the slow pace we had to go to negotiate it.”

It could also be a reflection of Livingston’s tough training regimen. “I do a lot of yoga, pilates, and strength training,” she explains. “Plus, pushing the little guy (her son, Shepard) around in the jog stroller for a lot of my runs … it helps in that you’re pushing that extra weight.”

On a course that rewarded physical and mental toughness, Livingston never surrendered her third-place position, and arrived at the finish-line party to a few gasps of awe – even catching the p.a. announcer by surprise with her remarkable performance. Her time of 10:18:09 placed her 40 minutes ahead of the next female finisher, Carol O’Hear of Brookline, MA, and won her $1,000. O’Hear won $600 and Carrion held to third place for $350.

In all, there were 19 finishers in The North FaceŽ Endurance Challenge 50-Miler at Bear Mountain, NY. Afterward, many athletes – including those who had received shuttle rides back to the staging area – attributed the low finishing rate to the challenging weather conditions and the course’s off-the-charts technical difficulty. Livingston, on the other hand, basked in the glow of her finisher’s medal. “I’m in my glory when the terrain is rough,” she said.

With her victory, Livingston also receives a trip to The North FaceŽ Endurance Challenge Championship in San Francisco next December. At this point, Livingston seemed more eager to relish this hard-earned victory than plan for another 50-mile race. “It’s four days later and I’m still tired,” she said, with a hint of pride.

Next Up

The North FaceŽ Endurance Challenge barely takes a breather before the next regional event, May 10 in Seattle-Bellingham, WA. The Bellingham course promises an impressive test of endurance and trail running punctuated by five-star scenery and awe-inspiring views. For additional information, including how to register, visit challenge.thenorthface.com