NEW YORK | BEAR MOUNTAIN STATE PARK
The North Face Endurance Challenge
“A hardy test for trail runners of any level, The North Face Endurance Challenge New York winds along the western shores of the Hudson River and through the craggy foothills of the Catskill Mountains. Expect enough rocks and challenging terrain along the course to keep you engaged, but not enough to prevent you from running the majority of the race.” The North Face
Race Reports, Photos & Videos
Each year one of my favorite races is The North Face Endurance Challenge at Bear Mountain, NY. This was to be my fifth year participating in the event, but my first attempt at the 50k. The previous 3 years I’d ran the 50 mile, and before that, the marathon. However, there was a new obstacle to contend with at this years race...
I went into this past weekend with a pretty ambitious goal: run teammates Jason Friedman’s New Paltz Pizza Challenge Friday night, (register for and) run The North Face 50k in Bear Mountain Saturday morning, drive back up to Rochester Saturday night, and race the Medved Madness 25K in my hometown on Sunday. Well, in brief, I did not accomplish all of these goals, but whatever I did accomplish, it turned out to be one of those weekends you just hope never ends!
It was a another big weekend of racing for the team with The North Face Endurance Challenge visiting the great trails of Bear Mountain & Harriman State Park of NY, as well as the Rock the Ridge 50 Mile Endurance Challenge.
Hey Bear Mountain - shove it! Yeah, you heard me. Yes I am pointing 2 appendages your way. You always try to thwart us with your rocky and rooty paths. Your climbs often make us want to curl up into little balls. This year you added streams of water where there shouldn’t have been and mud...
This weekend kicked off the start to my racing season. I would represent my team at the North Face Half Marathon at Bear Mountain. I'd never run this race before but was familiar with the course since I had the opportunity to run all the trail sections. Earlier in the week the NYC/NJ metropolitan area received quite a bit of rainfall...
The weekend of May 4-5th brought The North Face Endurance Challenge back to Bear Mountain in New York. I was competing in Sunday’s half marathon for the fifth time. This race has been my spring goal for the last few years. I have enjoyed high finishes and went into this years race looking for more success.
During the 50 Mile Endurance Run, I was filming near Aid Station #4 Lake Skannatati, mile 20.7. I made my way up the red trail towards Pine Swamp Mtn because I knew this was one of the more visually fun sections to watch runners make their way through.
Another great weekend on the trails of Bear Mountain & Harriman State Park! Weather was perfect for the hundreds of runners that showed up for one hell of an adventure
With the encouragement of my Mountain Peak Fitness Campmor Teammates, I registered for The North Face 50 Mile endurance run. It was our “home” course after all! With guidance from teammates I was able to run on the course a few times before the race, but I had really only seen the first 12-15 miles. If I had only known what was in store – R O C K S!
In 2010, I ran The North Face Endurance Challenge Bear Mountain 50K in a time of 5:34, which was good enough for fifth place that year. Since then, I have battled a series of running related injuries that have kept me from ultrarunning for almost two years.
On May 6th I participated in my 4th North Face Endurance Challenge half marathon in Bear Mountain, NY. The North Face races take place over 2 days with the longer races taking place on Saturday and shorter ones Sunday. There is only one word to describe the course...grueling!
In past years the North Face 50 has been a goal race for me but not this year, typically I do not use races as training but since this was in my backyard I said what the heck. I showed up tired and without a taper trying to keep my eye on the bigger picture of my season.
Here are photos from the 2012 The North Face Endurance Challenge in Bear Mountain New York.
For the first time ever TNF 50 Miler started without rain. Yes, it was a little chilly at 4:00 am but they had heaters that you could stand by to keep warm before the 5:00am race start. They sent us off right at 5:00 am It was pretty tricky for the first 30 minutes with everyone crowding on a rocky trail in the dark but as soon as the sky started to lighten up our headlamps were no longer needed.
The following is my race report for the 2011 North Face Endurance Challenge Marathon Relay... The course was a tough 6.55 mile trail loop that offered a total elevation gain of 1,212 ft along with many rocks and mud to negotiate.
On your marks get set go... our alarm went off at 2:50 a.m. I rose to my feet and started preparing myself while Joe loaded the truck, here we go, my season is about to start and guess what, its pouring rain outside exactly like last year!
April 12th, 2008 the day has come to see if all my winter training would pay off. Joe and I started the day at 3:00 a.m early Sat. morning, the weather forecast had been calling for rain showers all day which I knew was going to make an already challenging course into an extreme test of my technical trail running skills
On Sunday My client Paul and I headed out to Harriman State Park to go for a long training run on the Bear Mountain 50 mile course. This course and race is part of the North Face Challenge. We started at the first visitor center off of seven lakes drive which is the mile 25 check point and preceded to run for 9 solid hours.
I came into the 2015 The North Face Endurance Challenge 50k at Bear Mountain State Park unsure of my fitness; I hadn’t raced since September of last year, I hadn’t done the volume or long runs in training that I would have liked… But I was also very excited! It was time to race again, and it was my first race representing the MPF/RNR team!