Inclement weather will result in a highly modified course for this year’s The North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Mile Championships. The California State Parks have decided that their jurisdiction’s higher elevations and the area’s particular topography make it ill-suited for hosting many hundreds of trail runners on Saturday. As a result, the entire TNF EC 50 mile (now 46.8 miles), as well as the 50k will be run on National Park Service-administered lands.
What does that mean? Well, the entire course north of Muir Beach is out. No Cardiac Hill. No Coastal Trail out-and-back. No Stinson Beach. Instead, there race will consist of two laps of a 23.4-mile course. Each loop begins with approximately 13 miles out to Muir Beach on the original course followed by the original course’s final 10 miles. Full aid stations will be found at Tennessee Valley (Runners pass through twice per lap.), Muir Beach, and Fort Barry, where the start/finish is located. Water stops will remain at the “Mile 5 Water Stop” and Alta.
All the details of the new 50-mile course (pdf) are now available. The new 50k course (pdf) is available, as well.
The replacement course for the 2012 The North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Mile.
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