Sausalito, California, December 5. Uli Steidl of Shoreline, Washington and Caitlin Smith of Oakland, California were the winners at The North Face Endurance Challenge’s championship event held in the Marin Headlands. Steidl, who also won here in 2007, outpaced Geoff Roes for the win. The men’s field was especially deep, as ultra stars like Leigh Schmitt, Dave Mackey and David James were unable to crack the top five.
Smith, who burst onto the ultra scene this year with a win at Way Too Cool, won by 15 minutes over Where’s Waldo 100K winner Joelle Vaught. HURT 100 winner Tracy Garneau was third.
The 50-mile race was the final in The North Face series, which earlier included similar events near Madison, Wisconsin, Arlington, Virginia, Bellingham, Washington and in upstate New York. The winners took home a prize of $10,000 each.
Men
1. Uli Steidl, Shoreline, WA, 6:33:29
2. Geoff Roes, 33, Douglas, AK, 6:40:50
3. Chris Lundstrom, 33, Minneapolis, MN, 6:48:06
4. Tsuyoshi Kaburaki, 40, Gumma, Japan, 6:55:52
5. Michael Wardian, 35, Arlington, VA, 7:09:07
Women
1. Caitlin Smith, 28, Oakland, CA, 7:38:03
2. Joelle Vaught, 34, Boise, ID, 7:53:39
3. Tracy Garneau, 40, Vernon, BC, 8:02:11
4. Helen Cospolich, 32, Breckenridge,CO, 8:53:30
5. Luanne Park, 48, Redding, CA, 9:09:22