The One Event U.S. Trail Running is Missing (And How to Build It)
Marin County once hosted the perfect mid-November championship. Six years later, we have the location, the demand, and the blueprint for a world-class season finale.
Trail running has never been more popular in the U.S., yet the sport has a glaring hole in its ecosystem.
No, not another nutrition brand or shoe startup. I’m not even talking about a unified anti-doping governing body (though that would help).
What’s missing is something trail running once had, took for granted, and then let slip away. A true, championship-level North American season finale. A race where the best runners line up, brands show up in force, and fans around the world tune in.
Marin County once hosted that very race. It could again.
Background and Why This Race Series Should Exist
I’ll admit my bias. I’m nostalgic, I love runnable trails, and I fell in love with the sport in the Marin Headlands while I lived in San Francisco.
Up until 2019, Marin hosted the North Face Endurance Challenge (TNFEC) Championship each November. The sport’s best athletes flocked to the Bay Area for deep fields, big prize purses, and a course straight out of a trail runner’s daydream. The 50-mile and 50K became especially iconic.
For a decade, TNFEC gave the U.S. trail running scene something rare: a true end-of-season championship. A beautiful course. A place where legends were made.
Exhibit A: Hayden Hawks vs. Zach Miller at the 2016 TNFEC 50-Miler
Why did it work?
Photogenic, world-class trails.
One of the most competitive fields in the sport.
Pre-livestream era moments that became trail running lore.
The perfect mid-November timing between UTMB and winter.
Brand involvement that turned the race into series a cultural moment.
Then, in 2019, the North Face made the strategic decision to discontinue the series, hinting at a new format before COVID derailed everything. The sport rebounded, but the championship never returned.
Six years later, nothing has filled that void. Javelina in October is great, but it’s a flat, desert 100-miler, not a season finale. The calendar still has a structural gap for a mid-November throwdown.
And importantly, there’s precedent, opportunity, and genuine demand.
Precedent. TNFEC San Francisco (held in Marin) proved there’s appetite for a November race with elite fields and national attention.
Opportunity. Black Canyon opens the year in February. Western States owns June. August and September belong to UTMB and the World Championships. But nothing in Q4 carries the competitive prestige the TNFEC 50-miler once had. With more pros, brands, and media than ever, the sport is primed for a modern championship.
Demand. TNFEC was wildly popular even before livestreams. Imagine consistent coverage on par with (or better than) the Hayden vs. Zach footage. Each November, the eyes of the trail world would be on Marin County once again.
What’s Changed Since 2019?
In short: a lot.
The North Face may have had good business reasons to cancel the series in 2019, but bringing it back in 2025 makes even more sense.
First, the sport is far more commercialized today. Trail running has grown, brands have grown with it, and money and media attention have followed. Yet the U.S. still lacks a signature end-of-season bookend event.
Second, the talent level has exploded. Runners are faster, fields are deeper, and what won races in 2019 might not crack the podium now. A domestic championship that matches the sport’s modern competitiveness is overdue.
Finally, I think athletes want meaningful racing at home, but only UTMB offers a meaningful domestic race this time of year. While UTMB has done plenty of good for the sport1, it would be healthy to have a non-UTMB championship finale to balance the ecosystem and prevent UTMB from expanding into this idea itself.
Back in 2019, a race already existed that addressed all of these needs. Reviving it could solve them once again.
Why Marin?
More like why not Marin?
Marin’s trails are some of the most beautiful and runnable in the world. To prove it, here are a few random photos on my phone from trail runs over the years:
✅ Fire roads with views.
✅ Oceanside trails.
✅ Scenic vistas.
✅ Singletrack for days.
I’m not even a photographer. Marin just looks like this all the time. Beyond the aesthetics, Marin is the ideal racing ground:
Elite-friendly terrain. The famed “California Carpet”2 is perfect for fast, competitive racing.
Community. The Bay Area has one of the largest trail communities in the country, anchored by San Francisco Running Company and a cluster of outdoor brands.
Location. Less than 20 minutes from San Francisco and close to two major airports (SFO and OAK), Marin is easy to access and surrounded by food, culture, and lodging.
If you were designing a championship race from scratch, you could do a whole lot worse than the Marin Headlands.
Why November?
November is the ideal window for a simple set of reasons:
Calendar: Aside from Javelina in late October, there are no major U.S. races.
Post-UTMB reset: UTMB finishers have ~10 weeks to recover and rebuild.
Before holidays: Still within brand storytelling and product-launch cycles, but early enough to avoid the winter slowdown.
Media oxygen: Nowhere near the saturation of WSER, UTMB, or Worlds.
It’s the rare calendar slot where athletes can add a race and brands can go big.
How It Could Actually Work (Operational Blueprint)
Reviving a race series is more complex than a newsletter idea, but here are a few core principles for building a compelling, modern championship.
(1) Keep the Core and Be Approachable
The heart of TNFEC was the 50K and the 50-mile. Keep those. Build the weekend around them.
I sketched two concept routes that echo the original races:
Same Sausalito start line near Pacheco St.
Point-to-point layouts that hit iconic Headlands landmarks.
Fast, runnable, “California Carpet” terrain that rewards competitive racing.
One key change that I propose is dropping the Golden Gate Bridge finish. Beautiful? Yes. Iconic? Absolutely. But finishing an ultra while dodging tourists on a Saturday afternoon? Not ideal.
50K Concept Course
50-Mile Concept Course
Around these marquee races, you could easily add 10K, half marathon, or 30K starting/finishing in the same place. It creates a festival atmosphere without alienating anyone who prefers the sub-ultra distances.
(2) Incentivize the Best to Show Up
If this is going to be a true championship, it needs to be a date circled on every elite runner’s calendar. To this end, three levers matter most.
A real prize purse. Offer deep, competitive payouts on par with other major races. Pay the top 10 men and women in the 50K and 50-mile races. Think similar to Run Rabbit Run.
Travel Stipends and Perks. Partner with brands to subsidize athlete travel and housing. Create an “athlete village” in Mill Valley where teams can house athletes, set up activations, and host events.
Golden Tickets. I’m not arguing for a specific race to lose theirs, but a November GoldenTicket race makes sense. Nothing raises stakes like a Western States bid, and Lake Sonoma proved in the past that a competitive 50-miler makes a great Golden Ticket race.
(3) World Class Live Coverage
This is the biggest shift from 2019 to now. Back then, we followed Western States on Twitter (appreciate you, iRunFar!). Today, we can watch it like the Super Bowl.
With Mountain Outpost, Freetrail, and Singletrack, this race could deliver best-in-class coverage. Think multiple camera teams, course-wide livestreams, pre-and post-race shows, prediction pods, and daily content live from Marin.
Who Could Sponsor or Co-Own This Race?
This is the fun part. A modern championship would give a brand a rare chance to plant its flag in the sport. A few candidates:
The North Face. The obvious choice. They backed the original series, and there’s built-in nostalgia if they brought it back.
HOKA. They sponsor everything else, so why not?
Strava. The company appears to be on solid financial footing (with IPO rumors swirling) and it’s based in San Francisco. After a strange summer of lawsuits and PR confusion, presenting a marquee race in its backyard would be an effective way to shift public perception and show commitment to one of the communities that powers its platform.
Rivian. A non-endemic fit, but the lifestyle overlap could make sense. It could be a savvy move for them, though whether it’s the best fit for trail running is debatable.
There are plenty of other possibilities, but the larger point is that a November championship gives any trail-focused brand the opportunity to become a foundational pillar of the sport.
Risks to Address
No good idea is risk-free. A few headwinds worth acknowledging:
Permitting in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Yes, it’s complex, but there’s clear precedent. TNFEC operated in the same footprint for years. That history should give the GGNRA confidence the event can meet their standards.
Weather volatility. It’s November, so rain is always possible. But this window avoids both peak wildfire season and the heaviest winter storms.
Volunteer and staffing demands. A large event requires a massive volunteer base, but the Bay Area’s trail community is deep, organized, and used to supporting big races.
UTMB World Series expansion in the U.S. I see this less as a threat and more as the reason this race should exist.UTMB has undeniably grown the sport, but it shouldn’t be the only marquee series. A November championship creates a healthy counterweight.
A modern Marin championship isn’t just nostalgia. It’s the event the U.S. trail scene is missing. With the right partner, the Headlands could once again host the season-defining showdown American trail running deserves.
Let me know what you think? Is this a good idea for the future or one better left in the past?
Would you be interested in a deeper dive business case argument for an event like this?
The Aid Station
Miscellaneous quick hits. Trail style. Actionable, digestible, essential.
⚖ A Presidential Pardon in Trail Running
By now most have probably heard about Michelino Sunseri’s FKT attempt that resulted in him facing potential federal charges for cutting a prohibited switchback on federal land in Grand Teton National Park. The story itself was already wild, but took a crazier turn this week after Sunseri was pardoned by the President.
Putting politics aside, a trail runner being pardoned by the President in 2025 was not within the realm of things I thought were possible. It seems like Michelino is super grateful for his legal saga to be over, but I’m more convinced than ever that we might be living in a simulation.
Runnable, fast, non-technical terrain.
I’d love to see this event, or something resembling it, return to the Headlands. (Admittedly I’m biased since I live here and ran my first 50 mile at the 2017 edition.) A few years ago Spartan took over this race weekend but the event has exactly none of the magic or appeal of the Endurance Challenge Championship. TNF did a great job hosting on a quality event, putting up big prize $$ (I still call Marincello $10,000 hill), and engaging with the local community leading up to and through the event itself. They also grew it over the course of a decade or so and San Francisco Running Company helped take the excitement around it to a new level from 2013-19. (Also note: Poor AQI from wildfires causes the cancellation of the event in 2018.) That said, DBo is building something very special with the Big Alta but it’s a different time of year and doesn’t have the championship-style appeal at the front (yet, anyway), but if the 100K becomes a Golden Ticket race and/or some big prize $$ enters the picture, that may help take it to the next level.
Why not just make a bigger fuss around the JFK 50 mile? It's had more and more elite runners in the post-TNFEC era and it's got tons of history. TNFEC was a great event and I loved Miller vs Hawks, but worth considering.