SNEWS -- Nikki Kimball Wins Tahoe Rim Trail 100 and USATF 100-Mile Trail Champi

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Nikki Kimball Wins Tahoe Rim Trail 100 and USATF 100-Mile Trail Champi

Posted: 07/24/2008 In Category: Outdoor Manufacturer
Posted By: Amy Goldhammer

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The North Face, the world’s premier supplier of authentic, innovative and technically advanced outdoor apparel, equipment and footwear, today announced The North Face Endurance Team athlete Nikki Kimball’s win of the 2008 USA Track and Field 100-Mile Trail Championship at the Tahoe Rim Trail 100.

Kimball, 37, took first place in the women’s division, with a time of 20:18:12. This was her first time running the race. USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track and field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. Each year a different locale is chosen for the 100-Mile Trail Championship.

“We all went way too hard off the start, then struggled to hold on,” said Kimball of herself and other elite competitors in the field. “Half the top runners dropped. I think all of us were sick and vomiting during the second half from the suicidal pace of the first 50 miles – overall a great day of racing!”

The grueling race is run at high elevation alpine and sub-alpine regions of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The event begins and ends at Spooner Lake State Park, 7,000 feet. The highest point on the course is just below the 9,214 foot Snow Valley Peak (which also provides one of the best views on the course). The low point on both courses is at the bottom of the infamous Red House Loop, known as “A Taste of Hell,” at roughly 6,800 feet.

Kimball was fortunate enough to have multiple pacers along the second half of the race. A friend, worried about her running alone in the dark with the high chance of bears and mountain lions, forfeited her own 50 mile race to pace Kimball for a portion of the grueling last 50 miles.

“I feel so honored and indebted to her for sacrificing her own race, which was going well, out of concern for me,” said Kimball. “It was amazingly selfless, I am lucky to have such friends.”

Kimball is the USA 50 Mile Trail champion in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006, and added the road race title in 2005. She is a three time reigning champion of the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run and the 2007 winner of the Ultra Tour Du Mont Blanc 163K in Chamonix, France.

For more information on Nikki Kimball and The North Face Endurance Team, check out www.thenorthface.com

For more information and details on The Tahoe Rim Trail 100, check out www.tahoemtnmilers.org/trt50/index.html

To register for The North Face Endurance Challenge and the possibility of racing Nikki, head to www2.thenorthface.com/endurancechallenge

About The North Face®
The North Face, a division of VF Outdoor, Inc., was founded in 1968. Headquartered in San Leandro, California, the company offers the most technically advanced products in the market to accomplished climbers, mountaineers, snowsport athletes, endurance athletes, and explorers. The company's products are sold in specialty mountaineering, backpacking, running, and snowsport retailers, premium-sporting goods retailers and major outdoor specialty retail chains.

Contact:
Pamela Bennett
510.618.3654
pam_bennett@vfc.com

Amy Goldhammer
510.618-2815
amy_goldhammer@vfc.com

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