Tackling Bear Mountain

Rye resident Scott Prosser finished eighth at the North Face Endurance Challenge at Bear Mountain April 12, a grueling 50-mile run on a course considered to be one of the country’s most demanding. Prosser’s time of 11:22:56 was third-best of males in the 30-39 age group.
Former Rye resident Rob Clark, 38, also took on Bear Mountain, coming in 11th in the half-marathon in a group of 207 entrants (with a time just under 2 hours, 37 minutes). He had some first-hand observations of the challenge:
 “While California and Washington State may conjure up bigger, more impressive settings – and they do indeed boast more challenging elevation gains – no race is harder than the one at Bear Mountain, according to North Face.
This event is the only one to get all five stars for ‘Overall Difficulty,’ and that is surely because of the incredibly root-y and rocky terrain over which the participants must travel. The Bear Mountain race also is the only race of all five to get the highest rating in terms of ‘technical terrain.’ And while ‘technical’ may be race-industry jargon, it does no justice to the challenges posed BY the terrain at Bear Mountain.
Seldom could a participant take more than two to three strides without having to look back down at the ground to avoid tripping, falling or rolling/breaking an ankle. The technicality of the race, I would say, was easily its defining feature.”