Races don’t run themselves and the newly formed Stowe, Vt.-based events company, Native Endurance, is working hard to bring new challenges to New England’s endurance athletes. Their debut race is a 24-hour AT/skimo competition to be held at Bolton Valley Resort on March 19 and 20, where there will be no need to fight through electrical wire or torrents of color—just the raw exhaustion of skinning for a full turn around the clock.
The race will travel over two courses—one during the daytime in Bolton’s backcountry and one at night on Bolton’s groomed terrain. Athletes will try to accumulate as many laps as possible during a 24-hour period—there is a shorter 12-hour race as well. The race is broken into ski and splitboard categories with opportunities to compete individually or in team relays.
Founder RJ Thompson is a long-time endurance athlete and winner of the 2013 Vermont 50 Ultra Run. We talked with RJ at home in Stowe to get the beat on the source of his motivation to organize this race and what his plans are for this year and for the future of the 24 Hours of Bolton and Native Endurance.
Backcountry Magazine: This is a unique race for Vermont. Why did Native Endurance choose to host this event?
RJ Thompson: I lived out in Jackson, Wyoming for three years after college. Out there I raced in the 24 Hours of Moab mountain bike race with some friends. When I moved back to Vermont I worked up at Bolton for a little while—just one season—and I thought that they had a unique mix of backcountry skiing adjacent to their alpine trails. I had talked with Josh Arneson [director of sales and marketing at Bolton Valley Resort] about how to go about executing this event and it seemed more like a pipe dream at the time. Then a few years went by and I started up Native Endurance and my idea to try and do that again came back around. I talked to Josh over the summer and he was still into it.
He told me that if I could pull this together and get everything lined up, Bolton Valley was on board. So I started making contacts in the industry and things came together. Hopefully, if it ever snows in Vermont, we will have the groundwork and foundation for what will be a successful 24-hour race in Vermont.
BCM: What was it specifically about Bolton that spoke to you more than other locations in Vermont?
RJT: Well, having worked there in the past, I knew that they have a great staff. As far as the mountain itself goes, it is under-utilized. When people think of skiing in Vermont, they think of the big names: Stowe, Jay Peak, Killington. But I think Bolton has a lot to offer that folks aren’t really aware of. With backcountry starting to become more popular and mainstream, I think Bolton is a great place to host this event for the first year.
BCM: Are you trying to create a series out of this event in Vermont or in the Northeast?
RJT: That has certainly crossed my mind. Our mission at Native Endurance is to get everyone, or as many people outside, pushing their envelope, testing their perceived limits. I think it would make sense for us to offer a series. We certainly don’t want to saturate the Vermont market because there are not a ton of people who want to go through the sufferfest for 24 hours, but I think that more and more people are trying to see what they can do. Whether or not it is just in Vermont or we expand to New Hampshire and Maine with a series, I think it is certainly possible.
BCM: What kind of athlete are your trying to draw with an event like this? Are you looking to capture an audience similar to the Spartan Race or the Death Race?
RJT: I wouldn’t say that we are trying to go after the same kind of person that is into those races, the Spartan Races and Death Races. If that’s the kind of people it attracts then fantastic, but we are trying to tap into more of the purist individual who just also happens to really like the challenge. If someone is a splitboarder or an AT or skimo racer, I don’t think there are a lot of opportunities for those types of athletes to test their endurance on that kind of equipment. You have your standard uphill races, which are great, but there is nothing like this. If you think of ultra marathons there are races that can really challenge runners and mountain bikers. But here in New England, there is not really anything that can really test an athlete’s endurance [for skiing] or perseverance like a 24-hour backcountry race.
On the flip side, the relay divisions that we have added can attract a whole bunch of different people from the community. Folks that just want to put together a fun relay team and get out there and meet new people and ski at night in the middle of a ski resort. They are just looking for a fun experience.
BCM: You are using this event as an opportunity to fundraise for Vermont Adaptive. What inspired this?
RJT: Each individual competitor gets their own fundraising page, and all of the money that they raise goes to Vermont Adaptive. I chose Vermont Adaptive because I have raised money for them before when I was running the Vermont 50 for a few years, and they have just been a fantastic organization to work with. I think that what they do for their individuals is wonderful. I can’t say enough good things about what they do. They offer so many services for individuals all across Vermont, so it just made sense to start by partnering with them. I wouldn’t say that we are going to exclusively work with them in years to come, but for the first year it just made the most sense because their mission is in line with Native Endurance’s mission—to get everyone outside and enjoying the great outdoors.
BCM: What would you tell people they could expect from this event if they were to sign up?
RJT: It will be one of the most demanding and rewarding experiences of their lives.
BCM: How do you see Native Endurance and this event evolving in the future?
The goal for the event—it’s the first year and people in Vermont like to support things like this, so we have been very fortunate to have a lot of sponsors get on board early—but our goal for this particular event is to make it into an annual event and we want it to grow every year sustainably. We want it to respect our relationships with Bolton and the State of Vermont.
Native Endurance’s long-term goal, besides the 24 Hours of Bolton, is to continue to offer events in the winter and summer that are unique. Not unique in a way where they make you run through electric fences and you get color thrown at you, we are more of a no-gimmicks events organization. Whether it’s a 24-hour race on a bike, on your feet, or on your skis, it’s the sport in its purest form. There will be other events like this coming from Native Endurance.
—To learn more about the 24 Hours of Bolton, visit nativeendurance.com.
Related posts: