Tuesday 22 September 2009

Media release: Kilian's Quest

A media release on Kilian's Quest - interesting read.

Kilian’s Quest to Take on Tahoe Rim Trail

On September 28th, ultrarunner Kilian Jornet will take on the Tahoe Rim Trail as the North American component of his audacious worldwide trail-running challenge.

“Kilian’s Quest” is the personal trail-running odyssey of Catalan runner Kilian Jornet, who has quietly become trail-running’s brightest phenomenon. Mountain-born and with a background in ski mountaineering, the Catalonian has dominated the SkyRunning World Series, won The North Face Ultra-Trail Mont Blanc two years in a row, and recently pulverized the record for traversing Corsica’s 120-mile GR20 trail (32h, 52m) during his first stop for Kilian’s Quest.

While this dominance of Europe’s ultrarunning competitions is noteworthy, it is his youth that makes Kilian perhaps a once-in-a-generation talent: he is 21 years old -- and has launched the Quest to find the world’s most significant trail challenges and apply his speed and endurance to running them faster than anyone ever has.

Kilian’s journey along the Tahoe Rim Trail will wind him through a 165-mile (266km) loop wrapped around the largest alpine lake in North America. The trail is comprised mostly of multiuse single-track, connecting the peaks along the ridge tops of the Lake Tahoe Basin. Passing through California and Nevada, the trail ranges in elevation from 6,240 feet to 10,338, with a total elevation gain of over 21,000 feet. The current non-stop record for the trail (45h, 58m) was established in 2005 by ultra-runner Tim Twietmeyer.

The focus of Kilian’s Quest is centered on running the most majestic peaks and trails in the world, and while his journeys are intended to merely pit an extraordinary athlete against legendary challenges, he is capable of setting new records at each point in his odyssey.

Paul Guimond, Salomon’s Senior Marketing Manager, said “Salomon has an extensive history of supporting extraordinary athletes. Kilian is a unique athlete, and his quest is something we want to support because it will help establish new levels of human accomplishments in the mountain environment. Moreover, Kilian is re-uniting the worlds of runners and hikers and makes the trails the new aspirational sports playground. ”

Readers and bloggers can follow Kilian’s Quest through his Face book page, (facebook.com/salomonrunning), via Twitter (twitter.com/salomon_running) or on his blog (salomonrunning.com).

About Salomon:
Salomon was born in 1947 in the heart of the French Alps and the birthplace of modern alpinism. Driven by passion for skiing and design innovation, Francois Salomon and his son George designed and perfected many of the first modern ski bindings. During the following 60 years, Salomon's commitment to innovative design and passion for mountain sports created a vast range of revolutionary new concepts in bindings, boots, skis and apparel for both alpine and nordic skiing and brought innovative solutions to footwear, apparel and equipment for snowboarding, adventure racing, and many other sports. Today, Salomon products are sold in over 160 countries and the brand is a global icon. Through performance driven design, Salomon delivers innovation and progression to mountain sports; converting new ideas into action and expanding the limits of possibility. Salomon's heritage, culture, and commitment are tied together by one simple concept: the world’s leading mountain people creating the world’s leading mountain product. Salomon, the Mountain Sports Company since 1947.

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