Famed ultrarunner Diane Van Deren, who was named one of National Geographic’s “Adventurers of the Year” in 2010, spent 10 years racked by epilepsy before radical brain surgery gifted her with a seizure-free life and a superhuman endurance that has driven her to win grueling events like the 2009 Yukon Arctic Ultra, a 430-mile foot race across a frozen wilderness. In 2010 she turned to mountaineering and climbed South America’s tallest peak, Aconcagua.
In May, Van Deren, who is sponsored by The North Face, will tackle nearly 1,000 miles of North Carolina’s iconic Mountains-to-Sea Trail. Van Deren will attempt to set the time record and complete the expedition, supported in part by specialty outdoor retailer Great Outdoor Provision Co. To do so, she will need to complete the rugged trail in less than 24 days, averaging more than 38 miles per day. North Carolina’s Matt Kirk recently became the first person to complete the journey.
Van Deren will begin her race for the record on May 10 at Clingman’s Dome in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, then traverse the untamed Blue Ridge mountains, the Piedmont foothills, the swamps and pocosins in North Carolina’s coastal plain, and finish on the sandy beaches of the Outer Banks. Along the way, she’ll summit Mount Mitchell, the highest peak on the East Coast, as well as Jockey’s Ridge, the tallest sand dune on the East Coast. Her goal is to complete the trail on June 2 at Jockey’s Ridge State Park on the Outer Banks to commemorate Great Outdoor Provision Co.’s Land Trust Day to bring attention to the state trail.
“The Mountains-to-Sea Trail is everything that’s good about the outdoors,” said Tom Valone, president of Great Outdoor Provision Co. “It provides a great selection of day hikes for families as well as the multiday wilderness experience that backpackers are seeking. Our company is pleased to be part of this expedition with The North Face.”
“The diversity and complexity of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail is what first drew me to this challenge, since the terrain ranges from high peaks to swamps and sand,” said Van Deren. “I know I’ll run into my fair share of obstacles, but I’m looking forward to exploring a region of the country that is new to me.”
The MST is part of North Carolina’s renowned state park system, and the trail crosses land managed by a diversity of federal, state, and local agencies. Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail (www.ncmst.org) is the vibrant citizen support group, which raises money and organizes volunteers to build, protect, and promote the trail.
One of Van Deren’s goals in running across North Carolina is to raise money to build, protect, and promote the Mountains-to-Sea-Trail. Her hope is that her run leaves a lasting legacy for the trail so that more and more people can experience North Carolina one step at a time.
For more information about the expedition and to track Van Deren’s progress in real time, visit www.mstendurancerun.com and www.neverstopexploring.com.
