North Face Endurance Challenge Brings Inaugural Road Event to KC 

"Ultra-Marathon Man" and The North Face Global Athlete Dean Karnazes will return to Kansas City after his Run Across America, bringing The North Face Endurance Challenge along with him.

Ultra-Marathon Man Dean Karnazes

For the past four years, The North Face Endurance Challenge has offered a unique running experience that has allowed people to push and exceed their personal limits on the trail. Hosted by Dean Karnazes, this event series starts in Bear Mountain, NY and travels to Washington, DC; Madison, WI; Atlanta, GA; and San Francisco, CA. For the first time, The North Face is pushing this experience beyond the trail, with a road event on August 27-28 that will bring the road running community in and around Kansas City the same quality event experience.

"When evaluating new markets for The North Face Endurance Challenge, trail or road, a high quality, well designed course and how enjoyable it will be for runners takes highest priority, " said Director of Sports Marketing for The North Face, Katie Ramage. "Once that is assured, we go on to measure the destination on a variety of other criteria including does the market want another event.  Having local community support and enthusiasm from the running community has been key to our decision to come to Kansas City, Missouri this August."

Following a two-day format similar to other Endurance Challenge events, the road event will feature a Marathon, Marathon Relay and 50K distances on Saturday, and a 5K, 10K and Half Marathon distances on Sunday. Parents can also bring their kids for the daily 1K Karno Kid's Races, led by Dean himself.

The Kansas City event starts and finishes in the beautiful Frank A. Theis Park  just a few blocks from The North Face store in Country Club Plaza.  Runners will wind through the Plaza and Downtown, along the Missouri River and back towards Theis Park on a rolling and scenic course.

On June 25, Dean will be coming to Kansas City to meet local runners and challenge them to get outdoors and get healthy this summer.  Join Dean at 10:00am for a fun run starting from The North Face retail store in Country Club Plaza and then walk over to Neptune Courtyard to hear about his recent "Run Across America" which he finished this past May in New York City.  There will be live music and food available from 10:30am - 1:00pm. This is a great opportunity for the running community of Kansas to get together and celebrate their love of putting one foot in front of the other and meet a man who has more than a few "tales from the road" to share.  Dean will be available to sign copies of his new bestselling book, "RUN! 26.2 Stories of Blister and Bliss".

For more information about The North Face Endurance Challenge August 27-28 or to hear more about Dean's June 25 visit to Kansas City, click here.

Parks Spotlight: Loose Flagpole 

HISTORY

In November 1912, Jacob Loose, Chairman of the Board of the Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company and local philanthropist, appeared before the Board of Park Commissioners and offered to erect a flagpole in Swope Park "as a memorial to Thomas H. Swope."   The Park Board approved the proposal in January 1913.  The first location discussed was "in the center of the circle between the roadways east of the main entrance to Swope Park."

Mr. Loose worked with the companies needed to create the flagpole including the pole itself, the marble base, and plaques to place on the base.  He was in contact with Landscape Architect George Kessler to discuss progress of the project and possible locations for the flagpole. It was necessary that all plans be approved by the Board of Park Commissioners and George Kessler.   The final location was not chosen until late May 1915. 

From the early days of planning, the height of 200 feet was mentioned.  This is a very tall flagpole (the average in ground flagpole runs about 15 feet for homes and 20 - 30 feet for most businesses).  Making it even more unusual was that part of the plan was also to make such a tall pole "unguyed" which means no stabilizing wires attaching the very tall flagpole to the ground.

The flagpole's dedication occurred on July 5, 1915 with an estimated crowd of 90,000 people at the ceremony.  The 200 foot tall pole was topped by a copper eagle weather vane.  Four brass plaques were placed on the marble base.  One told of the presentation to Swope Park, Jacob Loose's name and the date; on another was the Gettysburg Address; the third had the words of "The Star Spangled Banner"; and the fourth showed a portion of the Declaration of Independence.  The flagpole was not officially named for Jacob Loose but over the years acquired the name of "Loose Flagpole" or "Loose Memorial Flagpole" to honor the great gift of Mr. Loose. 

A strong wind blew the eagle off its perch two weeks after the dedication and it was placed back on top of the pole.  A copper ball replaced the eagle in 1919 after a storm broke off the top 15 feet of the pole.   A weathervane was later put on top.  In 1931, a small plane crashed into the flagpole in bad weather and when repairs were made, the height of the pole was reduced to 175 feet.

In 2010 the flagpole underwent repair work, and was cleaned and painted by steeplejack Jim Phelan. The original plaques, which disappeared in the early 1980s, have been recreated and will be dedicated at 12 Noon on July 9, 2011, as part of the Party in the Park celebration of National Parks and Recreation Month.

LOCATION

Main entrance (west side) of Swope Park