The North Face does quite a bit of its branding work in the ultrarunning space - they have their own race series, sponsor high-level athletes, and have Dean Karnazes as a spokesperson.

But the reason I call it branding is because most actual ultrarunners flock to other shoe brands - Hoka One One, Altra, Brooks. They also know Dean wasn't all that of a top elite in the sport... ever. And the secret is most of North Face's top ultrarunning athletes aren't winning the races actually running in their shoes.

All that said, it's a pretty fringe sport and it isn't a bad thing they have gotten involved - as they provide some cash into a sport whose top athletes make in a year what a top software developer makes in a month.