Clark
Zealand, Ph.D.
Clark Zealand has spent his life building paths – across mountains, organizations, and ideas. A consultant, academic, endurance event director, and former elite athlete, he is also the co-founder of Compass & Cause, where he brings clarity, creativity, and conviction to mission-led work.
Outdoor Experience Designer
Inclusive Strategy Advocate
Trail Systems Thinker
Ultra-Endurance Specialist
Academic in Wild Spaces
Detailed Bio
With more than 25 years of experience spanning higher education, organizational consulting, and outdoor leadership, Clark Zealand brings a uniquely applied perspective to every project. He holds a PhD from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada and has built a long-standing career at the intersection of research, teaching, and applied scholarship. His academic work, rooted in environmental philosophy, protected spaces, and visitor experience, continues to inform his research and consulting in land management, recreation systems, and outdoor engagement today.
As a leader in the endurance event space, Clark, a former elite ultra-runner has designed, directed, and consulted on major trail races across the United States. He has directed more than 60 races ranging from 5Ks to 100-milers, each shaped by a deep respect for landscape and logistics. His approach to event planning blends terrain interpretation, intentional design, and participant experience with practical considerations such as land partnerships, environmental impact, and long-term stewardship. This same sensibility informs his broader work in outdoor system design, trail development, and recreation strategy.
In addition to his fieldwork, Clark is deeply engaged in applied academic inquiry. His expertise spans research methodology, data-informed decision making, experiential systems, and translating analytics into actionable insights across outdoor and sport-based contexts. As such, he partners with clients to apply evidence-based methods that translate data into insights, evaluations into learning, and strategy into measurable outcomes. To achieve this, his consulting often applies tools like rapid evidence assessments and other evidence synthesis methods to distill complex academic research into insights that support practical action for organizations, leaders, and families.
Clark’s work is also shaped by personal mission. As the father of a son with profound autism, his experience informs his work with a steady commitment to advocacy, empathy, and inclusive design across every project. He develops tools, systems, and training experiences shaped by an understanding of access, equity, and the lived realities of families with complex needs. Through each initiative, he leads with intention, opening pathways – both literal and figurative – for individuals and families often excluded from traditional systems.
Today, through Compass & Cause, Clark continues to build initiatives that bridge insight and action, people and place, purpose and design. His work reflects a long-view commitment to solutions that are grounded, inclusive, and lasting.
Miles That Shaped The Mission
Clark’s journey into ultra-running began after a successful NCAA D-1 collegiate running career, as he was drawn to the immersive landscapes of the Blue Ridge Mountains, where ultra-running became both a passion and a lifelong pursuit. New to the sport in 1999, he quickly made his mark with a runner-up finish at the historic JFK 50-mile and was one of the most dominant ultrarunners of his era before his career was cut short by the demands of supporting his son following a profound autism diagnosis. At the height of his career, Clark held course records at 12 events across North America, posted a 15:03 at the Vermont 100 in 2004, and was sponsored for over 20 years by the Patagonia Ultrarunning Team. He was featured in the 2003 film Running Madness and portrayed in the 2017 film Extraordinary. Beyond the podium, one of his most treasured memories remains a full circumnavigation of Mt. Rainier along the Wonderland Trail (93 miles) with friends and fellow trail legends Scott Jurek and David Horton, just one week after finishing 3rd at the 2001 U.S.A. 50-mile National Championships.
In 2004, shortly after one of his strongest seasons, Clark’s young son was diagnosed with profound autism, a moment that radically altered the course of his family’s life. Racing soon took a back seat to intensive therapy, advocacy, and caregiving. While he continued to race selectively, his focus shifted toward building opportunities for others, especially those historically excluded from outdoor spaces. He founded the Grindstone 100 in 2008 and went on to direct a series of highly respected trail races across the Mid-Atlantic, including the Terrapin Mountain 50K, the Beast Series, and Coleman’s Run 5K for autism awareness. In 2022, he sold Grindstone to the Ironman Group to become part of the UTMB World Series, where it continues as the Grindstone Trail Running Festival by UTMB.
Today, Clark’s legacy in trail running lives on not only through podiums and course records but in his enduring efforts to connect people with purpose, place, and each other—on the trail and far beyond it.
Racing Highlights
1999 JFK 50 Mile – 2nd
2000 Holiday Lake 50k – 1st
2001 U.S.A. 50-mile Nat’l Championships – 3rd
2001 Mtn Masochist Trail Run 50-mile – 1st, Course Record
2002 Promise Land 50k, Montrail Ultra Cup – 1st, Course Record
2003 Sulphur Springs 50k (Canada) – 1st, Course Record
2003 Highlands Sky 40-mile – 1st, Course Record
2004 Vermont 100-mile – 2nd
2004 Groundhog Fall 50k – 1st, Course Record
2005 Haliburton Forest 50k – 1st, Course Record
2009 Shadow of the Giants 50k – 1st, Course Record
2016 North Face Endurance Challenge 50k – 1st, Course Record
2024 Speedgoat by UTMB 21k – 50 to 55 Age Group 1st Place
Why It Matters
Profound autism changed every plan we thought we had. It’s filled with challenges most will never see, yet my son has shaped the way I see the world. In its wake came a deeper purpose — to advocate for inclusion and reimagine nature-connected experiences for families like ours.
#stories
Compass & Cause, LLC 