In 2017, I traveled to California to participate in an event called SISU 24.
Created by Daren de Heras and a group of friends, the event took place at Camp Trask in Monrovia and combined endurance, strategy, community, and adventure in a way I had never experienced before. I came home inspired and immediately started thinking about what it would look like to bring that experience to the Pacific Northwest.
After talking with Daren, he gave his blessing to create a Pacific Northwest edition of the event. What followed was months of searching for the right location. When I discovered Camp Sheppard and the surrounding trail system, I knew I had found it.
The first SISU 24 PNW took place in 2019.
Like so many events, we were forced to pause during the pandemic. When we returned in 2021, the community came back stronger than ever. Since then, SISU 24 PNW has continued to grow into something that none of us could have fully predicted.
Over the years, the event developed its own personality. New traditions emerged. Friendships formed. Volunteers became family. Participants returned year after year. Stories were written around campfires, on trails, and somewhere around three in the morning when otherwise reasonable people decided another lap sounded like a good idea.
What started as an endurance event became something much larger.
Because of that, we wanted to share an important update about the future.
First, the part most people care about:
SISU 24 PNW is not ending.
The 2026 event will take place exactly as planned under SISU Endurance.
Beginning in 2027, SISU 24 PNW will continue under a new banner: Side Quest Adventures.
For participants, very little will change. The event will continue. The community will continue. The spirit that has guided SISU 24 PNW from the beginning will continue.
So why make the change?
The answer is actually pretty simple.
As we’ve worked on SISU over the last eight years, we’ve discovered that what excites us most isn’t simply organizing races. We love creating experiences. Some of those experiences involve running through the woods for twenty-four hours. Others involve puzzles, scavenger hunts, retreats, service projects, campfires, storytelling, and strange ideas that start as jokes and somehow become real events.
Over time, we realized we had ideas that stretched beyond a single event in the endurance category.
Rather than trying to force every future adventure into the framework of SISU, we decided to create a home where those ideas could live together.
That home is Side Quest Adventures.
Founded by Erinn Matesi, Side Quest Adventures was created to build memorable outdoor experiences that bring people together through challenge, exploration, creativity, and community. SISU 24 PNW will remain a cornerstone of that vision, but it will now exist alongside new adventures that wouldn’t have made sense under a traditional endurance event brand.
As we begin this new chapter, we want to express our sincere gratitude to Daren de Heras and SISU Endurance. None of this would have happened without the original event that inspired us, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to spend the last eight years helping grow the SISU story here in the Pacific Northwest.
Most of all, we’re grateful for you.
Whether you’ve raced, volunteered, crewed, sponsored, hiked, laughed, suffered, celebrated, or simply followed along from afar, you’ve helped build something special. The community that has formed around SISU 24 PNW is the reason we’ve been able to dream bigger, and it’s the reason we’re excited about what comes next.
The story of SISU 24 PNW isn’t ending.
If anything, we’re just adding a few more trails to the map.
See you at SISU 24 PNW 2026.
We hope you’ll join us as we create new side quests for you to explore.
