A few weeks ago the first three Suunto Guiding Stars were sent on a journey, passing from one adventure-minded woman to the next. Suunto ambassador Emelie Forsberg, Scuba Diver Girl Margo Sanchez and cross country skier Aino-Kaisa Saarinen all kept one of the Guiding Star pendants for a while and passed them on to a person they admire for her attitude, her achievements, her adventurous mindset and her energy. Emelie was the first one to pass on her Guiding Star. She gave it to Norwegian musher Sigrid Ekran.   Time to pass this #SuuntoJewel along to another star! Sigrid Ekran it will arrive soon! A photo posted by Emelie Forsberg (@tinaemelie) on Jan 15, 2015 at 11:17pm PST   Thank you Emelie Forsberg for this beautiful jewelry #suuntojewel It will follow me and my dogs for a while, then I will pas it on to the next adventurous women. Proud to be part of this! #suunto #emelieforsberg #adventurouswomen A photo posted by Sigrid Ekran (@teamsigridekran) on Jan 25, 2015 at 7:34am PST   Margo soon followed. She gave her Guiding Star to Becky Kagan Schott, an Emmy Award winning underwater videographer, photographer and tech instructor. Passing this #SuuntoJewel along to @beckykagan ... a strong, beautiful, adventurous woman!!! #scubadivergirls #SuuntoDive #SuuntoGuidingStar A photo posted by Scuba Diver Girls (@scubadivergirls) on Jan 27, 2015 at 12:15pm PST   Also Aino-Kaisa's silver compass pendant has started travelling. It is now in the hands of American skier Liz Stephen: http://bit.ly/1F79LQ5 Follow the journey of these functional pieces of jewelry with #SuuntoJewel   Learn more about Suunto Guiding Star

Suunto is proud to announce winning an award from Good Design for the Suunto Ambit3 Sport GPS watch. Good Design is the world’s longest-running, most prestigious and recognized design program. It is organized annually by The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design in cooperation with the European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies.        Good Design covers new consumer products and each year accepts several thousand submissions from manufacturers and industrial and graphic design firms from more than 48 countries. All award-winning products and graphic designs are published in Good Design’s yearbook for 2014-2015 and are listed on The Chicago Athenaeum Museum’s website. “The Suunto Ambit3 Sport simplifies the appearance of our multisport watches. A sleeker and cleaner appearance makes no compromises on the demands of multisporters and triathletes. The new top ring opens up possibilities for bold color design, and the new silicone straps fit all wrists comfortably and improve ergonomics”, says Björn Bornemann, the Designer of the Ambit3 Sport. “This watch looks great on the track and confident in the office as well.” Good Design chose the Suunto Ambit3 Sport GPS watch for its sleek design, advanced run, cycle and swim functions and its mobile connectivity. The Ambit3 Sport is fully designed and manufactured in Finland. For more product details and specs, visit ambit3.

He's a week into his epic bid to run across America. Patrick Sweeney has so far clocked up 7 marathons – there's only another 113 to go! Below he gives us a little update on progress so far: “The race is going great! The weather has been sunny and relatively warm. I am enjoying the company of my teammates. 3,000 miles (approx 5,000km) is quite a long race! The brain wants to do it but the body after the first 130 miles in five days has yet to find a groove. “It's interesting trying to figure out how hard I can push without injuring myself. So far I have been taking it a little slower than I want to but I think it is smart to ease into this.” Patrick's marathon times have so far ranged from 4h 22m to 5h 15m. He adds: “The vibe of the event is much more of an adventure than a race. I look forward to each day's run and all the experiences ahead of me. My Ambit3 has already kept me from getting lost more than once and I am very thankful to have it!” We'll be giving regular updates on Patrick's progress. Stay tuned to find out more.

There are ultra runs and then there's the Race Across America. Kicking off on January 16, the race will see dozens of athletes attempt to run across the US, a total distance of 5,000km. Among them will be the 36-year-old Suunto supported runner Patrick Sweeney. We asked him why. So? A few years ago I wanted to run across the country by myself but had an injury. Then this opportunity came up. I'm excited to see the country and I've always been up for an adventure.I'm also raising money for a non-profit that's getting kids to run 100 miles in a school year, so that's a big motivating factor. I've seen it change lives. The details? It's 120 marathons over 140 days, mostly on the road.Ouch! Is it do-able? I'll find out! My best marathon time is 2:37 – on a hilly course – but we'll have eight hours to do the daily stages. Race strategy? My plan is to try and run in four hours and just find my groove. I don't know what my comfort level will be. The course is unmarked so having the Ambit will be very helpful. DietI'm vegan so that's going to be even more difficult but I'll eat lots of oils and high protein meals and plenty of veggie tacos. I'll also be eating 2-3 avocados a day. Biggest challenge? It's winter! We cross the Colorado Plateau which is 7,500 ft (2,286 m) and we could encounter blizzards. I'm more of a hot weather person. You ready? You can wait your whole life to be healthy but I'm in good shape. I've done a lot of ultras in California, including Leadville the last couple of years. You run in barefoot sandals, why? It's really all I need and works best with the running form of my body. I don't get blisters. But I'm also packing a pair of shoes with max cushioning just in case something goes wrong.

A week is a long time in the life of Kilian Jornet and there's rarely much time for rest. Recently back from running up the Americas' highest mountain Aconcagua, he's straight into competing in the Ski Mountaineering World Cup series. The record-breaking ascent of Aconcagua just before Christmas capped an incredible year for the athlete, possibly the most succesful ever, he tells us below. 2014 wasn't a bad year was it! I think it's been my best trail running season ever. [Kilian finished the trail running season with a hat trick in the World Cup and two gold medals in the world championships. He competed in a total of 14 races of different lengths as well as setting records on Denali 6,168 m and Aconcagua, 6,960 m.] There were some good races but races with different disciplines. I started the summer with Transvulcania (83 km) and then Zegema Marathon, then it was to ski Denali then some vertical kilometer races, some mountaineering, some trail races... I don't like to specialize in one thing! It's been a perfect year. I’m pleased about having been able to participate in so many varied races this summer in places with incredible landscapes and where I have met many people. At the end of the day, this is the essence of trail running and what drives me to continue. So what's next?I do half a year running, half a year skiing. Ski-mo racing is a much more explosive sport than trail running. Races are much shorter and much more intense. It requires a lot of power! Much more fast but it's good for the muscles. What's the appeal of ski-mo? It's fun because it's going up! You suffer! It's really hard because you want to go fast, you have to push, you have to have power to make every step. But ski mountaineering, not just racing, is great: you can go wherever you want. You don't have to follow a trail. You make your own track. It's this feeling of freedom. You also have your sights on Everest in the spring? It's too ambitious to say it will be a record attempt. It will be an attempt and then we'll probably come back next spring for the record. The idea is to go the north side where there are more aesthetic lines. Anything else in your sights? I have a lot of projects and always have things in the mind. I want to run, I want to be in the mountains. I will keep going out there winning races as that's my life and the thing that I love. Check out the Suunto Movie of Kilian's record breaking ascent of Aconcagua here. Main image ©Summits of my life, portraits above ©zooom.at/Markus Berger

2014 was quite a year for Emelie Forsberg – she won the Sky Running world championships in the ultra distance, broke the overall record on Sweden's highest mountain but suffered the agony of coming 2nd at Kima after getting lost in fog. But it's not all about the race results for the trail runner. As she looks back at 2014, she says she still loves to go camping in the mountains... The overall highlight? The world championship. I had such a great feeling during the whole race and it was amazing to run across the finish line with so many people standing there. To see the sport that big... it was huge. I was super happy to be crowned world champion. Archive shot: ©Jordi Canameras What else? The Axa mountain marathon in Sweden. That was special for me as that's where it all started with my first race ever. It was good to come back home and be with friends and to set a new, overall record. It was a big thing for me. I broke it by 13 minutes. And the lowpoint? Kima was the only race I really wanted the record on and I knew I could have it. I had a great time and was half an hour on the record but I got lost in the fog. I descended 500m the wrong way. When I got back up I was in 5th position. To finish in 5th would have meant I could never have won the series. I had lost one hour but I managed to catch up with the other women and ended up 2nd. I was so angry with myself. Smiles before and after the miles. ©zooom.at/Markus Berger What about adventures outside competition?I'm really fond of camping and have been doing that for a long time. It's always special feeling, you take a stove with you so you can make hot chocolate and things like that. I had some really nice days out in the mountains in a tent. I always remember the camping nights! So what's up for 2015? I'm now into ski mountaineering racing and my goal is to finish the world cup. I'm excited by that because I've never been able to do the whole world cup series of races. Why ski-mo? It's fun to race. It's good training, actually the hardest training I have ever done! You just need to give everything, it's 100% all the time. But the summer trail running season is still the main goal.