I have competed in the running leg of this beautiful relay race three times. The 7-leg race begins at the Mount Baker Ski Area with a 4-mile cross-country ski. Leg 2 is the downhill ski or snowboard leg, followed by the 8 mile running leg down the Mount Baker Highway. Then begins the 42-mile road bike throughout Whatcom County to the 18.5-mile canoe leg in the Nooksack River. Cylcocrossers ride 11 miles where they hand off to the final Sea Kayak leg which ends in the Fairhaven neighborhood of Bellingham, Washington.
The map orients with north down so that the elevation profile can align as best as possible with the corresponding points on the map. The colors for this map and profile are inspired by the sunsets over Bellingham Bay. You can view a comparison of this below, and see a larger version of the map on my Behance profile.
I designed one of the typefaces used on the map and profile; it is inspired by Futura, but with more map-friendly features. I have not yet published this font.