'gauntlet' is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it as a noun to refer to a challenging situation that requires a lot of effort and endurance. For example: "The new project was a real gauntlet, but she got through it with aplomb."
To the delight of Eurosceptics, the prime minister will throw down the gauntlet to his fellow EU leaders to agree to a revision of Britain's membership terms within two and a half years of the next general election or risk triggering a British exit.
The Lords have thrown down the gauntlet to broadcasters to keep older women on screen.
By supporting high speed rail wholeheartedly, the Tories have thrown the gauntlet down to Labour which has dithered over this issue, refusing even to sanction a detailed study of the possible costs and benefits despite a manifesto commitment to that effect.
Recorded in 1980, when James Brown's best work was behind him, it has always seemed to me the sound of a giant throwing down the gauntlet for one last time, a challenge to the young guns of disco, rap and hip-hop who were coming up behind.
The government has quite a difficult choice here: agree to the Labor amendments and salvage at least some of the proposal, or run the gauntlet of an unpredictable Senate.
Many children and some mothers had nocturnal enuresis (bed-wetting at night) rather than run the gauntlet of a night-time toilet visit.
There Mr Obama's trade ambitions must run a double gauntlet.
It has yet to realise that keeping the mechanical aspects of policy constant while warning about the gauntlet of threats confronting the economy is contractionary on net.
International companies cannot access an inventory of vital American satellite components and place orders as the need develops because each component must run the gauntlet of export controls.
And he would challenge America just as he had provoked Athens, and possibly be prosecuted and condemned for it a second time.Socrates throws down a gauntlet from antiquity to America and all other democracies.
As such its not immediately obvious that whether we tax labor at a high marginal rate of 35% or 39.6% has larger supply side effect than whether a young entrepreneur faces a gauntlet of unnecessary classes and fees.
