Race Location
Athletes start and finish in the Festival Village, Crow Park.
Address:
Crow Park, Keswick, CA12 5DJ
Towering 931m above Keswick is the monolith of Skiddaw, ever present, ever watching. The Skiddaw Mountain Race [SKM] is a classic in the making, starting at the main base of the Keswick Mountain Festival in CROW PARK.
Runners will toe the line, where all the KMF races start from, on the shores of Derwent Water, in Crow Park. The race leaves via the Isthmus Bay, taking the same route out as most of the other trail races finish, round the back ‘o’ Booths. A ‘managed’ road crossing then takes the runners through Greta Hamlet and over the bridge to Fitz Park and onto Spooney Green Lane, the ascent of the Bob Graham in a clockwise direction.
For those with the desire and legs, there is a race within a race, a timed ascent from Spooney Green Lane to the summit of Skiddaw, named the ‘Champion of Skiddaw’.
Spooney Green Lane, being runnable in the most, is a cruel ascent to Latrigg, the outlier above Keswick on the flanks of Skiddaw, the steep ascent through pine woodland being especially tasty, but not runnable like the rest!
Once over Latrigg, the main tourist route is used for the up and down, taking in Little Man on the ascent. With the summit gained and 2 Champions celebrated, uber fast running down the same route will take all runners back into Crow Park to the cheers of crowds and prizes given for those with the strongest and fastest legs.
With a distance of 20k and ascent profile of just over 1000m, the Skiddaw Mountain Race is not one to be sniffed at. The grueling ascent and quad smashing descent will give the strongest mountain runners a real challenge to kick off the Keswick Mountain Festival weekend of racing, fun and frolics.
Skiddaw’s most literal translation is Craggy Hill, others suggest Black Guillemot, Filthy Hill and Archers Hill, but we think Craggy Hill fits the bill perfectly, although some of you may come back calling it ‘filthy’ or other such expletives!
Who will be crowned The Champion of Skiddaw and who will stand on the podium looking up to the summit of that Craggy Filthy Hill, as the winners of the all new Skiddaw Mountain Race?
A map and GPX file will be published here well in advance of the event.
Your athlete guide will be emailed to you approximately 2 weeks before the event date, and also available to download here.
Please make sure you read this prior to coming to the event, it will answer most if not all of your questions.