EARLY BIRD PRICE!

The Keswick Conqueror

£135.00

Saturday 21st & Sunday 22nd May 2022

3.6km swim, 25km trail run and 72km cycle in 3 individual events across the festival weekend

Conquer Keswick in our multi day Triathlon Challenge, featuring a 3.6km swim across Derwentwater, a 25k trail run around the beautiful valleys of Borrowdale and Watendlath on Saturday and ending with your choice of a spectacular tarmac road sportive around the Back O’Skiddaw or our amazing Hell in the Fells Gravel ride on Sunday.

This is a great way to enjoy the best scenery the Lake District has to offer, finishing this challenge will leave you with a great sense of achievement!

All entrants receive a T-shirt, a photo and a weekend live music music and festival activities pass.

47 places available in this wave!

Gift this!

Do you have a friend or a loved one who would love to do this event? You can buy a gift card for this event! Just select the option from the dropdown above they would like and enter their details. We will send a gift card for the amount with your message.

Gift this!

Greener feed stations:

Disposable cups are a source of waste so we're keeping their use to a minimum. There will be no cups at the feed stations so please bring a re-usable foldable ‘soft cup’ or drinks bottle. You will need to carry this with you and use it on the course if you wish to use feed stations. Foldable soft cups will be available to buy in Sports Registration on the day if you need one.

You will enter the entrants details at checkout.

Athlete Guide

The athlete guide for this event will be posted here in early May 2022.

Prizes will be awarded for 1st, 2nd, 3rd Male and Female Overall. Results are a combination of your Swim and Run time, but you must complete the Sportive to be a finishers and eligible for prizes.

KMF Triathlons are not officially registered with British Triathlon. However, for insurance purposes we do operate the events using their race rules. Under these rules the water temperature must be 18oC before wetsuits become optional, you are required to abide by these rules, which can be viewed here.

Please make sure you read this prior to coming to the event, it will answer most if not all of your questions.

Routes Description

ON SATURDAY

Take part in the 3600m point to point swim which will see you swim from Brandlehow back to Festival Village enjoying the beautiful views around Derwentwater. Please note: water temp for this event will be between 10oC – 14oC and you should prepare yourself accordingly. We recommend pre-event training in the water. Gloves and socks are permitted.

Read acclimatising to cold water article by The Outdoor Swimming Society.

After the swim take your time to get changed and refuel before taking on the mighty 25k trail run. This Technical, fast flowing & rugged trail run will take you around Derwentwater and the Borrowdale Valley with the Watendlath Valley thrown in for good measure.

With a total ascent of 866m it’s not for the faint hearted. Leaving the festival site behind and heading into the wilds, this route will take you under Falcon Crag and on to some uber-technical rocky single track heading into the Watendlath Valley, stunned by this hidden gem and its amazing single track you will then climb out over Grange Fell and descend the fast and furious pack house trail to the Rosthwaite Institute, from here you will head north down to Borrowdale, finally running the lake shore paths until Portinscale is reached and heading back into Keswick via the famous Bob Graham Round finish.

This 25km run is full of surprises, giving you some of the best trails and best views the Borrowdale Valley has to offer.

ON SUNDAY

Take on your choice of Sportive:

Choice 1 – Hell in the Fells Gravel Ride

The Hell In The Fells ride is a 67km mostly off road route that takes in some of the most breath-taking gravel routes in the North Lakes and takes riders around the flanks of Skiddaw, the shores of Bassenthwaite and the trails of Whinlatter Forest, providing outstanding viewpoints across this spectacular part of the Lake District National Park

Choice 2 – The Back O’Skiddaw

The Back O’Skiddaw 70KM sportive is a moderately hilly road ride, this ride has approximately 650 metres of ascent with an expected completion time of between 2.5 and 5 hours. The course is fully tarmac, ranging from steeply undulating narrow single track, gated farm roads, to the quieter B and A roads in the area. If you’re new to cycling events then this is a great place to start but this sportive can also be enjoyed by cycling enthusiasts looking for something shorter and occasionally furious on the climbs!

CONTINGENCY PLAN

It is possible that events and courses at KMF may need to be amended at short notice due to weather issues, water levels, road conditions or roadworks.

By nature, many of these factors are not possible to know well in advance. For each event there are a number of alternative options available which can be implemented at short notice. The organisers and race directors will always have athlete and spectator safety as the highest priority, and within that context will seek to provide the best possible experience. All sporting events would be impacted if the KMF Festival Village has to be closed. In this instance, as long as circumstances allow, all starts and finishes would be relocated to Lake Road and Lakeside Car Park and the events operated as smoothly as possible.

Swim: The prevailing wind direction is from the SW (i.e. along Derwentwater). There are options available to us to keep the event operating in high winds – keeping the swim in the lee of Derwant Isle, and starting and finishing from the beach adjacent to Keswick Launch. These would be exhausted before any cancellation decision.

Ultimately, we would consider cancelling the swim if the weather/water conditions are extreme, and there is a risk to participants safety. This also applies if the conditions are such that the water safety team are compromised in any way, and cannot provide assured safety cover to the event. In event of swim cancellation, the event would become a rolling start Duathlon.

Bike: alternative routes are available depending on the conditions which are forcing a re-route.

Run: alternative routes are available depending on the conditions which are forcing a re-route.

What's Included

FREE photograph
Electronic chip timing
KMF swim hat
Feed stations
Event t-shirt
2 days of live music & festival village activities tickets
Hydration will be provided

Water Quality

Derwentwater has a history of Blue Green Algae presence in the water and over the past few years, with warmer winters, the bacteria which causes this is not always killed off over the winter months. It is therefore possible for blooms to occur as the temperatures rise in the Spring. (Many of you will remember that in 2019 the Keswick Mountain Festival swims were cancelled due to very late blooming of the algae. This is something we do not wish to see repeated.) We work closely with National Trust and the Environment Agency who help us to monitor the water in the run up to the Festival and inform us of any potential blooms. Blue Green Algae is present in many water courses and not all forms are toxic. The greatest risks of a toxic algae are for animals and young children who drink water containing the algae and, in the case of dogs in particular, may pick up algae on their coats and then lick their coat, thereby consuming even more. Blue Green Algae forms as a localised bloom, meaning that large parts of the lake can be unaffected even if it is present in some areas. Even when present, it is entirely possible to swim in Derwentwater without ever coming into contact with the algae. What do we do if there is blue green algae in the water at the time of the Festival? We will test the water, with support from the Environment Agency, in advance of the Festival and we will identify and monitor where the blooms are. If we find there are blooms of Algae in the water we will conduct a full analysis and amend courses if needed, so we are satisfied that the routes used in the KMF swims and the triathlons are safe for swimming.

BIO SECURITY MEASURES

What is Bio Security?
Biosecurity means taking action in order to minimise the introduction or spread of invasive non-native species (INNS) and diseases.

Why should we worry?
The freshwater resources of Cumbria – its many tarns, lakes, rivers and becks – are of great ecological and economic significance. We love spending time in and on them so protecting them is something we all need to take responsibility for. Freshwater INNS are able to ‘hitchhike’ on our equipment, footwear, clothing and boats. When we move to a new river, tarn or lake, a species may be transferred and may become established, often having devastating effects.

What can we do to help?
As keen outdoor and sports enthusiasts we all need to help protect the landscapes we love. The bio security at the Festival will involve just a little extra cooperation and organisation. You will be required to ensure that your wetsuit is clean and dry before you arrive and that it is cleaned before you leave. The purpose of this is to do our bit to try and stop the spread of invasive aquatic species.

The Race Process
Please ensure that all equipment which will be going into the water is clean and dry before your arrival at the Festival. For the swim you will be ‘hosed down’ by our volunteers on your way to the finish line, after your time has stopped.

Once you have changed, we ask that you wash your wetsuit at the Bio Security Wash Area to wash the inside of your wetsuit and all other equipment in the fresh water tubs provided to ensure that any debris from inside has been washed off. Please check your equipment for obvious vegetation or other aquatic life and remove anything found.

Compliance with this process is essential to ensure that we are able to pursue our sport in such beautiful surroundings. For more information on the issues please visit http://www.cfinns.scrt.co.uk/.

Venue

The Festival Village is located adjacent to The Theatre By The Lake close to Derwentwater.

Address: Lakeside
Keswick
Cumbria
CA12 5DJ

Raise money for The National Trust

We are offering all competitors the chance to fly the flag for conservation & raise money for vital work to protect mountain rivers.