Lake District Mountain Trial

02/06/2026

The concluding episode of Andy Bradley’s article. Plus another photo from my 2006 recce — I leave you to geo-locate it.

Could I also ask that you share these posts to your own/group FB pages — it hepls our reach!

The Practical Bit: Everything You Need to Know

Sunday 13th September 2026. Seathwaite Farm, Borrowdale. Not the Duddon Valley. Borrowdale.

The Trial is in its 71st year, though the count starts from 1952 and a handful of editions have been lost to weather, disease and pandemic. What remains is one of the oldest and most respected mountain running events in Britain — a race that has always asked more of its competitors than most are entirely comfortable giving.

Entries, results and all other information are available on the Lake District Mountain Trial website. The archive section carries full results going back through the decades, including the 1956 and 2006 Seathwaite editions referenced above.

Sponsorship this year comes again from La Sportiva, through Lyon Equipment and Pete Bland’s running shop. The Trial does not happen without that support, nor without the considerable army of volunteers who plan, marshal, organise and, on occasion, attempt to erect marquees in fields.

Prizes exist for YHA members and for those who work at or have completed courses with the Outward Bound Trust — a link to the Trial’s founding spirit in 1956 that has never been broken.

The Women’s team prize on the Medium Course has gone unawarded for the last couple of years, for want of enough women finishing from the same club. Perhaps 2026 will change that.

The Trial has been going on for 74 years. It has survived everything the weather, the fells and the twentieth century could throw at it. It will, in all likelihood, outlast most things currently considered permanent.

The only remaining question is whether you will be on the start line on 13th September.

23/05/2026

More from Andrew Bradley and we zoom forward to ...

2026: The Planner, the Hills and a Very Large Blank Sheet of Paper

The man responsible for this year’s course is Alan Irving. He has a long list of mountain marathons behind him, is an active member of West Cumberland Orienteering Club, and has planned and controlled at the Mountain Trial before. He knows what he is doing. Whether the mountains will cooperate is, as always, a separate matter entirely.

Seathwaite in Borrowdale sits at the foot of some of the most demanding terrain in England. The hills are large, the weather is unreliable and the route choice potential is considerable. That last point matters. The best Mountain Trial courses do not simply march competitors from A to B. They offer genuine decisions — different lines, different risks, different rewards. Getting those decisions right is most of the race.

The Trial’s history is full of runners who understood the hills better than anyone else on the day and paid for it all the same. And runners who took what looked like the wrong line and won comfortably.

There are three courses this year: the Classic, the Medium and the Short. Full details will follow in due course.

In the meantime, one thought worth sitting with: the Trial has been based at Borrowdale’s Seathwaite only twice in 74 years, and both of those editions produced something memorable — a woman finishing the full course in 1956 and a local farmer winning his home race in 2006. History has a habit of repeating itself in this valley, though never in quite the same way.

What will 2026 add to that list?

17/05/2026

Andrew Bradley’s account of the Seathwaite Trials continues. One paragraph has been edited with some reluctance by a party who would rather not say why, but whose modesty, for once, got the better of him.

2006: A Marquee Nobody Could Build and a Champion Who Never Lost

For the second time in the Trial’s history, Seathwaite in Borrowdale played host. The year was 2006. The 54th edition.

Jane Buckley — Mrs. Jane Buckley from the 1956 results — was invited back to present the prizes. Fifty years on. The written account of the day noted, with great solemnity, that the weather was exceptionally good, that nobody could work out how to erect the marquee, that there had been considerable revelry on the campsite the night before, and that the toilets had been used by people who were not running. It was also the first year of online entries. Progress marches on, though the marquee problem is, frankly, timeless.

The Men’s Classic was 29km with 2,100m of climb, planned by Mick Garratt. He had 24 Trials to his name, a Blue Belt in Judo — retired through injury, since you ask — and a self-imposed rule of only using features that had a name on the map. A reasonable principle, provided one can find the map. The checkpoints included Blackbeck Tarn, Mickledore and Crinkle Crags, which are all findable. They also included Little Gill Head and Wrist Knott. Wrist Knott does not appear obviously on the OS map. Nobody seems entirely certain where it is, including, it must be said, the man who put it on the course. Somewhere north of Glaramara, apparently. He heard the name from someone. He cannot now recall who.

The winner was Johnny Bland, who farms a couple of miles from the start line. His time was 3:51:28. Mick had aimed for a winning time of four hours, so close enough. The team prize went to Borrowdale — their 11th of an eventual 13 team wins between 1998 and 2010.
The Women’s Trial — 21km, 1,240m — was won by Angela Brand Barker in just under four hours. It was her sixth win. She won every Trial she entered. Every single one. Whether that record stands alone in the history of the event is a question worth someone investigating.
Second home was Kirsty Bryan-Jones, who went on to win in 2014 and 2015.

There was also a Short Trial, won by a young Hector Haines in under three hours, with Derek Ratcliffe second. Hector’s father Peter has 38 completions, including 21 Classics. He used to partner Mick Garratt in two-day mountain marathons — they came second in the 1980 KIMM, or they did not, since they were disqualified. Bill Smith’s book does not elaborate on that point. They also ran a Bob Graham together. It is a small world and a long memory.

So — 2026 marks a third visit to Borrowdale’s Seathwaite. Who is doing the planning, and what has this corner of the Lake District got in store?

10/05/2026

1956: One Lady, Corduroy Shorts, and Two Uneaten Sandwiches

A correction before we go any further. The credit for the research behind these posts belongs to Andrew Bradley, who has written an excellent account of previous Trials based at Seathwaite. This series would not exist without his work, and it would have been rather poor form not to say so.

Now. Back to 1956.

The world that year was distracted by the Suez Crisis, Manchester United became the first English club to enter the European Cup — reaching the semi-finals before Real Madrid put a stop to that — and the first UK Albums Chart was published, with Frank Sinatra at the top for a fortnight. A man who knew how to win something and how to dress for it, as it happens.

In was the year in which the Mountain Trial started from Seathwaite, Borrowdale for the first time. The date was 21st October. Entry was free. The sponsor was the Lancashire Evening Post.

It was also the first year the race was opened beyond YHA members. The organising committee brought together the YHA, the Outward Bound Schools, mountaineering clubs and mountain rescue. That broad coalition of the willing has shaped the Trial’s character ever since. Prizes for YHA members and Outward Bound Trust participants still exist today.

Forty-nine entered. Forty-three started. Among them was one woman: “Mrs. Jane Buckley.” She finished 27th of the 30 who completed the course, in a time of 6 hours, 11 minutes and 12 seconds. The course was nominally 15 miles, with just three checkpoints — Pillar, Scafell, and Scafell Pike. Broad Stand was out of bounds, as it has been on every visit to that area in the race’s history.

Joe Hand won in 3:34:44, twenty-five minutes clear of Ray Shaw, with Ken Heaton, Des Oliver and Ted Dance behind him. It was Joe’s third of four victories. He wore a hat, two long-sleeved vests, corduroy shorts, scree socks, climbing stockings and lightweight climbing boots. He carried a compass, gloves, a bottle of something sustaining and two sandwiches. He used none of the last three items. The gloves and sandwiches went home untouched. A man of admirable self-restraint.

Ted Dance went on to complete 26 Trials, winning once, in 1959. Joe Hand completed 9.

Mrs. Jane Buckley remained the last woman to complete the same Trial as the men until 2010, when Helene Whitaker finished the newly named Classic Trial. Fifty-four years is quite a gap.

Which raises the obvious question: what happened when Seathwaite hosted the Trial for the second time, fifty years later, in 2006?

03/05/2026

Welcome Back to Borrowdale

The 71st Lake District Mountain Trial is coming. Sunday 13th September 2026. Starting from Seathwaite Farm, Borrowdale. Sponsored, as last year, by La Sportiva through Lyon Equipment and Pete Bland Sports.

Seventy-one races. That is a lot of mud, a lot of bog, and a remarkable amount of voluntary suffering on the part of people who could, in theory, have stayed at home.

The first Trial was held in 1952. A few races have gone missing along the way — bad weather, Foot and Mouth, Covid — but the race has stubbornly refused to die. There is a lesson in there somewhere.

One small but important point. There are two places in the Lake District called Seathwaite. One sits at the top of Borrowdale. The other hides in the Duddon Valley, some miles to the south-west. This year’s start is the Borrowdale one. Please do not turn up to the Duddon Valley on race morning, stand in a field looking confused, and blame the organisers. The Duddon Seathwaite has hosted the Trial three times — 1975, 1990 and 2016 — but its moment is not now.

The question worth asking is this: what on earth happened the last time this race started from Borrowdale’s Seathwaite? The answer goes back further than you might expect.

16/09/2025

While it is still fresh in your minds, do take a moment to plot your routes on Routegadget, where they will stay for all to see. If you have any stories or memories from the day, we would love to hear those too.

https://www.sportident.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/ #19

15/09/2025

Congratulations to all who endured the 70th Mountain Trial on Sunday. The fells offered no kindness, with steep climbs, broken ground and sudden changes of weather turning the Lakes into a worthy opponent. The courses led competitors through remote valleys and over ridges where effort was tested at every step. To finish was to overcome both distance and terrain.

Full results are available here:
https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/LDMTA/2025/LDMTA/

07/09/2025

Only one week to go. The countdown has begun, start times are confirmed, and entries have surged by 65% on last year. Thank you to everyone who shared these posts—I’m sure your support has powered this growth.

https://www.sientries.co.uk/list.php?event_id=15529

By my reckoning it’s 11 years since the Mountain Trial was last in Patterdale. A lot has changed. As you climb to the high fells (no clues intended as to which direction), take in the view over Patterdale. Look for Goldrill Beck winding across the valley floor. Just a few years ago it ran in a straight channel cut in the eighteenth century, stripped of its bends and pools, its wildlife diminished, and floods made worse.

Now the story is different. The Riverlands Project has set the beck free. Its meanders, gravel bars and side channels are back. The floodplain slows the river, protects the A592, and gives space for fish, birds and woodland to thrive.

What you will see is a river restored—alive, dynamic, shaping the valley as it should. It is a reminder that this event is not only about endurance, but about our love of the Lakes. Landscapes, communities and nature working together.

More info here:
https://www.ullswaterheritage.org/heritage-knowledge-bank/landscape-contents/water/goldrill-beck-riverlands-project

24/08/2025

The final countdown has begun. Entries for the Lake District Mountain Trial close on 31 August. If you seek a true test of endurance, navigation, and grit, the Mountain Trial is for you. The 70th Trial takes place on Sunday 14 September 2025 from Side Farm, Patterdale. Only seven days remain to enter this classic mountain navigation race across the challenging terrain of the Lake District.

And in this final week, binge on Olga’s two-part chronicle of last year’s Trial:

Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDcZmPHEdtQ

Part 2
https://youtu.be/tj3JmvxDYH0?si=QFxroCoLevsUfMFp

Lyon Equipment Lake District Mountain Trial 2024 - orienteering 🧭 event - Part 1 - from Orthwaite Bassenthwaite (Horse Moor Farm).3 courses: classic (25 mil...

19/08/2025

On this back episode of On The Back Foot podcast, Jacob Tonkin talks to 2024 Lake District Mountain Trail winner Matthew Atkinson.

From route recces to split-second decisions in thick clag, Matthew shares how he turned early mistakes into a winning run, and why adding his name to the race’s historic trophy means so much.

The 2025 race is on 14 September, with entries closing 31 August. If you want a true test of endurance, navigation, and grit, this is it.

Hear Matthew’s full story for tips, inspiration, and a taste of what awaits on the fells.

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