2024 Skyrunner® UK & Ireland Season starts at Scafell Sky Race.
At 08:00 tomorrow, 185 runners from 15 nationalities are set to toe the start line for the 7th edition of the Rab Scafell Sky Race: the first race in the brand new Skyrunner® UK & Ireland Series.
First taking place in 2017, this race is the brainchild of Charlie Sproson, owner of Lake District Sky Trails & Mountain Run and one of the key instigators of UK Skyrunning since launching the Lakes Sky Ultra (now the 57km & 3,700m+ Rab Helvellyn Sky Ultra – the second SkyUltra® Series race this year) in 2015.
A superb day out in the western Lakes awaits tomorrow.
As its name suggests, runners summit Scafell Pike – the highest mountain in England, some 26km into the route. With a start nestled away in the quaint Langdale Valley at the Stickle Barn, this unrelenting Skyrunning route features countless technical trails as well as some sections of mild scrambling over its 40km & 2,800m+, making for a truly testing day out for all who take to the start.
Notable highlights include a full traverse around Great Gable past Napes Needle, the Corridor Route to Scafell Pike and the novel Great Slab descent off Bow Fell.
A route sure to test the all-round abilities of all Skyrunners!
Discover the route in full on our Strava account HERE and find out more about the event on its website HERE. Why not also follow on social media via the Facebook Page HERE or Instagram HERE.
And be sure to keep an eye out for when entries for next year go live too: Every Skyrunner should experience this iconic race route at least once!
Ones to Watch
This race already has a rich history within the British Skyrunning scene, with the men’s and women’s course records for the current route (from Langdale) standing at a stellar 04:30:54 (Tom Evans – 2022) and 05:48:36 (Georgia Tindley – 2022) respectively.
Weather conditions appear to be almost perfect for racing tomorrow; with a sunny but relatively mild day of temperatures in the mid-teens currently forecast.
Georgia Tindley en route to victory in 2022 with the Langdale Pikes as a backdrop.
Tom Evans during a dominant run in 2022, pictured here on Bow Fell’s Great Slab.
In the men’s race, local runner Steve Hopwood from Kendal will no doubt be in contention for the podium, but will face strong challenge in the form of Kieren Dsouza from India and Lewis McComb (ITRA Performance Index of 716 & 683 respectively).
It’ll be all to play for tomorrow, with a nice £125/£75/£50 up for grabs for the top 3 M/F finishers, as well as some tidy prizes from event presenting partners Rab – check out their full range of mountain running clothing & equipment HERE.
The 2024 Skyrunner® UK & Ireland Series: which races will you be doing this year?
For the first time, there’s a huge £1,000/£500/£250 up for grabs for the M/F Overall Series champions, as well as a cool £500/£250/£125 on offer for the top 3 M/F at next month’s Snowdon SkyRace® – the inaugural Skyrunning UK National Championships, where an additional +50% Series points are on offer for the top 20 M/F finishers as well as direct access to the SkyMasters end of season finale for the top 3 M/F.
We’re delighted to be partnering with Wassen across this year’s Series.
With the 2024 Skyrunner® UK & Ireland Series now finalised, if you’ll be at Scafell this weekend, don’t forget to swing by the Skyrunning UK stand to learn more about each race in this year’s Series (more info) and grab a product sample from our series supplements partner Wassen.
Follow Along Online
Keen to see how the races unfold tomorrow? Live GPS tracking is available to view HERE and regular updates throughout the day will be shared on the Skyrunning UK Facebook Page HERE and Instagram account HERE.
We hope you’re as excited as we are about this year’s season of SkyRacing kicking off tomorrow in the beautiful English Lake District! In the meantime, stay tuned for the race report arriving on Sunday to get the full scoop on how tomorrow’s action unfolds.