We say goodbye to one of the UK’s most premier Ultra events for another year. It was a weekend filled with unrivalled joy and camaraderie from everyone involved which makes this event one of our favourites in the calendar year. This year we saw nearly 3,000 runners push themselves to their limit in their quest to conquer the Lakes.

The Montane Lakeland 100 started on Friday at 18:00 with an inaugural send off from Marc Laithwaite, and Richard Barry singing Nessun Dorma (translates to None shall sleep, quite fitting for this race) as supporters cheered on from the side lines. The runners were in for a long night of torrential rain which continued until midday on Saturday, think soggy socks and slippy terrain. Nonetheless runners continued to show their strength checkpoint to checkpoint, proving their spirits were not dampened. We saw the front runners arrive at Kentmere (the famous Montane smoothie checkpoint) from 08:52 and the runners at the rear coming in after 00:00 Sunday with only 25 miles to go. The afternoon weather was kind with glorious sunshine and a clear night for those tackling the dark skies, with the sunshine continuing on Sunday morning.

The Montane Lakeland 50 began in Dalemain at 11:30am, with the participants being set off in waves again with unrivalled support from friends and family in rainy showers. The runners had been soaked at the beginning of their race and had the delight of running across waterlogged terrain. The front runners for the 50 arriving at Kentmere from 15:17 onwards with the checkpoint being open until 02:00 for those bringing up the rear. The glorious weather from midday Saturday will have kept the 50 runners dry during the night and made for some spectacular views on top of the fells.

2024 Winners

Mark Darbyshire came first, smashing the course record, which he previously set in 2021 coming in at 19:10:27. This year he took 25 minutes off his previous time, running through the finish line at 12:45 on Saturday with a time of 18:45:19. Gavin Dale came in 2nd with a time of 19:01:30 also smashing the course record significantly. In 3rd place was Kim Collison with a finish time of 19:22:48.

The first female through the 100 was Robyn Cassidy

coming through the gates at 17:02 on Saturday with a time of 23:02:47. With Lucy Gossage coming in 2nd place with a time of 23:37:45. Dariia Bodnar, our very own #TeamMontane athlete all the way from Ukraine bounding through the finish line at 19:41 with a time of 25:41:29, the most excited finisher of the day!

Jarlath McKenna was the first finisher across the line for the 50, coming in with an impressive time of 7:17:49, winning the trophy. It was his second year on the podium at the Lakeland as he came in 2nd in the 100 in 2023. Behind Jarleth was Michael Kenyon with a time of 7:30:11 and Dan Thacker coming in 3rd with a time of 7:34:18. This was a close race!

Coming in first for the women was Catherine Williamson with an impressive time of 8:25:22 at 20:02 on Saturday night. Hannah Rickman came in second place with a time of 9:18:32 followed by Anna Klucnika with a time of 9:36:46.

We would also like to shout out our fantastic team of Athletes, HQ Employees and Ambassadors who all completed the race. Our fantastic HQ Employees David Williamson and Liam Steinbeck and our athlete Dariia Bodnar who finished the 100 mile race, David crossing the line in 29:29:21 and Liam finishing in 38:24:38.

HQ Employees completing the 50 were Pete Sissons who finished in 12:31:38, Anders Pettersson coming in at 13:03:24 and Pamela Scott who crossed the line at 20:35:43.

Our #TeamMontane athletes, Xiping Luo all the way from China, completed the race in 10:13:46, Howard Dracup crossed the line in 10:22:46, Renee McGregor coming through the gates at 12:16:21, Katy Parrot finishing in 15:06:52 and Emma Powell crossing the line in 18:55:13.

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