Lake District Sky Trails

Lake District Sky Trails run the closest thing Britain has to continental skyrunning: races that go over the ridges rather than round them, with scrambling, exposure and a lot of vertical gain in not many kilometres. The calendar is built around two weekends. The Scafell weekend, based at Great Langdale, runs the Stickle Grind 650 vertical race, the 60km Scafell Sky Ultra, the 38km Scafell Sky Race and the Great Langdale 21 trail run. The Helvellyn weekend, from Patterdale, has the Swirral Grind 850, the 57km Helvellyn Sky Ultra, the St Sunday Sky Race, the Place Fell 15 and the Pinnacle Ridge Extreme. The Extreme is the outlier: 28km with 2,700m of ascent and a graded scramble on the route, entered by vetting rather than by turning up. Several of the others carry mandatory kit and entry requirements. Entry is through SiEntries.