Answering Your Questions About the Lakeland 50 and 100
What is Lakeland 50 and 100?
The Lakeland 50 and 100 will take you to places in Cumbria you may never have visited before and it’s likely you’ll wonder why. The route does not pass over any of the ‘popular’ Lakeland summits. Instead, it weaves its way through stunning valleys, contours picturesque fells and cuts its own line through the amazing Lakeland topography.
Racers compete non-stop across two-course distances: 100 miles (Lakeland 100) and 50 miles (Lakeland 50), taking in the picturesque yet unforgiving terrain of one of the UK's most famous national parks, the Lake District.
RELATED: 3 Podcasts to Learn More About the Lakeland 50 & 100
Conditions will vary from hour to hour, with competitors needing to carry essential kit at all times and navigate through an unmarked course. Bodies will be battered, spirits will be tested, and those who cross the finish line in Coniston will earn their status and become legends.
The journey along the Lakeland 100 route or the equally challenging Lakeland 50 is not just a race; it's a testament to human endurance and a celebration of the awe-inspiring landscapes of the Lake District. Embrace the challenge, conquer the trails, and become part of the legacy of the Ultra Tour of the Lake District.
How hard is the Lakeland 50?
Whether you choose the 50 or the 100 mile course, there is no ‘easy option’ available but the time limit for the Lakeland 50 event is 24 hours which makes it achievable by both runners and walkers alike.
To put this into perspective, for those of you who are familiar with Centurion Running events, their North Downs Way 50 and South Downs Way 50 events have just over half of the Lakeland 50 total elevation but you need to get around the course within 13 hours. And their Wendover Woods 50 event at the end of the year which has on paper identical elevation to Lakeland 50 has only a 15-hour cut-off.
One of the more challenging aspects of this race is the weather in the lakes is notoriously unpredictable and changeable, which means you can end up experiencing all four seasons in one day. Because of this, the kit list for Lakeland 50 and 100 is fairly extensive, meaning your pack may be heavier than you are used to. While it is well supported with frequent aid stations, they are basic and many of the athletes inside our Lakeland Training Group this year carried much of their own supplies.
*Ballot opens 1st September 2025 & we get started October 2025*
The terrain and course profile of both the Lakeland 50 and 100 only adds to the difficulty factor. The first third of the 100 course is very technical with some big climbs, the middle third has less elevation and is much more runnable and the final third is again very technical with some big climbs. What makes the course so unique is that the surface terrain can feel very varied, from bloglands, to loose rocky technical trails to lesser groomed paths and everything in between.
Not to mention the midday start which means the majority of the field will be running through the night and into the early hours of Sunday morning to reach the finish line in Coniston. This is unusual for your typical 50-miler that generally starts at dawn and finishes at dusk, so you’re likely to spend none of very little time running at night.
Can you walk the Lakeland 100?
The cut-off time for Lakeland 100 is 40 hours officially but each year multiple competitors will cross the finish line in Coniston anywhere between 40 and 46 hours. And to get a place in the 100, you need to finish Lakeland 50 in sub 16 hours or equivalent.
It definitely pays off to have experience hiking in the mountains and over technical trails but it is also worth considering as in the previous question the middle section of the course (whether you’re on the 50 or 100) is very runnable. So if you are planning on walking the Lakeland 100, be mentally prepared during these sections to be overtaken by those at the front of the pack. And in some sections, this also means heavier queues for those at the mid to back of the pack.
RELATED: How to Train for Your First 100-Mile Race
Whether you have your sights on the 50-mile or the 100-mile distance, Lakeland is not for the faint-hearted. With a notoriously high dropout rate (up to 50%), Lakeland 100 can be considered one of the more challenging 100-mile races in the UK.
And whilst I don’t want to give you a yes or no answer to this question, Lakeland is as much of a physical test of endurance as it is a test of mental resilience, the ability to endure pain and problem-solve along the way.
What percentage of the time did you use poles?
My goal for Lakeland 100 was to have my poles out on the climbs and put them away on the descents and flatter sections where I knew I would be running more. This worked really well for me since I was very familiar with the course and knew when the major climbs and descents were incoming.
I ended up going with the Naked Running Band that I purchased from the Centurion Running Store to store my poles and I was really happy with this decision. In the run-up to UTMB last year, I had tried multiple belts from various brands and ended up settling on the Free Belt Pro from Compressport but I knew going into Lakeland I needed to find an alternative.
What I love about the Naked belt is that it comes in so many different sizes you are spoilt for choice unlike many of the other belts on the market that come in two maybe three sizes for a unisex product. And the power mesh fabric is so lightweight, I barely notice I'm wearing it.
So if you’re thinking about Lakeland for next year, running poles are a must with an elevation of 6,300m and 3,100m, respectively, for the 100-mile and 50-mile routes. But more importantly, consider how you will store them during the more runnable sections and be sure to get in plenty of practice before race day with them.
Did you sleep or want to sleep?
I did not have a sleep strategy going into Lakeland 100 because I knew I wouldn’t have much time to spare and wanted to get around the course in the fastest way possible. But that’s not to say that this strategy works for everyone.
The longest duration I have been out on the trail during a single-stage race was during the UTMB Mont-Blanc last year where I dropped out of the race after 28.5 hours/ 118 km. Before that I had multiple finishes around the 24-hour mark so I knew going through the first night wasn’t going to be a problem because it’s something I have had prior experience with.
There wasn’t a single point for me during the race where I felt like I was tired and wanted to sleep but comparing this with UTMB the previous year, as soon as darkness fell into the first night I felt like I wanted to lay down and sleep. Progressing into the second night, I became unsteady on my feet, started hallucinating and at this point felt it was unsafe for me to continue so I decided to drop out of the race with a marathon to go to the finish line in Chamonix.
Do I need to know how to navigate?
On the website for the Lakeland 50 & 100, it states that you must be able to navigate because the course is unmarked. The reality is for the 50-mile distance there is little to no navigation needed due to the sheer volume of participants on the course in recent years but this depends on where you think you might be in the field. If you expect to be at the front or back of the pack where the field is more spread out then the less you can rely on other competitors for navigation support and the more confident you need to be on your judgment.
For everyone inside our Lakeland Training Group this year, we had an online navigation session led by The Nav Guy in early Spring to equip everyone with some basics going into the race. As part of the mandatory kit for the race, you are expected to carry both the map and road book (supplied at registration) and a compass but you could navigate the course alone just reading the road book.
*Ballot opens 1st September 2025 & we get started October 2025*
For anyone doing the race, the first thing I would encourage is to get out onto the course before the race. The organizers hold four official recce days (November, January, March and June) exclusively for anyone with a place in either the 50 or 100. If you can only do one of those, January is a must. It covers the final 25km of the course and starts late afternoon so you get experience of running at night and running in bad weather.
RELATED: 3 Podcasts to Learn More About the Lakeland 50 & 100
If you can’t get out onto the course before the race, there are still several things you can do to familiarize yourself with the route. The OS Explore on desktop has a brilliant 3D fly-through feature that will walk you through the entire course and you can also use Google Earth to get a good idea of where the more technical sections of the course are. Along with these tools, there are unlimited podcasts and YouTube vlogs that I would recommend spending some time listening to and watching.
What time does the Lakeland 100 start?
The Lakeland 100 starts at 6pm on the last Friday in July. Competitors will line the street outside of the John Ruskin school and the entire village comes out to listen to a short rendition of Nessun dorma and see them off. At this point in the summer in the UK, sunset is usually around 9pm with light until dusk at 10pm so you get around four hours of daylight before you need to get the head torch out.
RELATED: How to Train for Your First 100-Mile Race
The start time is similar to other big European trail events such as the UTMB Mont-Blanc. If you’re at the front of the pack, you’ll likely end up running through only the first night but those at the back of the pack could face up to two full nights out on the trail without sleep.
How did Lakeland 100 go for you?
This was my second time on the Lakeland 100 start line after a DNF back in 2021. I felt confident going into the race, that I had all the tools to finish this year but I was under no illusion that it was going to be easy. For me, the most challenging part of my race was in the early hours of Saturday morning where my stomach became increasingly unsettled and I battled with nausea.
Nutrition is something that I rarely, if ever have issues with during training or racing so I was surprised that I encountered this so early on into my race. I was carrying enough nutrition on me to get me through the entire race and not have to rely on aid stations because I wanted to give myself options if things did go wrong. Which they did. So I quickly switched out any nutrition that was no longer working and pivoted to some of the plain real food options available at aid stations. I allowed myself time at checkpoints where I wasn’t in motion, to get in salts, fluid and solid food and wouldn’t allow myself to leave until my stomach felt more settled.
*Ballot opens 1st September 2025 & we get started October 2025*
Aside from nutrition, I had a few kit failures in the race. The first was that my Katadyn BeFree 0.6L filter flask was leaking early on. I couldn’t work out if it had a pinhole in the flask or the closure wasn’t working properly but every time I refilled, the left-hand side of me became completely drenched. I made the decision early on in my race to no longer refill this at checkpoints but it meant that I only had a 500ml flask to last me between aid stations. And for some of the later sections of the course, this was up to 3 hours in parts.
My other major kit error was leaving my spare base layers and socks inside my packing cube back at the cottage. This meant I arrived at the Dalemain checkpoint (60 miles) into the race, absolutely drenched from the downpour we’d had through the night and again in the morning, to pick up my drop bag and realize everything I needed wasn’t there. So I focused on what I could do. I still had my foot care kit so I removed my wet socks and redid all the prep on my feet only to put the wet socks back on. And I still had a spare heavy-weight waterproof jacket which I switched for the soggy inov-8 Stormshell I was wearing.
For me Lakeland 100 was a huge learning experience as all of these races always are but if it left me with anything it was feeling proud of my consistency in training in the build-up to the race, my ability to problem-solve during and my curiosity to see what more I am capable of.
Lakeland is a course I truly adore and this year was even more special as I got to share the experience with eight other athletes and friends who were part of our Lakeland Training Group and also out on the course racing over the weekend. As much as this race was for me, I don’t think my experience would have been quite the same if I'd gone alone.
Doors to join the 2025 cohort of the Lakeland Training Group are closed right now.
The 2026 programme starts in October 2025 and runs for 10 months until July 2025.
OPEN TO ALL FEMALE ATHLETES WHO HAVE A PLACE IN EITHER THE LAKELAND 50 OR 100 FOR 2026.
*BALLOT FOR 2026 EVENT OPENS ON SEPTEMBER 1ST 2025*
REGISTER YOUR INTEREST ABOVE AND I’LL REMIND YOU WHEN THE BALLOT OPENS!