Starting and finishing at Fitz Park, in Keswick, the 5K Derwentwater Sport Trail, 10K Derwentwater Trail Run, 15K Derwentwater Trail Race and 15K Derwentwater Trail Challenge are circuits along well marked and marshalled footpaths and bridleways, taking in panoramic views of Derwentwater, the surrounding peaks of Skiddaw and Blencathra and the northern fells. Underfoot conditions are generally good for those used to trail running, but expect a bit of everything! The course has no stiles, so there is nothing but the hills and the infamous Bottomless Bogs of the Glenderaterra Valley to break up your rhythm.
A carnival atmosphere is guaranteed for both spectators and competitors, with live music, race commentary, food and drink all available at the start and finish. So, whether you're new to trail running, an experienced athlete, or simply looking for an unforgettable day out in the Lake District, a family-friendly, festival atmosphere and some amazing trail running awaits you!
11:15
£12.50 / u16 - £10
A shorter distance event for everyone over the age of 12, on a well marked and marshalled course, with graded runnable climbs and descents. There is a NO TIME LIMIT. You will have the option to add a t-shirt to your entry for just £12.50. Checkout the News article and Ts and Cs for more information.
10:45 or 11:00
£32 / U25 £15
A shorter distance event for everyone over the age of 16, on a well marked and marshalled course, with graded runnable climbs and descents. There is a time limit of 2 hours and to enter you must be at least 16 years old. Please note that prizes for the 10k are only available to those in the 11am 'Race' start. You will have the option to add a t-shirt to your entry for just £12.50. Checkout the News article and Ts and Cs for more information.
12.45 or 13:00
£32 / U25 £15
An event for less competitive runners and fitness walkers. If you want to take it easy and enjoy the views, this is the one for you. There is a time limit of 3 1/2 hours for the Challenge and to enter you must be at least 18 years old. If you think you will take less than 1 1/2 hours to complete the run, please enter the Race. For safety reasons, there will be a cut-off time of 60 minutes at 4.8K. Please also note that prizes for the 15k are only available to those in the 2pm 'Race' start. You will have the option to add a t-shirt to your entry for just £12.50. Checkout the News article and Ts and Cs for more information.
14:00
£32 / U25 £15
For the competitive runner, a well marked and marshalled course with fast, graded runnable climbs and descents for those used to off road running. There is a time limit of 2 hours for the Race and to enter you must be at least 18 years old. You will have the option to add a t-shirt to your entry for just £12.50. Checkout the News article and Ts and Cs for more information.
All of the pre-race information is now shown below rather than in an Event Guide to make it more accessible. Please take time to read this information.
The event requires over 40 marshals and stewards, so if you want to volunteer to help us in any way we would love to hear from you. Check out our volunteers' page for more details.
Can you fill your car with someone from your local club or car share? We've set up a Facebook group to help arrange that. Join that HERE to save money and emissions.
Send us a photo / screenshot of your public transport ticket to the event, or a photo of your bike in the event ground HERE and we'll randomly choose someone for a FREE entry.
We won't be holding a Safety Briefing as all of the ESSENTIAL information is covered below.
✅ Follow the postcode CA12 5QB and then follow our car park signs to Keswick School. There is limited parking here so please use a signposted public car park in town once this is full
✅ All day parking here is £5 for cars, £6 for vans
❌Only SMALL vans (max. VW Transporter) are permitted on our event parking
✅ Race number to be collected on the day AT LEAST 45 minutes before your Start Time
✅Your race number must be attached HORIZONTALLY or the timing chip won’t be read
✅ Set off at your allocated time or you won't show on the Results
✅To swap your event yourself you can edit your entry online up to 6 days before the event or do it in person at Registration on event day.
✅You can swap your entry to the Race, Challenge at least 45 minutes before the earliest Start Time of the two (e.g. if you want to swap from the 1pm Challenge to the 2pm Race, 12:15pm is the deadline). The deadline to defer or request a refund has passed.
✅ Carry your own water or bring your own cup for the water stations on course or by the marquee
✅ If you arrive at a closed gate, please close it behind you
✅ If you find the terrain is tricky, be prepared to slow down so that you can negotiate it safely
❌No over ear or in ear headphones (bone conducting ones permitted)
❌Snot rockets or spitting on the course
❌No pushing past other runners
✅ Be considerate to other trail and road users - our events rely on the goodwill of others
✅ Have a wonderful day
08.45 Car park opens
09.00 Registration opens in the main registration marquee
10.45 Derwentwater Trail Run 10k Early Start
11.00 Derwentwater Trail Run 10k START
11.15 Derwentwater Sport Trail 5k START
12.30 Children's Fun Trails with Zeraffa the Giraffe
13.00 Derwentwater Trail Challenge 15k START
14.00 Derwentwater Trail Race 15k START
15.30 Après Trails live music with singer / songwriter Pete Lashley
16.30 Prize giving & spot prize giving
With bus prices capped at just £2 per journey until the end of 2024, why not relax and take in the views along the route, save on the cost of parking and reduce your carbon footprint?
Keswick is accessible from Lancaster, Kendal and Ambleside on the 555 bus. You can find the latest timetable HERE. You can also travel from Penrith to Keswick on the X4 and X5 service. The timetable is HERE.
Send us a photo of your public transport ticket for all or part of your journey and we'll award one lucky winner at each event with a FREE ENTRY to a future event. Email your photos HERE
The environmental impact of travelling by car is much reduced if it's full so why not join up with your friends / running club members to travel together? If your car has 4 or more occupants, parking is FREE! There's always plenty to do in and around our venue and visiting local businesses helps support them too. Visit our Car Share group on Facebook HERE to start planning!
We have bus information under the 'sustainable travel' tab above. With bus tickets only £2 per journey, why not arrive at the event relaxed and enjoy the scenery on the way?
If you arrive by bike, we’ll have a bike rack available (bikes left at your own risk).
All day parking at Keswick School CA12 5QB is £5 cars and £6 for vans. Alternatively, fill your car with 4 or more passengers and park for FREE. We prefer payment by card machine, although we can accept cash. Please use our Car Sharing Facebook group HERE to either offer or request a lift.
The car park opens at 8:45am and is a 1km walk from our Event Centre in Fitz Park CA12 4NF. Please follow Satnav directions to Keswick School until you see our car park signs, then follow them to our parking. Please note that there is LIMITED PARKING at Keswick School so when it is full, runners will use the public car parks in Keswick.
Nearly all of our runners and polite and friendly but, for some reason, a few people abuse our hardworking car park crew because they have had to wait a few minutes or they're being asked to park considerately. We have a zero tolerance policy to this sort of behaviour and will not hesitate to ban people from our events if they behave in this way.
All Race Numbers must be collected from Registration in the main marquee on race day.
Registration opens at 9:00am on Saturday. You can collect your number up to 45 minutes before your allocated start time.
Start Lists won’t be on display in the marquee but will be available above 5 days before the event. We will also confirm your number by email a couple of days before the event.
If you forget what your number is, you can check it on a tablet in Registration.
If you’ve got any questions about your entry, please go to the Enquiries desk on the right-hand side of the main marquee and a friendly face will help you.
There will be a baggage storage adjacent to the main marquee.
Please note there are no entries on the day and entries are not transferrable to another runner. Runners competing with someone else's number will be disqualified and will not be eligible for prizes or appear in the results.
We will also prevent them from taking part in future Lakeland Trails events, such is the safety risk if something were to happen to a person whose details we don’t have on our system.
All contests set off from Fitz Park CA12 4NF. Please see the Event Timetable tab above for start times.
The finish is under our inov8 gantry. When you cross the finish line, it’s really important that your whole number is clearly visible so we can give you a shout out and cross check our timing system in case of any queries. Failure to display your number may result in disqualification.
Once you’ve finished, you’ll go through the main marquee. If you've ordered a t-shirt it will be available to collect inside.
If you haven't ordered a t-shirt, please pass straight through the marquee. We have a selection of non event specific merchandise for sale in the marquee.
Results will be available in real-time via our website.
There will be a range of Lakeland Trails merch available on the day to purchase as a memento.
If you ordered one, your race number will show its style and size. You can collect it immediately after finishing your run.
Unfortunately, it cannot be collected on your behalf on the day. If you’ve ordered a t-shirt and won’t be able to make the event, we can post it out to you the following week if you pay £5 p+p at the latest the day before the event.
If your t-shirt is not collected or you have not requested for it to be posted to you, we will assume that you no longer want it.
All courses will be well marked and marshalled by our magnificent Lakeland Trails volunteers, all of whom work hard to make your run as enjoyable and safe as possible. The courses have a variety of terrain, mainly beautiful, scenic hard packed trails with the occasional muddy section!
Please stay alert on any road sections and keep close to the right hand side. Our marshals don’t have authority to stop traffic, so please be prepared to slow down and wait if necessary.
If you think the terrain is too tricky, it’s fine to slow down or walk and take in the views! Some gates on the course may not be staffed so if you arrive at a closed gate, please close it after you. There are sections of private land which may only be used on race day and please put any litter in your pocket until you reach a bin.
For safety, in ear headphones are not allowed - but we do allow bone conductor headphones which enable peripheral sound to be heard.
Please also be considerate to other trail and road users. We share access with them and we rely on the goodwill of others to make our events possible.
VERY IMPORTANT: DOGS AREN’T ALLOWED ON THE COURSE
As part of our commitment to reduce our environmental impact, please play your part by coming self-sufficient with your own water supplies or bring your own re-useable cup. We will not be supplying cups at the Water Stations so please bring your own to be filled with Lake District water.
There will be one water station on the 15k course (at approximately 11k) and on the 10k course (at approximately 6k). Drinking water will also be available at the finish.
We recommend you wear suitable trail running shoes. The inov-8 Roclite or Trailfly shoe would be ideal for the course - possibly the Mudtalon if it was very wet. In adverse weather a jacket, tights, hat and gloves may be required, so do come prepared, just in case. The Lake District is a mountainous region and the weather can deteriorate at any time of the year but especially in the autumn.
Advanced Life Support Medics from Event Safety Group will be in attendance and our in-house Comms Team will provide radio coverage to the marshals and crew. The medics' priority is medical emergencies and more severe injuries. With that in mind, they may not be able to help you with minor cuts and scrapes that you’d normally be able to sort out yourself.
If you are unable to finish your event and need to retire, you must report to the finish line or an event marshal and hand in your race number.
Please remember to treat fellow runners, members of the public, our volunteers and crew with respect. We want everyone to have an enjoyable day!
Pete Bland Sports will be onsite providing expert advice, selling a wide range of the latest inov8 products and race essentials with great discounts on all inov8 footwear and clothing – even their exciting new products.
We use all small local businesses who sell locally sourced food. There will be some great food and drink stalls including exciting offerings from our local caterers. Our regular caterers include Fiery Mammas Pizza and Food from the Fells, with great coffees from The Coffee Bug and Podda and Wren Coffee. We also have hot desserts from Ellie at Oooh Crumbs!
We also have the ever popular Batala, Lancaster drumming for you and race commentary from our fantastic MC will keep you informed of progress of runners and give you a warm welcome as you cross the finish line!
Portable loos and a urinal unit are also on site.
If it's your first event and you want to find out more about how the event works or have any questions, please introduce yourself to one of our friendly marshals and we will be happy to make sure you get the information you need!
All children Under 12 have the chance to run alongside, or maybe even in front of, Zeraffa, the long-lost cousin of the late and much-loved Gerry the Giraffe. Entry is only available on the day and is free for competitors’ children.
The Fun Trails give children the buzz of the race day experience so please give them your support. You never know – they might be the next world champions! All the children are rewarded with a special finishers’ medal.
As the emphasis is on FUN and participation, there are no winners’ prizes. Bring your whole family along to make a great day of it! At Keswick the Fun Trail sets off at 12.30.
We will have a fantastic selection of NEW merchandise available, including NEW sustainable 100% organic cotton hoodies & tees as well as Lakeland Trails' technical tees and NEW mugs. Check out our SHOP page for further information.
Spectators are very welcome and really help create a fantastic atmosphere in the event village. There is plenty of entertainment at the start and finish arena; bring deck chairs, rugs, cameras and a smile!
We will have James Kirby, our professional photographer on the course. FREE photos will be available to download from www.Facebook.com/lakelandtrails on the Monday after the event.
The legendary singer / songwriter Pete Lashley will be performing live for an hour with Prize Giving following on afterwards. This is a great opportunity to meet fellow competitors, the organising and marshalling teams.
There will be a great range of Spot Prizes up for grabs. We’ll choose the winning numbers at random during our Prize Giving ceremony.
Results will appear LIVE on the Results page on our website.
Prizegiving is at 4.30pm and prizes are awarded as follows:
Trail Run 10k (please note: runners in the 10K early start at 10.45 are not eligible for a prize)
Open Class: First 3 Men & First 3 Women
Veteran Classes: First Man & First Woman (V40, V50, V60, V70, V80)
Trail Race 15k (please note: runners in the 15k Challenge event are not eligible for a prize)
Open Class: First 3 Men & First 3 Women
Veteran Classes: First Man & First Woman (V40, V50, V60, V70, V80)
Please note that if a Vet finishes in the top 3, they will receive the corresponding Open Class prize. There is only one prize awarded per person.
V70 and V80 competitors in the 15k can compete in either the Race or Challenge to be eligible for a prize. In all other categories, prizes are only awarded for runners in the 'Race' start at 2pm.
Unfortunately we are unable to post prizes out.
The event requires over 40 marshals and stewards, so if you want to volunteer to help us in any way we would love to hear from you. Check out our volunteers' page for more details.
After the excitement of the race, it can be easy to forget to pick something up. If you think you've lost / forgotten something, please contact us HERE and we'll see if we can locate the item. Items can be collected at a future event free of charge or posted back to you for £5. For the latter, please pay HERE after we've confirmed we've got your item.