Many of our crew have worked on the events for years and we're always happy to chat to you on event day if you'd like advice or just to share why you're running.
The Lake District is our playground too, so not only are we're really familiar with the trails you'll be running on, we do our best for you and the communities we run in.
Tom Rumsey - Event Director
Tom joined our team as Event Director in 2026 and brings in a huge wealth of experience and expertise in organising large events. He's a self-professed logistician with an exceptional eye of detail and making sure our runners have the best day on the Lakeland Trails. Tom lives in Kendal, in close proximity to most of our events.
Viv Riley - Course and Marshal Manager
Runners would literally be lost without Viv, as she's our Course and Marshal Manager. Her organisation is second-to-none, making sure all of the landowners along our routes are aware of us coming (and there are an awful lot of them) and then making sure marshals are allocated to the important parts of the courses so that you can focus on the amazing views without the need to follow a map.
Not only that, she heads up the course marking team before the event, putting up the race route signage and flags.
We sometimes wonder if Viv ever sleeps as she's often sending emails in the small hours of the night!
Viv lives outside Broughton-in-Furness on the southern edge of the Lake District with hubby Dave (we'll have him up here once we can pin him down!)
Katie Lord - Marquee and Admin Manager
Katie joined our team in 2025 after Susan retired. She's been a great addition to our crew - super organised, super friendly and always happy to go the extra mile to help runners. As well as being the person to see if you need to swap to a different contest on race day, she's also the face behind the emails and makes sure all the really important things like t-shirts and race numbers arrive on time. Katie lives just outside of Kendal so her commute by cycle to Staveley was just 2 miles!
Phil Blaylock - Owner
I took part in my first Lakeland Trails' event at Keswick in 2013. My move back to Cumbria hadn't gone to plan and I entered because I needed a challenge and the escapism running on the trails gives. I kept returning to the events because of the amazing sense of community and belonging I got at them.
The events have played such an important role in shaping my life and it's so important to me that we put on the best events we can because I know they mean so much to so many other runners (and walkers).
My favourite event is probably the next one to take place.
My biggest achievement is sweeping the Ultra 55k on 2015 after never running more than 25 miles previously (and course marking the day before!)
18th May 2026
We regularly take steps to reduce the amount of perfectly good kit going into landfill Read more
4th November 2025
A great community of runners with virtual events, discounts and more! Read more
12th August 2025
Are you ready to step up? Read more