Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon
Courses
There are seven courses, from a first-timer's route to an elite one. Six are line courses, where you visit the checkpoints in a set order and the fastest team wins. Fairfield is a score course, where you choose which checkpoints to visit in a fixed time and the most points wins. Every course is for teams of two.
| Course | Who it's for | Distance and ascent | Average time | Winners' time | Minimum age |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wansfell (C) | Suitable for first-timers | 27km, 2,200m | 10 hrs | 6–7 hrs | 14 |
| Bedafell (C) | Suitable for first-timers: an adult with a junior aged 14 to 17 | 28km, 2,150m | 10 hrs | 6–7 hrs | 14 |
| Harter Fell (B) | Suitable for first-timers | 31km, 2,550m | 11 hrs | 7–8 hrs | 14 |
| Carrock Fell (B+) | Experienced | 39km, 2,900m | 12 hrs | 8–9 hrs | 16 |
| Kirkfell (A) | Advanced | 41km, 3,700m | 13 hrs | 9–10 hrs | 18 |
| Scafell (Elite) | Expert | 54km, 4,500m | 15 hrs | 10.5–11.5 hrs | 18 |
| Fairfield (Score) | Experienced | Your choice | 12 hrs fixed | n/a | 16 |
Distances, ascent and times are totals for the two days and vary a little each year. Saturday is about 60% of the total and Sunday 40%, so you finish in good time to travel home.
Choosing your course
Choose the course that suits the slower member of your team. For a first event, be cautious. It's much better to finish, enjoy the weekend and feel you could have done more than to fail to complete your course.
The distances look short if you're used to roads or trail races. Expect to be out far longer than the numbers suggest, for these reasons:
- Climb. Every course has a lot of ascent and descent, often on rough ground. Allow about an hour for every 500m of climb.
- Route choice. You're unlikely to pick the planner's best line, so you'll travel further than the quoted distance.
- Finding checkpoints. Each course has 8 to 10 checkpoints, and a few minutes lost at each soon adds up.
- Stops. Eating, changing layers and reading the map all take longer than you'd think.
- Tiredness. You slow down as the day goes on, and your navigation gets worse with it.
The longer the course, the harder the navigation, the rougher the ground and the more difficult the route choices.
Good to know
- Experience.
- To enter Carrock Fell, Kirkfell, Scafell or Fairfield, you tell us about your experience when you enter. If it isn't enough for the course, we'll ask you to move to a more suitable one.
- A shorter Sunday.
- Teams on line courses can switch to a shorter course for Sunday by telling us at the overnight camp. There is also an extra-short Sunday course, Holme Fell, open to any team. You get a time and position for each day, but you won't appear in the overall results.
- Juniors.
- Minimum ages are in the table above and apply on the Saturday of the event. Anyone under 18 must be partnered by their parent, guardian or accompanying adult, who must be 21 or over.
- Past results.
- Distances quoted before 2023 were straight-line. The figures here are the course planner's best actual route.
Course details
Wansfell
The course to enter if you've never done a mountain marathon. You need good hill experience and basic navigation skills. Checkpoints are on features that are easy to identify, such as sheep pens, summits, and stream and path junctions. Most of your route can follow paths, walls, ridges and streams, with rough compass bearings between them. It can still mean a full day on the fells.
Saturday 15.5km, 1,300m. Sunday 11.5km, 900m.
Bedafell
A line course for an adult with a junior aged 14 to 17, usually parent and child. The adult must be the junior's parent or guardian. Both of you need good hill experience and proven navigational skills. Results use a handicap based on the junior's age (see the FAQs).
Saturday 15km, 1,300m. Sunday 13km, 850m.
Harter Fell
Longer than Wansfell, with more demanding navigation and route choice. It's suitable for first-timers who are fit and have good hill experience and proven navigational skills.
Saturday 19km, 1,550m. Sunday 14km, 1,000m.
Carrock Fell
Both of you need good mountain navigation experience, and at least one of you should have completed a mountain marathon or equivalent in recent years.
Saturday 22km, 1,700m. Sunday 16.5km, 1,200m.
Kirkfell
Both of you need substantial mountain experience and to have completed mountain marathons before.
Saturday 24km, 2,200m. Sunday 17km, 1,500m.
Scafell
Both of you need substantial mountain experience and to have recently completed equivalent courses at other mountain marathons, in varied conditions.
Saturday 34km, 2,600m. Sunday 20km, 1,900m.
Fairfield
A score course with 12 hours in total: 7 on Saturday and 5 on Sunday. Both of you need good mountain navigation experience, and at least one of you should have completed a mountain marathon or equivalent in recent years.
At the start on Saturday you're given a list of all the checkpoints for both days, each with a points value. You plan your own route each day to collect as many points as you can. A checkpoint only scores once, so visiting it again on Sunday earns nothing. Your time stops at the overnight camp on Saturday and starts again there on Sunday, and you lose points if you go over your time on either day (see the FAQs).