Saturday 18th May 2024
11:00am – 11.20am

Adult (age 18+): £60 

Price includes all three days of Festival: access to Big Top live music, daytime speaker sessions, and activities

adidas TERREX

Half Marathon Trail Run

The 25km Trail Half Marathon (and a bit!) is graded ‘Hard’ and sits almost halfway between the 10km & 50km routes in difficulty, ascent & terrain you run on. Technical, fast flowing and rugged trails take you around Derwentwater and the Borrowdale Valley with the Watendlath Valley thrown in for good measure.

If you’re looking for more than our 10km trail run but not quite up for the 50km Ultra Marathon, then try this 25km option which is just slightly over the half marathon distance. 

Ascent: 866m It will test you to your limit or get you set for longer trails later in the season. 

Choose your most preferable wave based on your running speed. 

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Download your GPX File here > 

Route Map

What’s Included

  • FREE photograph
  • Electronic chip timing
  • Event t-shirt (unless you choose to donate cost of T Shirt to our Catbells Conservation project with Fix the Fells)
  • 1 feed station
  • Hydration will be provided
  • Your sports entry includes access to Big Top Live Music, daytime Tent Talks, and all activities ALL WEEKEND (Friday to Sunday)

Venue

The Festival Village is located adjacent to The Theatre By The Lake close to Derwentwater. Race start is in the heart of the Festival Village. 

Address: Lakeside
Keswick
Cumbria
CA12 5DJ

What’s great!

  • Perfect course for those who want to up their distance from 10k
  • Finish at Crow Park taking in the fantastic event atmosphere where your friends and family can watch you pass the finish line!
  • Get spectacular views of the event from the West side of Derwentwater
  • Professionally organised by experienced events team.

25km Start Waves

The 25k has a road crossing within 700m of the race start and whilst we know this is not ideal, its not possible to get you from the events centre start location to the superb trails of Great Woods and under Falcon Crag’s without this road crossing.

To improve your enjoyment of the race, we have a staggered start, allowing runners to set off in waves.

This system allows us to group similar speed runners together meaning you all have a great race on your hands!

The way the wave system works:

We have five waves to start on the 25k, meaning we can split you down into waves of similar abilities. This is mainly done by you estimating your completion time.

Please remember if you haven’t done the route before it is a very technical race in the first half and less so in the second, this will mean you might need to adjust your ‘normal 25k’ time by a little. Don’t forget there is also 800m of ascent in the course, please take this into account.

You will be given the option of choosing your wave at the point of entry, please make sure you choose the most applicable wave for your ability.

Please Note: 

Overtaking is possible from Castle Head Wood, into Springs Farm and then Great Woods (early in the race), the track under Falcon Crags (the very technical track) is not an easy option for over taking, but once clear of that you can easily overtake in and beyond the Watendlath valley, after CP1.

Timing & Safety

You must comply with the kit list below and carry this with you on the day of the race.*

  • WATERPROOF whole body cover (i.e. covering the torso from head to ankles)
    Other body cover appropriate for the weather conditions including, as a minimum, hat and gloves.
  • Whistle.
  • Emergency food (a bar or gel, which can only be used in an emergency)
  • Mobile phone fully charged.
  • First aid kit to include: blister plasters/1 large sterile wound dressing and tape to secure a dressing.
  • 0.5L fluid (A hot weather day) – we advise you take fluids anyway, as the first half of the course is very demanding.
  • Please dress appropriately depending on the weather conditions on the day of the event, i.e sensible footwear and clothing, e.g: Waterproof, Trail Shoes, Spare Warm Layer etc
  • We strongly advise you wear good quality deep lugged Trail Shoes for this event!

*The race director and KMF reserve the right to ask you to carry more clothing on the day of the race, depending on the weather conditions. This will be detailed to you via email in the run up to the race.

Safety:
The event will be timed using electronic timing chips within the race number.

There will be two checkpoints (CP) at Rosthwaite Institute and Hawes End. At both CP’s there will be a feed stations where you can fuel up with water and snacks.

Route Markings:
The route will be very well marked throughout, with RED Flags and A5 Arrow Boards at major directional changes, no navigational experience necessary.

The 25km route starts from inside Crow Park, heading directly out of the festival site, it then runs through the car park and into Cockshot Woods before crossing the road within 700m of the start. The road crossing takes you into Castle Crag Woods and then into Great Wood, taking the very European-like trails to run under Falcon Crag on the uber-technical rocky single track and to the 1st CP of the race.

You’re then into the Watendlath Valley, stunned by this hidden gem and its amazing single track you will then climb out over Grange Fell and descend the fast and furious pack house trail to the Rosthwaite Institute to your 2nd CP of the day. Watered & fed by our expert marshals, you will then head north down Borrowdale arriving at the next CP/Drinks Station at Hawes End. From here you run the lake shore paths until Portinscale is reached and head back into Keswick via the Bob Graham Round finish. Once on the streets of Keswick you will be quickly directed by marshals to the finishing straights around the back of Crow Park to your glory finish back at the Festival site.

The 25km is full of surprises, giving you some of the best trails and views the Borrowdale Valley has to offer. A must for the avid trail runner!

CONTINGENCY PLAN

It is possible that events and courses at KMF Trail Running Weekend may need to be amended at short notice due to weather issues, water levels, road conditions or roadworks.

By nature, many of these factors are not possible to know well in advance. For each event there are a number of alternative options available which can be implemented at short notice. The organisers and race directors will always have athlete and spectator safety as the highest priority, and within that context will seek to provide the best possible experience.

All sporting events would be impacted if the Event Village has to be closed. In this instance, as long as circumstances allow, all starts and finishes would be relocated to Lake Road and Lakeside Car Park and the events operated as smoothly as possible. The 10km route would be re-routed through Hope Park (north of Crow Park) to finish on Lake Road.

The 10km course is extremely robust and will cope with most weather. The challenging factor with the 10km route can be the mode of transport from Crow Park to the race start at Low Brandlehow. On a general race day transport is via Keswick Launches across Derwentwater to the race start. Coach transport is a back-up option if strong winds or other weather means the launches cannot sail, with 4 coaches reserved in advance of the event to transport competitors to the race start.

A bad weather route will be published closer to the Festival to be used in the event that the course needs to be adjusted.

Your athlete guide will be emailed to you approximately 2 weeks before the event date, and also available to download here.

Please make sure you read this prior to coming to the event, it will answer most if not all of your questions.

Previous Results

2022 Results

2021 Results

2019 Results

2018 Results

2017 Results

Distance: 25km
Ascent: 866m
Course Record: Winning Time in 2016 – 1:45:27 – Eoin Lennon, Mountain Fuel

We welcome all outdoor sport enthusiasts to Keswick Mountain Festival and want to make the event as inclusive as possible. The document (link below for download) aims to give you all the information you need to allow you to make a decision about visiting the Festival and entering one of the events. Everyone has their own needs for information, so please contact us to discuss how we can support you in your chosen sport. Please email info@keswickmountainfestival.co.uk as soon as possible.

KMF has a dedicated Accessibility Zone with various exhibitors and sports providers. Please visit our accessible page on the website to see what’s on and to book onto the dedicated accessible activities

Download General Sport Accessible Guide >

Check out Accessibility Zone Page on website > 

Festival Partners

Festival Sponsors

Media Partner