We are delighted to be able announce the 2015 Runfurther Ultra Championship races. They are appearing simultaneously here and in Trail Running magazine, and we hope that will help us get in touch with more runners, and make Runfurther bigger and better than ever.
So, here are the 2015 races. Click on the race name and it will take you to our page about the race, and a link to the official race website.
| Date | Event | Location | Miles | Cat |
| Sat 14 March | Haworth Hobble | W Yorkshire Pennines | 32 | S |
| Sat 11 April | Calderdale Hike | W Yorkshire Pennines | 37 | M |
| Sat 25 April | The Fellsman | Yorkshire Dales | 62 | L |
| Sun 10 May | Marlborough Downs Challenge | N Wiltshire | 33 | S |
| Sun 24 May | The Ox | S Wiltshire | 35 | M |
| Sat 13 June | Three Rings of Shap | Cumbria | 62 | L |
| Sat 27 June | Clif Bar 10 Peaks Lakes | Lake District | 45 | M |
| Sat 8 August | Long Tour of Bradwell | Peak District | 33 | S |
| Sat 5 September | Bullock Smithy Hike | Peak District | 56 | L |
| Sat 19 September | Hardmoors 60 | N Yorks Coast | 62 | L |
| Sat 3 October | Isle of Man Mountain Ultra | Isle of Man | 31 | S |
| Sat 24 October | Jedburgh Three Peaks Ultra | Scottish Borders | 38 | M |
We think we’ve got a series on 12 great races lined up for you in 2015. We’re trying to bring more new events into the Championship, but we don’t really want to lose any of our regulars either if we can help it, so to some extent we’re moving towards having the regulars in every other year rather than every year, to give other races a chance to come into the Championship. That’s why the High Peak 40 and the Round Rotherham 50 aren’t on the list for 2015 – we’re hoping to have them back in for 2016. We’d love to have included Evesham again for 2015 as well, but since it clashes with the Fellsman, we couldn’t do it – we really wanted to bring the Fellsman back in. So maybe we’ll have the Fellsman and Evesham in alternate years, and maybe do the same with the High Peak 40 and the Hardmoors 60. Let us know what you think.
Other old favourites back in for 2015 are the Marlborough Downs Challenge, the Bullock Smithy Hike, the Hardmoors 60 and the Isle of Man Mountain Ultra (which used to be called the Manx Mountain Marathon). Personally I’m really looking forward to a weekend on the Isle of Man as I’ve never been there. It shouldn’t cost too much either, as the race is cheap to enter and the boat journey from Liverpool or Heysham doesn’t cost much either.
New races for Runfurther 2015 are:
1. The Ox. We’ve got two races in Wiltshire, more by accident than anything, and they are in different parts of the county. The Ox is a new race, run in 2014 for the first time, and we are glad to support it. It should be a fast race by Runfurther standards, and it’s in a good area for running.
2. The Clif Bar 10 Peaks Lakes. This is one of the hardest races ever to appear on the Runfurther list. It climbs the 10 highest mountains in the Lake District, and is a major challenge to any runner.
3. The Jedburgh Three Peaks Ultra. This is trail running through beautiful country in the Scottish Borders, with some steep hills in the middle. One to enjoy.
There’s no race in Wales for 2015, for which we apologise. It just worked out that we couldn’t get one to fit into the timetable. We’ll do our best to fix that for 2016.
Lastly, it’s great that we have our main sponsors all back on board for 2015, with increased sponsorship. Many thanks to all of them: their links and logos are on every web page, so you can’t miss them! Without them we’d have no website and no prizes, so there’d be no Runfurther.