Click here for the Isle of Man Mountain Ultra website
Date: Saturday 3 October 2015
Distance: 31 miles (Short)
Ascent: 8500ft/2600m
2014 winning time: 5:34:23
ALREADY OPEN FOR ENTRIES
Runfurther is once more going across the sea: this race was last in the Championship in 2010, when it was called the Manx Mountain Marathon. We’re delighted to be going back.
The race has plenty of climbing, over the main hills of the island, including the highest one, Snaefell at 621 metres. And you’re not allowed to take the train up. Conditions were misty in 2014, so be prepared to navigate. This is one of those races that people go back to race again and again.
To quote from Mark Bottomley’s 2014 race report: “…an amazing day out. It was made even better still by being handed a beer at the finish line! Most finishers collapsed on the grass, drank their beer and stayed around for a couple of hours sunbathing and watching everyone come in. This camaraderie was absolutely typical of the whole race, and come to think of it, the island too! The organisers have got a great location to play with and have used the island to its full potential by setting a course that offers such variety of terrain. In only 50km you experience both North and South Wales, the Peak District and the Devon coastline. There can’t be too many races that can offer all of that.” A great summing up, and you can read his full report here. Mark finished 3rd and is one of the Clif Bar 10 Peaks race organisers. Also worth reading is Charlie Sharpe’s 2014 report, which you can find here.
Most of the Runfurther committee have never been to the Isle of Man, and we’re not going to miss the chance of going this time – we hope plenty of you join us there. There are some travel and accommodation options already on the race website, & we hope to add some details of campsite options too, well before the race. Train and boat to and from the island isn’t very expensive, and the race entry is very affordable – it’s quite possible to do this on the cheap, and that’s what we’ll be doing. Mind you, we’ve no idea yet how we’ll get the flags & the Clif Bars out there!