Runners Brave ☀️ & 🌧️: This Week's Trail Tally

©Cairn Toul and Ben Macdui By Finavon at the English-language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0,

Chasing Trails: Week 27

"Another hot weekend of racing highlights! We saw some speedy performances in the Scottish Highlands and some rainy-day stoicism by those who took on the inaugural Tea & Trails Ultra events in the Lakes. And we can’t recap this weekend’s trail adventures without also looking abroad, where our GB women shone bright on some iconic courses"

- Kate Parker, Director - Founder

Historic Lairig Ghru Race Celebrates 50th Anniversary

Scottish Long Hill Race Lairig Ghru, which takes runners from Braemar to Aviemore in the Highlands, celebrated its 50th anniversary this weekend. It’s a 43 km route that may not pack as much of a punch as some other “hill races” (only 770m of ascent), but which throws a lot of underfoot technicality and stunning scenery at the runners.

This year, Kristian Jones broke the men’s course record in a blistering time of 2:54:36, followed by Fred Davies (3:10:21) and James Espie (3:17:45). In the women’s race, Emily McNicol claimed the win in 3:47:43. Lucy Taylor (3:54:30) was second, followed half a minute later by Meryl Ross (3:55:02).

©Photo of women’s podium, courtesy of Lucy Taylors’ Instagram

British Women on Fire in Iconic International Races

It wasn’t just the UK trails that played host to exciting racing this weekend. The historic American 100-mile race, Western States Endurance Run, saw some blisteringly fast running in boiling hot conditions. Fiona Pascall made her debut in the race with an amazing run, finishing 5th woman in 17:21:52 after gradually progressing through the field all day. She had won a Golden Ticket to enter the race by winning this year’s Chianti Ultra Trail by UTMB - Ultra Trail Chianti Castles.

This is the second stellar women’s debut by a Pascall sister. Fiona’s older sister, Beth, first ran the race in 2019 to finish 4th. She then returned for the win in 2021. Big things are coming for Fiona, too, we’re sure!

Also running Western States was 2022 Winter Spine Race winner Debbie Martin-Consani, who finished second in her age group. 

©Fiona at the finish line, courtesy of @iRunFar X account

And over in Europe, Naomi Lang put in a fantastic effort to step onto the podium at the Marathon du Mont Blanc in the French Alps. In a stacked women’s field of stellar marathon runners, she clocked 4:17:43 - well done!

And a special mention to Josh Wade, who secured 8th place at the Lavaredo Ultra-Trail by UTMB in the Italian Dolomites. 

©Naomi at the finish line, courtesy of @salomonrunning Instagram

Inaugural Tea & Trails Races in the Lake District

For a much fresher experience, runners took to the Lake District trails in inaugural 30k and 50k events organised by the Tea & Trails team (Edwina Sutton and Gary Thwaites of the eponymous podcast fame). It may have been rainy, but the good humour was clearly present on the course!

The 50k podium was made up of Jarlath McKenna, Josh Ellis, and Josh Castlo-Hall on the men’s side. On the women’s side, top performances were by Jess Ross, Fiona Lynch, and Corinna Sidhu. Lucy Gossage, fresh off her win at the South Downs Ultra 100-miler the previous weekend, secured 6th place.

For the 30k, well done to female podium winners: Celia Waring, Alexandra Duncombe, and Shanelle Clough-Watson, who also occupied the overall 3rd through to 5th positions. In the men’s race, top three were Jacob Tonkin, Alex Atkinson, and Daniel Roarty.