South West Coast Path Record Is Broken: This Week's Trail Tally

South West Coast Path, Durdle Door © Komoot

Chasing Trails: Week 30

As we make our way through sunny summer days, it’s only fitting that the crowning achievement of the last seven days took place on the coast! We’re in awe of Dan Lawson’s amazing effort, setting the new FKT on the South West Coast Path. A huge well done! And we’re also celebrating the brave runners who took on some of the toughest trails in the UK, at the Lake District Sky Trails races, and a fabulous international field that raced up and down Yr Wyddfa in Wales. Well done to all!

- Kate Parker, Director - Founder

New South West Coast Path Record

Dan Lawson is no stranger to impressive running records. He smashed the Land’s End to John O’Groats fastest known time (running the length of Great Britain in 9 days 21 hours 14 minutes in 2020) and won the European 24-Hour Championships. And, last Monday, he also took the crown on the South West Coast Path - with a total running time of 9 days 13 hours 40 minutes 23 seconds!

The South West Coast Path is 630 miles long (1,014 km) with an impressive total elevation gain of 114,931 feet (35,031 m). It starts at Minehead in Somerset, running along the coastline of Exmoor, then North Devon into Cornwall. After hugging the Cornish coastline, it goes across the mouth of the River Tamar, continues into Devon, then the Dorset coastline, before finishing at Poole Harbour.. With his feat, Dan betters the previous men’s record, set by Kristian Morgan in 2020, by 18 hours! 

© David Miller on Instagram

Techy Trail Races in the Lake District

From sea to sky, next: last weekend saw the running of the Rab Helvellyn Sky Ultra, one of the most technical running races in the UK. Covering 57 km with 3,700 m of ascent, the race starts in Patterdale and includes some premier skyrunning / scrambling terrain across famous Striding and Swirral Edges, climbing Helvellyn, and ticking off lots of iconic central and eastern Lake District views. Rob Sinclair won the men’s race in 6 hours 40 minutes 28 seconds, followed by Alex Hamlet (7:09:49) and Rogan Martin (7:17:24). The women’s race was won by Holly Wootten (7:54:12) in a time that placed her sixth overall. Tahnee Daman (9:21:38) and Rachel Seckl (9:43:38) completed the podium.

And there were more technical trails on offer at the Pinnacle Ridge Extreme - a 28km hard effort including scrambling on Pinnacle Ridge and 2,700 m of ascent. Tom Simpson came away with the win in 3:38:15, followed by Ed Brewer (4:11:18) and Jeremy Swainson (4:29:37). A special mention here for Caspian James, whose 4:30:38 finish time earned him fourth place so soon after setting a Double Bob Graham Round FKT. 

In the women’s race, Bethan Logan won in 5:05:47, followed by Rosie Watson (5:27:02) and Lauren Munro-Bennett (5:39:49).

The St Sunday Sky Race (29 km, 2,050 m of ascent) tested runners who were looking for slightly more runnable, but still challenging trails. Here, Sara Willhoit led the women (3:38:26), with Elke Markey (4:38:39) in second and Reggie Lenz (4:40:29) in third. Kris Jones was the men’s winner (3:06:23), in front of Lucas Nieuweboer (3:34:03) and Stijn de Looijer (3:40:45).

Finally, the semi technical Place Fell Race covered 15 km and 680 m of ascent. Well done to Andy Eades (1:18:47), Dan Lewington (1:22:57), and Carmine de Grandis (1:25:05) on the male podium, and to Kamila Feret (1:36:20), Wendy Pigmans (1:42:43), and Joanna Wilson (1:44:52) on the women’s.

Shot from Pinnacle Ridge Extreme Race © Lake District Sky Trails

Italian Takeover at International Snowdon Race

The Râs Yr Wyddfa - International Snowdon Race - brings together international elites to race 15.35 km with 994 m of elevation up Wales’ highest mountain. And it was a very international field this year, too, with a men’s podium made up of an all-Italian crew. Luca Magri took the top spot in an impressive time of 1:06:11, followed by Michael Galassi (1:06:58) and Roberto Giacomotti (1:07:39). In the women’s race, England’s Nancy Scott took the win (1:20:31), followed by Italy’s Beatrice Bianchi (1:21:58) and England’s Eve Pannone (1:22:13).