29 July 2016

Skiddaw in the Lake District will host the British Athletics Mountain Running National Championships which will incorporate the World Championship Trial (Uphill) and Senior Home Country Internationals on Saturday 30 July.

With spots on the team for the World Mountain Running Championships (uphill) in Sapareva, Bulgaria up for grabs, there is an added incentive for athletes to place highly at this weekend’s event. On a challenging uphill course, there will be a series of senior and junior races on the uphill course.

World Long Distance mountain running champion Annie Conway heads the senior women’s start lists for the event, taking on the shorter discipline in the Lakes, but another tough course up Skiddaw. With an 846m climb along the 7.7km course, Conway will be involved in quite a battle against her competitors and the course.

Others to look out for include Heidi Dent (Derek Hurton) who placed seventh at the European Mountain Running Championships (up & down) earlier this month, and Rebecca Hilland, both of whom were part of the silver medal winning senior women’s team at the same championships.

In the senior men’s categories, Andrew Douglas (Sophie Dunnett) will be one of the leading names as he looks to build on his fourth place finish at the Europeans (up & down) a few weeks ago. Also part of the bronze medal winning senior men’s team at the event, Douglas will be a contender for the British title and worlds spot.

Others to look out for in the senior men’s race include Inter-Counties winner Ben Mounsey and international Snowden race winner Chris Smith with a number of athletes battling it out for the top positions.

Further details about the event can be found here: http://www.britishathletics.org.uk/competitions/mountain-running/

 A full report will follow next week. .