On Tuesday 25th May, Damian Hall, a British elite ultra marathon runner, will be attempting to break the record on Wainwright’s 185 mile Coast to Coast route. This route was devised by Alfred Wainwright in his 1973 book “A Coast to Coast Walk”.
It starts in St Bees on the west coast, travels through the Lake District National Park, The Yorkshire Dales National Park and the North York Moors National Park and ends in Robin’s Hood Bay on the east coast. Tradition suggests you should dip your feet in the sea at either end.
There is no set route as such. In fact, Alfred Wainwright himself said in the book: “I want to encourage in others the ambition to devise with the aid of maps their own cross-country marathons and not be merely followers of other people’s routes: there is no end to the possibilities for originality and initiative.”
The current record is held by Mike Hartley who ran it in 1991 in 39 hours and 36 minutes.
Ahead of his attempt, Damian told RunUltra:
“This route is great fun. I hiked it in 2007 over 10 days and thought that was pretty fast at the time. I’ve been planning to run it since after my Pennine Way run last year, when a friend suggested it. Mike’s record is an even stronger run than his Pennine Way one. It’s intimidating.”
Damian will be followed closely by Endurance Creative, a collaboration between Summit Fever media and Steve Ashworth media. Producing official coverage for events such as the Dragon’s Back Race, ITERA, Cape Wrath Ultra, Untamed New England, XTri World Series as well as numerous FKT’s, their dedicated team has built up the experience and reputation to deliver high quality content during and post events.
Matt from Endurance Creative says:
“It’s no surprise that an athlete like Damian wants to take on the Coast-to-Coast record. The stunning route gives you a great flavour of what northern England has to offer, it’s variety in terrain both tests athletes and inspires them. Mike Hartley has set the bar high and we’re really excited to see what Damian can bring to the table.”
RunUltra will be getting all the daily updates direct from Endurance Creative and we’ll be posting on social media throughout the day and providing highlight videos on Instagram each evening. Make sure you’re following us on Instagram to keep up to date with his attempt. If you would like to dot watch, Damian’s tracker is here.
Damian will be supported by his sponsors inov-8, Precision Hydration and Petzl
