Road Races

There will be two ultra distance races during the Championships; a 100k road race and a 24-hour race.

The Commonwealth has a long tradition of ultra distance running (defined as distances beyond the marathon distance of 42.2 km). In 1921 the first Comrades Marathon, over 90 kilometers, was held in South Africa to commemorate World War 1. This was one of the world's longest ultra distance races, with up to 13,000 competitors. During the apartheid era this marathon was notable for being one of the few events where people participated regardless of colour.

In 1953 a London-Brighton race was established, however it was only with the marathon boom in the 1980's that ultra-distance running really took off. For the last two decades the sport has been governed by the International Association of Ultra Runners, which currently has 47 national federations affiliated. The IAU has held international competitions since 1987 when the first 100km World Challenge was run. It has been run annually and Commonwealth athletes have won 16 individual or team medals including 4 golds.

The 100k race takes place on Saturday 19 September. Starting from Fitz Park in the centre of Keswick, the course follows a steep route out of town before turning south through St John’s in the Vale to Thirlmere. The race then takes 6 laps of Thirlmere via the back road before returning through St Johns in the Vale and finishing at Fitz Park. The race will start at 8:00am with top runners expected to complete the course in 6.5 hours.

There are great spectator locations - for more details click on Visitors.