Interim statement on the SILVA Northern Traverse and Lakes Traverse Results

The weather on Saturday deteriorated, so a decision was made to divert participants from Patterdale on a low-level route along Ullswater and over Askham Fell via Public Footpaths to avoid the high ground of Kidsty Pike.

This diversion took effect at 17:30. However, 19 runners had already proceeded on the original route over Kidsty Pike.

While it may be disappointing that we had to alter the route during the race, our participants’ safety was and always will be our top priority.

This change had the potential to impact the results for the leading runners on the Northern Traverse and Lakes Traverse. It also makes it challenging to compare Hannah Rickman’s remarkable time on the SILVA Northern Traverse (52h 42m) with Lisa Watson’s 2022 record time on the unchanged course (52h 52m). 

We have done some interim analysis of the results, comparing the average split time of the 16 runners who went via Kidsty Pike against the next 16 runners who finished on the low-level route. This data shows that the second group of runners were 12% slower on the section from Grasmere to Patterdale, but only 4% slower on the Ullswater/Askham diversion. This suggests that the Ullswater/Askham route is easier than the Kidsty Pike route. This is to be expected, as the lower-level route was considerably more sheltered and had 300m less ascent, but was 2km longer.

Based on this analysis, Lisa Watson’s female record stands.

At the SILVA Northern Traverse, we believe that the benefit of the lower-level route was sufficiently marginal compared to the overall finishing times and the time difference between the finishers that it has no impact on the overall results within this year's race. The times and positions in the men’s field are Dave Phillips (1st) 47h 32m, David Parrish (2nd man - 3rd overall) 54h 14m (both went via Kidsty Pike) and Juha Lehtonen (3rd man - 4th overall) 61h 55m (who went via Ullswater). In the women’s field, no one went over Kirsty Pike.

In the SILVA Lakes Traverse, Samantha Lissauer (1st) and Beth Langley (2nd) went over Kidsty Pike, but Georgia Campbell (3rd) was diverted onto the low-level route, and gained time on Beth Langley. However, she did not actually catch her so the positions at Patterdale remained unchanged at the finish in Shap. These results stand and there will be no adjustments to the time.

The leading male runners in the Lakes Traverse all went over Kidsty Pike, so their results are directly comparable.

For runners who may have been targeting a top ten finish for example, but their position might have been impacted by this route change, we do apologise, but we are not currently planning to alter the results.

This decision (and the calculations leading to it) are an interim finding, and subject to review after the event when we are all less tired.