Close up examination of the map for one of the competitors. Photo: Ben Winston

Britain’s first overnight winter mountain marathon went ahead at the weekend in conditions many competitors described as the worst ever encountered.

Organisers of the Marmot Dark Mountains event deliberated on whether to cancel the event, but decided to proceed with the races.

A spokesperson for the event, based at Muncaster Castle in the West of the Lake District, said: “This new event had promised to be a serious challenge and it certainly lived up to expectations.

“In the days preceding the event the planning team took a battering, while the Lake District fells were pummelled by gale force winds and blizzard conditions.

“By Friday evening, the night before the event, conditions on the hill were so poor that the organisers held a minuted meeting to discuss the weather, the risk to competitors and whether the event was still viable.”

Race director Shane Ohly said: “We had all experienced the very serious weather that day and were genuinely concerned for the safety of the competitors should the event proceed.”

The organisers added: “After careful consideration, it was felt that because the competitors were all vetted for experience and because strong warnings about the very serious nature of the challenge had been issued, that the event remained viable if shortened courses were used.

“As the competitors headed off to the start they all seemed to be in excellent spirit and well prepared for the challenge ahead.”

Marmot Dark Marathon runners at the start. Photo: Ben Winston

But of the 18 teams of two who started in the B and C classes, none finished the course. However, three of the five elite class teams completed the marathon, with Alex Pilkington and Kim Collison victors in that class.

The A course was won by Kevin Saville and Stephen Martin, one of just two teams out of five who reached the end of the race.

In the score class, 18 of the 21 starting teams managed to complete the course.

Tom Davies and George Neville-Jones won the score category.

Almost 30cm (12 inches) of snow fell on the Friday night preceding the start.

The spokesperson said: “The weather at this time [the start] and throughout the night was very bleak with periods of torrential rain interspersed by sleet, continuously gale force winds and very poor visibility.

“Although it had warmed up a little in the last 24 hours, this only meant that there was a massive thaw taking place with all watercourses now in spate and many new streams appearing on the hillside.

“The elite competitors headed off first from 7pm and the last competitors on the C and Score courses had started by 11pm.

“By midnight there was a trickle of retiring competitors arriving at the event centre and by 4am most of the teams that had retired cited the extreme weather and cold.”

Hugh Harris from main sponsors Marmot said: “It is about perfect conditions for testing gear. At most mountain marathons people are just wearing a pair of shorts and a vest but tonight they are going to need every piece of kit they have got”.

His comment was borne out by observations made by the marshals on the start line. The event spokesperson said: “Usually it is the elite runners that wear the least clothing but they noted that it was the elite runners who were wearing the most clothing.

“It was the elite course that had the highest finishing percentage and although the experience of the competitors is of huge significance here, a strategy of risking running hot, ie being slightly overdressed, rather than risking running cold seems to have been the winning the formula.

“What the statistics don’t tell you was the high degree of mountain sense that the competitors displayed.

“Many decided to cut their night short and head back to the finish early, whilst some decided to camp on the fells and finish on Sunday. Without exception everyone arriving back at the Muncaster Castle event centre was in good spirits and had stories to share of the ‘worst weather ever’.

“Marmot Dark Mountains promised to be a very serious test of competitors all round mountaincraft and Saturday night certainly lived up to that expectation.

“The fact that there were no significant hypothermia problems, despite everyone arriving back wet and cold, speaks volumes about the sound mountain judgment each team displayed.”

Organisers said they plan to make the marathon an annual event held on the last weekend of January and are already looking at a different mountain area for next year’s Marmot Dark Mountains.