Steven Major. Photo: Montane/Steven Major

An athlete who began his running career with a five-mile fun event to raise cash for his son’s football team will this weekend tackle a gruelling 100-mile course over the Lake District’s mountain passes.

Steven Major and team-mate Debbie Martin-Consani are among Montane-sponsored runners taking part in the Montane Lakeland 100.

The event, which also features a 50-mile alternative course, will start in Coniston on Friday. The Lakeland 50 begins at Dalemain the following day.

More than 1,100 competitors are expected to start the two races, with unpredictable weather and overnight navigation among the hazards to contend with.

The Montane team is fielding a strong squad, with both Martin-Consani and Major veterans of the event.

The latter athlete took up running originally to fund-raise for his son’s football team. His first race was a five-mile local fun run. He said: “I found the run quite difficult, not having done enough training, but even so I got round in one piece and thoroughly enjoyed the camaraderie between other fun runners and organisers.

“After experiencing this, I thought: I want to run it again.” He has since progressed to longer, more difficult trail races. This will be his third ML100.

Martin-Consani is an experienced ultra-distance runner with various podium finishes under her belt, including a first in the 145-mile Grand Union Canal Race in both the ladies and overall categories. She has also been selected to run for Team GB for the International Association of Ultrarunners.

Debbie Martin-Consani. Photo: Montane/Debbie Martin-Consani

In the 2013 ML100, she finished with a respectable time of 26hrs 2mins 00secs in the women’s category, second only to Lizzie Wraith, who smashed the course record by just over 4hrs 30mins.

The 50-mile Lakeland event uses the second half of the 100-mile course. Competitors are more tightly bunched and competition is generally fiercer as the race distance is shorter. Whereas ML100 participants take on average 30 hours to complete the course – the record stands at 19hrs 50mins 37secs – the ML50 racers cross the finish line on average after 16 hours.

The current course record is 7hrs 39mins 26secs.

Team Montane members Marcus Scotney, Tony Holland and Stuart Mills have all competed in either the ML100 or ML50 before. Stuart Mills has previously focused on the ML100, Tony Holland has experience of competing in both distances and Marcus Scotney has participated in the ML50.

Scotney began running in 1994 and took on his first ultra-marathon in 2008. He has run trail, fell and road races and now concentrates on trail. He has numerous race wins to his name, most recently a victory in the 130km Iznik Ultra in Turkey.

He returns to the ML50 after having to pull out of 2013’s race. He said: “DNF’d at
28 miles, suffered with chest pain was like running up hill whilst running down hill and breathing through a straw.”

Holland took up running in 2010 after being inspired by his son, who has Down’s syndrome and regularly fund-raises for the Northumberland Down’s Syndrome Support Group and Disability Activity through his running.

In 2012, he took on the ML100, but was forced to withdraw at checkpoint nine of 14. In 2013 he was back to tackle the ML50 and completed the course in a time of 12hrs 18mins 49secs. This year he will be on the start line once again for the ML50.

Finally, after winning the 2013 and 2010 ML100, Stuart Mills will try his hand at the ML50. He joined his local running club at the age of 14 and began training in earnest in 1978. He ran his first marathon in Rotorua, New Zealand aged 17. He said his race tactics are: “Run as fast as I can, while I can.”

More details are on the event’s website.