The injured runner is stretchered from the fell. Photo: Keswick MRT

Rescuers were called out for the second day running to aid a competitor in a Keswick Mountain Festival challenge.

A 50-year-old runner was knocked out briefly when he fell on the trail descending to Ashness Bridge on Sunday.

The competitor in the 50km trail race suffered a head injury in the fall.

Two of the event’s paramedics were on the scene quickly and requested the help of Keswick Mountain Rescue Team, who were called out about 6.55am.

A team spokesperson said: “The team sent two vehicles of team members and were with the casualty quickly as he was only 200m from the road.

“Once he was put into our vacuum mat and on to the stretcher he was sledged down to the waiting ambulance.”

The rescue lasted about 1¼ hours and involved 16 Keswick MRT volunteers.

The ultra-marathon trail race is graded very hard by organisers. It involves running trails through Watendlath, Borrowdale, Buttermere and the Newlands Valley with 1,995m of ascent.

On Saturday the mountain rescue team was called out to aid a walker on Cat Bells, tackling the festival’s Three Peaks challenge, who passed out and injured her ankle.