The Northern Traverse 2024 – Preview

Kathleen is looking awfully angry right now! This Saturday morning I’ll set off on the classic Wainright Coast to Coast route across England, from the Irish Sea at St. Bees to the North Sea at Robin Hood’s Bay in the Northern Traverse race.

I’ve done all four iterations of the Northern Traverse that have been staged so far. I’m the only one to do so. It is a fantastic route that makes for a great race and a great adventurous experience. It’s normally much more pleasant than the usual battle with the elements I encounter in the likes of the Spine race.

This year is looking a bit different, to say the least. Throughout the day I’ve been reading in the news about a big Atlantic storm, named Kathleen by the Irish Met Office, approaching. It looks like it will be at its most severe on Saturday, just as we’re due to be running through the Lake District, the highest section of the race. There’s heavy rain forecast, as well as some very high wind speeds. This race is starting to look a little too “interesting”.

Oddly enough, it seems the storm will also be accompanied by relatively high temperatures. That’ll hopefully make things a little safer. But it will make balancing what gear to bring and wear a lot more tricky. I’m definitely glad to have a lot of excellent Outdry Extreme waterproof gear (Jacket, leggings, gloves, several pairs of shoes) that gives me confidence that there’ll be nobody in the race better equipped to deal with the storm than me!

The first time I participated in this race, it was a little later in the year, and most of the race was in beautiful summer days and nights. This looks like it will be completely the opposite. It’ll be interesting to find out how the route feels in comparison.

The route really is fantastic. It is currently in the process of being upgraded with more sign-posting and trail maintenance in preparation for its designation as an official national trail in England. The route goes through 3 English national parks : The Lake District, The Yorkshire Dales, and the North York Moors. I’ve always loved the Lake District. It’s one of my favourite areas in the world. But after a few Northern Traverses I’ve grown to really like some sections of the North York Moors as well.

The Northern Traverse Route, through 3 National Parks

There’s 4 races happening over the course of the event. The Northern Traverse is the big one that covers the full coast to coast route. Each of the national parks has it’s own individual Traverse race as well (covering the relevant subsection of the Northern Traverse route).

Profiles of the 4 Traverse races.

My ambition for this race is to finish as fast as possible, hopefully to arrive at my accommodation booked for Monday evening in Robin Hood’s Bay. When I was younger and faster that was comfortably achieved. I was fast enough to win the first 2 editions of the race. But I’m older and slower now, and my finishing times are drifting out (and these days a top ten position would be a great result). With the storm, this could now be an overly-ambitious target. Time will tell.

To me it looks like there are two favourites to win the Northern Traverse. In the Female race Hannah Rickman looks like the top candidate. She has twice finished in second place in the full winter Spine (And got a lot closer to Claire Bannwarth this year). Lianne Van Dijk is travelling over from Ireland, having built up a great collection of results on the Irish mountain running scene. I’m hoping to see her competing towards the front of the field. Run247 have Edwina Sutton down as another one to watch, with good reason!

In the male race Mark Darbyshire looks like the obvious favourite. He’s got great speed over distance, and was the joint winner of the Lakes Traverse last year. I was hoping Paul Tierney, my fellow Corkonian, would give him a run for his money, but unfortunately he was telling me he won’t make the race due to injury. Run247 note a few other runners, such as myself (hah! Unless I’m the only survivor of a weather apocalypse!), and David Parish, a winner of the Cape Wrath Ultra. James Elson is a former British 24 hour international, so he could be a contender as well.

There are loads of names I don’t recognise in the start list. No doubt one or two will emerge and make a name for themselves by competing well. Everyone starts somewhere!

The race will be fully tracked, with James Thurlow’s Opentracking, the best in the business, on the job. The live tracking can be found here : https://live.opentracking.co.uk/northerntraverse2024/. The Northern Traverse is due to start at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, the 6th of April, charging into the teeth of storm Kathleen!