Race date: Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th September 2025

Race report by Alice Taylor-Bennett

Ultra X England was my second race with Ultra X and very conveniently started in Edale.  This was my first attempt at a multi-day ultra although I slightly cheated and traded the overnight camping experience for the warmth of my own bed (good to ease into these things).

2 days before race day an ominous email came out advising participants that the ‘Bad weather kit list’ had been activated.  I braced myself for a weekend of balancing being too hot in waterproofs and being too cold and wet without them and wasn’t surprised when I woke just before my 04:45am alarm on Saturday morning to the sound of rain.

By the time I reached race HQ (Newfold Farm in Edale) the rain had stopped and there were even hints of blue sky on the horizon.  I lined up at the start with the 39 other 110km 2 stage runners, 22 single stage 110km runners and 131 60km runners.  There was a nice buzz around and everyone seemed very happy not to be getting wet.  We set off at 7am sharp and it wasn’t long before we were heading up Jacob’s ladder and getting our first hill of the day done.

The route was spectacular and took us past Kinder reservoir, up Mill Hill, along Black Ashop and Blackden Edge, around Crook Hill, down to Ladybower and then up Win Hill, through Hope and finally up Hollins Cross before returning to Edale.  Checkpoints were roughly every 10km and offered a range of SIS gels/electrolytes, fruit (I ate watermelon at every single one), crisps and jam sandwiches.  The volunteers were amazing and filled up our bottles for us whilst we snacked and my supporters surprised me at the aprox 40k checkpoint which was a very good boost.  The weather also held out with a few isolated, brief showers in the afternoon and then torrential rain about a minute after I finished.

On Sunday I had an extra hour in bed for an 8am start and also the company of a friend running in the 50k event.  I was sure that I wasn’t going to get lucky with the weather for a second day in a row but the skies were clear as we arrived in Edale.  Two 110km non-stop runners crossed the finish line just before we started and everyone gathered round to give them a huge cheer.

The start line was very slightly busier than the previous day with 185 50k runners plus the two day 110k runners.  I had a slightly sore heel but otherwise felt pretty good as we set off again.  It helped having a friend with fresh legs to try and keep up with for the first part of the race and the first section along Blackden Edge (which weirdly I had no recollection of from the day before) flew by.  The route then dropped down into Black Ashop Moor which was by far the boggiest/wettest part of the route, re-visted Kinder reservoir & headed up Mount Famine.

I was keeping things steady and walking most of the uphills with as much speed as my legs seemed capable of and maintaining my new habit of watermelon at every checkpoint (alongside many more carby things of course).  Between 30-40km I got my headphones out for the first time that weekend and had a steady plod up to Lord’s Seat with some motivational music.

With 10km left to go I had another surprise (and well timed) visit from my supports.  It had started drizzling and I was feeling pretty tired but the end was very much in sight (well, the other side of Lose Hill and Hollin’s Cross).  I got chatting to another 110km runner during the final ascent of the day and we almost headed up for a bonus extra sumit of Mam Tor before my Garmin beeped that I was off course and we had to turn back slightly and then head down down down (a very very slippy mudbank) and back to Edale.

At the finish line I got my medal, loads of free beers (basically as many as I could carry, the volunteers were trying to squeeze extras into my race pack pockets) and snacks.  Then it was back to Sheffield for a pint and a pie.

I finished in a total time of 17:37:56 (09:33:43 for the 60k and 08:04:11 for the 50k) which placed me as 2nd female and 10th overall.  The races were a touch longer than advertised and in total I logged 114km (70.8 miles) with 4725m (15,502 ft) elevation gain.

Overall I had a great experience and got a real confidence boost from finishing the 2 days.  The whole event was really well run and the atmosphere was great throughout with loads of support from race volunteers as well as the general public.  There was a big range of distances on offer for the weekend – from 110k non-stop to a 12k on Sunday – but the event still felt like a really nice friendly size.  The cut-offs are really generous and allow for walkers to take part in all the distances and Ultra X also offer free race entries to U23s so there were loads of people doing their first Ultra events too.

The 110k two stage event was won by Brandon Delacote (of no identified club) in 12:31:20 and Samantha Jones (of no identified club) in 17:18:58.