NEWS

Our Plans for 2023 & 2024

The inaugural Kong Mountain Marathon on the Isle of Arran was brilliant! The weather was amazing and everything went well. The routes were on the tough side which suited some people, but made it difficult for others. We received great feedback and there are many learnings for future events. Thank you all for participating and thank you so much to all the volunteers, landowners and friendly people of the Isle of Arran!

Some of you might have heard that this first race, partly due to Covid, did however not break even financially. We are organising this race purely on a voluntary basis and have set up a community interest company where any profits go to charity. Also having organised the 4 hour Kong Mini Mountain Marathons, the complexity and effort that goes into a 2 day event like this is huge.

Having deliberated about the future, we have decided to organise another 2 day Kong Mountain Marathon and see if the race is viable now people know about it. However we want to do this in 2024 (every 2 years) given the level of organisational effort. We already have an eye on another beautiful location in Scotland and the race will again be in the last weekend of August (24/25th August 2024).

For 2023 we are going to organise a 1 day Kong Mountain Marathon on Sunday 27th August 2023 in Central Scotland. We will offer both linear courses and a score course and we are also thinking about organising a marshalled fell race. More information to follow.

We can’t wait to see you on Arran

All the recceing is now done and we are in full preparations to finalise and print the maps and get everything else sorted for the 27/28th August race weekend.

We can’t wait to show you the beautiful Isle of Arran and are hoping for decent weather, which of course is not a guarantee in Scotland.

The area we run in is brilliant, we have a great routes and great facilities. Mid camp is in a great spot.

We hope to see you all in August. Please make sure you don’t forget to book your ferry crossing and please leave your car in Ardrossan harbour. You really don’t need a car on the island.

New 2022 Date – 27/28th August

Following the deferral of the new Kong Mountain Marathon from 2020 to 2021, we have had numerous conversations with the landowners, National trust for Scotland and NatureScot. 

The isle of Arran and specially our event area in the Arran Northern Mountains and Arran Moors is a unique geological and natural habitat. The area is internationally important for its breeding Hen Harriers. Around 5 percent of the UK breeding population of Hen Harriers are found on Arran. In addition the area is nationally important for Red-throated Divers, Golden Eagle, Peregrine falcon and Short-eared Owl. Furthernore there is an important resident red deer population that live on the open hill land within the Arran Northern Mountains. 

Taking this into further consideration, we have been asked by NatureScot and the National trust for Scotland to move the date from June to August to avoid the key bird nesting and deer calving period and we have received permission from the landowners for the last weekend of August. The weekend of 27/28th August is of course the bank holiday weekend in England, but not in Scotland. 

We have spend many weeks now on Arran planning for the event and the natural beauty of the island keeps surprising us. We cannot wait to show you the island and hopefully the weather will be even better in August (although there are no guarantees of course in Scotland). 


We apologise for any inconvenience of yet another date change, but we hope you understand that we have to ensure we don’t cause damage to this beautiful environment. 

We hope to see you on the startline in August!

Recce in Arran

Before more lock downs and Covid-19 restrictions came in force, we have been able to squeeze in a few recce trips to the Isle of Arran. The weather was not always kind; Goat fell with horizontal rain is interesting I can tell you…

The landscape is spectacular as you can see in the photos.

The area is challenging, steep climbs and ridges and lots of tussocks and bogs in the lower areas, but that’s what a Mountain Marathon is all about isn’t it?

The combination of mountains and sea is very attractive.

We have seen deer and heard the rutting calls loud from the tops of the ridges and seen many seals basking on their rock in the sun.

What a special place. Can’t wait until June to show you all what a beautiful place this is!

Location announced – Isle of Arran

We are excited to announce that the first Kong Mountain Marathon will be held next year on the 5th and 6th of June 2021 on the Isle of Arran.

From experience we know that an island Mountain Marathon is everybody’s favourite. A great adventure that starts on the ferry from Ardrossan for a brilliant weekend away!

Over the summer we had the chance after the Covid-19 lock down restrictions were lifted to visit Arran and talk to landowners and look at potential event venues. The islanders have all been very welcoming and we are very pleased that they are allowing our event to take place in this special area.

Over the next few weeks we are planning to go back again and do some recceing of the routes we have in mind.

Bringing back a Mountain Marathon to Scotland

We are really pleased to announce that the team that brings you the popular and successful Kong Mini-Mountain Marathons is bringing back a Two Day Mountain Marathon to Scotland.

We – the Wainwrights and the Van Vroenhovens – are keen fell runners and participants in Mountain Marathons and we were very sad to see the Highlander, the LAMM and the Scottish Mountain Marathon all finish. We have organised the Kong Mini Mountain-Marathons for the last 5 years and feel we are ready to bring a bigger event like this to the fell running community.

As we know that many people like to participate in the Jura fell race and combine that with a Mountain Marathon the weekend after, we have decided to organise the new Mountain Marathon on the first weekend in June in this case the 5th and 6th of June 2021.

Kong Running, a brilliant shop and climbing centre in Keswick, has been sponsoring our Kong Mini Mountain Marathons for the last 3 years and have agreed to sponsor this new event as well, therefore the new Mountain Marathon will be called the ‘Kong Mountain Marathon’ or ‘the Kong’.