Warrington Way Ultra Trail Race
40 mile Ultra Race from Lymm village
The Warrington Way is a 40-mile ultramarathon trail race that starts and finishes in our lovely Cheshire village of Lymm. The Route is predominantly trail-based, using tracks, footpaths, field crossings and country lanes to circumnavigate Warrington anticlockwise. The route is waymarked though runners must carry maps and be able to navigate.
You can enter as a solo runner, as a pair (2 legs of 21/19 miles); or as a 4-person relay team (4 legs of 10/11/10/9 miles).
Three well-stocked checkpoints at 10, 21 and 30-mile points provide snacks and hot/cold drinks and a hot meal is provided at the finish for all runners.
All finishers receive some momento and a Warrington Way technical T-shirt is available as an additional extra.
The race is a club-organised event, we are UK Athletics registered, and the race is licensed by the Trail Running Association, with oversight from Warrington Borough Council.
You will find lots more information on this website including race rules, route, kit list, checkpoints and how to enter. Stay in touch by joining our Warrington Way Facebook Group.
All past results and records are on this link. If you still need to know more, email us at warringtonway@lymmrunners.org.uk .
The 2026 Warrington Way will take place on Saturday 13 November.
Entries open each year at 09:00 on 1 May, currently for 350 places in total, an entry link will be published on these pages late April.
The race fills quickly each year - you have been warned!
About the Warrington Way – not just another ultramarathon!
The Warrington Way is a 40 mile circular walking/running route in Cheshire, circumnavigating the town of Warrington. It starts and finishes in the village of Lymm to the east of Warrington, and goes anticlockwise around the town. Most of the Way is off-road, on footpaths, field crossings, farm tracks, canal towpaths and the like but there are some sections on road and some major road crossings to be aware of. Much of the route is in the lovely Cheshire countryside but the Way also takes in the area’s industrial and transport heritage – including crossing the Bridgewater Canal, the Manchester Ship Canal, the St Helens Canal, and the River Mersey; the West Coast mainline and Liverpool to Manchester mainline railways; and the M6, M62, and M56 motorways!
Like many running clubs, Lymm Runners has a growing number of members who have moved into ultrarunning in recent years. We originated the Warrington Way as an unashamed homage to the great Round Rotherham 50 – one of England’s longest standing ultramarathons, which has been
going since 1983. Having run the Round Rotherham 50 several times we wanted to have something like that here in the north west, to cater for the fast growing ultramarathoning community and to help encourage runners who have done a marathon to take the next step…!
Kieran Walshe first planned the route and ran it solo (well, with his dog Pepper) a few times in 2013 and 2014 to work out any snags and develop the route description and maps. He then organised a number of informal recces of the route in 2014 with other Lymm Runners club members, and then was race director for the inaugural running of the event on 7 November 2015. That race – with 100 solo runners and 20 relay teams – filled up very quickly, and was a fantastic event, with great feedback and support from volunteers, marshals, spectators and runners. In 2016, the race expanded to take 200 entries in total – 160 solos, 20 relays and 20 pairs (each person doing 20 miles), and was the final race in the Runfurther ultra championship. We now have 400 entries with the race selling out within 30 minutes when it goes on sale in May.
The Warrington Way race is run under Trail Running Association (TRA) rules.
