Haytor, in the East of the Dartmoor national park, near Bovey Tracey

Haytor, in the East of the Dartmoor national park, near Bovey Tracey

Mountain marathon runners are being welcomed back to Dartmoor, for the first time in almost three decades.

The last time the shoes and boots of competitors hit the moor was in 1982, when the then Karrimor International Mountain Marathon was staged in the area. Now, the Dartmoor Mountain Marathon has been added to the calendar, alongside such favourites as the Original Mountain Marathon, successor to the KIMM, and the Lowe Alpine event.

The Dartmoor event is being run by commercial company Endurancelife, but part of the entrance fee from each competitor will be donated to the Dartmoor Search and Rescue Group – sound thinking following the fracas surrounding last year’s OMM in Borrowdale.

An innovation for the DMM is the combi-score class, in which participants can navigate the course by mountain bike the first day and on foot the second day.

Endurancelife course director Will Turner said: “With just two summits over 2,000 feet, Dartmoor might lack the grandeur of the UK’s other, more famous, mountainous regions yet it remains one of the most enigmatic and challenging wilderness areas we have.

“Dartmoor’s landscape is defined by over 160 granite tors and punctuated with mires, rivers and pockets of ancient woodland. This mix of gradients and terrain makes it the perfect setting for a mountain marathon.”

Solo, as well as paired, entries are being accepted, and organisers say the event should appeal to a broad spectrum of athletes, from fellrunners, adventure racers, orienteers, mountaineers and hill walkers.

The usual mountain-marathon classes, elite, B, C, long-score and medium-score will apply. The elite course is about 70km (44 miles), while class C is 40km (25 miles). Long- and medium-score courses involve visiting as many control points as possible over a given length of time.

The race will be run over the weekend of 13 and 14 June 2009. Online entry is possible by visiting the organisers’ website. Entrants should be over 16, unless accompanied by someone 18 or over.