In an announcement on March 12 that shocked the ultrarunning community worldwide, but especially in the U.K., Ourea Events announced that it was shutting down and canceling its iconic events, including the 2026 Northern Traverse, Cape Wrath Ultra, Dragon’s Back Race, and Skyline Scotland. The announcement made no mention of the fate of the race organization’s fall events, the Kendal Skyline Ultra and Kendal Trail Run, which already didn’t have firm dates set.
Gabe Joyes (U.S.) descends during the 2025 Dragon’s Back Race. Photo: @nolimits.photos
Writing on the company’s website and its social media channels, event director Shane Ohly expressed deep remorse at shuttering the company’s doors after 15 years of operation and apologized to racers. He wrote, “This is a deeply painful moment for everyone involved with the business, including our participants, staff, partners, suppliers, volunteers, and the wider trail running community that has supported our events for the last 15 years. I am truly sorry that we have reached this point.”
Ohly offered a brief explanation for the event company’s financial difficulties, which included COVID-19-related debt resulting from the time period where they couldn’t operate their events, rapidly increasing costs of living, as well as a decrease in international participations, potentially due to BREXIT at the end of 2020. While Ohly said that the team had worked diligently to pay off the debts and create high-quality events over the past years, he stated, “It has become evident that continuing to trade is neither fair nor reasonable, as it risks increasing the overall debt owed to creditors, participants, and suppliers.”
The technical terrain of the 2025 Dragon’s Back Race. Photo: @nolimits.photos
Ourea Events is known for creating some of the U.K.’s most challenging events. The Northern Traverse is a 300-kilometer, five-day event across the Lake District, the Cape Wrath Ultra is 400 kilometers completed over eight days, and the flagship event, the Dragon’s Back Race, is a six-day event covering 380 kilometers of some of Scotland’s most rugged terrain.
Ohly thanked the community that supported the events and asked that no one reach out to the company at the present moment. He acknowledged that many racers had already paid race entry fees, and he expressed hope that by shutting down now, they could “maximise the likelihood that the events will continue under a different structure or ownership.”
