Ricky William Lightfoot (born 31 March 1985) is a British runner who has been a world champion in

trail running Trail running is a sport-activity which combines running, and, where there are steep gradients, hiking, that is run "on any unpaved surface". It is similar to both mountain and fell running (also known as hill running). Mountain running may, h ...

and a medallist in the

World Long Distance Mountain Running Challenge The World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships (from 2004 up to 2014 the name was World Long Distance Mountain Running Challenge), is an annual international mountain running competition organised by the World Mountain Running Association ( ...

Biography

Lightfoot began competing in fell races at the age of fourteen after being inspired by his school caretaker Brian Taylor and was encouraged by his parents Robert and Kathleen. He has been sponsored by Salomon since 2008. Lightfoot is a member of Ellenborough AC. He has won several of the most prestigious fell races, including the

Three Peaks Race The Three Peaks Race is a fell race held annually on the last weekend in April, starting and finishing in Horton in Ribblesdale. The course traverses the Yorkshire Three Peaks. The present distance is about 23 miles (37 km). The first kn ...

Wasdale Wasdale () is a valley and civil parish in the western part of the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. The River Irt flows through the valley to its estuary at Ravenglass. A large part of the main valley floor is occupied by Wastwa ...

Borrowdale Borrowdale is a valley and civil parish in the English Lake District in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England. It lies within the historic county boundaries of Cumberland. It is sometimes referred to as ''Cumberland Borrowdale'' t ...

, Ennerdale, the Three Shires and Skiddaw. He won the Lakeland Classics Trophy series in 2007 and 2015. He has also competed domestically on other surfaces, winning the Brampton to Carlisle and Derwentwater 10 road races and the Cumbria Cross Country Championships. Internationally, Lightfoot won the

Zegama-Aizkorri The Zegama-Aizkorri (also known a Zegama-Aizkorri Maratoia or Maratòn Alpina Zegama-Aizkorri) is an international skyrunning competition held for the first time in 2002. It runs every year in Spain from Zegama up to Aizkorri (1551 m MLS) and fini ...

race in 2009 and finished third in that season’s

Skyrunner World Series The Skyrunner World Series is an annual international championship of skyrunning (high altitude endurance races) and the official International Skyrunning Federation (ISF) race circuit for mountain running. Each year the Skyrunner World Series pr ...

. He was also third in the World Long Distance Mountain Running Challenge that year when the event was incorporated into the Kaisermarathon in

Söll Söll is a municipality in the district of Kufstein in the Austrian region of Sölllandl. It is located 9 km south of Kufstein and 9 km east of Wörgl. The village consists of 25 subdivisions. The main sources of income are agriculture a ...

. He won the Hammer Trail in Denmark, his first

ultramarathon An ultramarathon, also called ultra distance or ultra running, is any footrace longer than the traditional marathon length of . Various distances are raced competitively, from the shortest common ultramarathon of to over . 50k and 100k are bot ...

, in 2012. In 2013, he won the

IAU Trail World Championships The IAU Trail World Championships are annual trail running World Championships, from 2007 up to 2015 was biennial, held for the first time in Huntsville, United States in 2007 and organised by International Association of Ultrarunners. Editions ...

when the competition was held in

Llanrwst Llanrwst ('church or parish of Saint Grwst'; ) is a market town and community on the A470 road and the River Conwy, in Conwy County Borough, Wales, and the historic county of Denbighshire. It developed round the wool trade and became known als ...

. Also that year, he won the Trail du Colorado in

Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island ...

and the Otter Trail Run in South Africa. In 2014, he was victorious at the Dodo Trail in

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

and the following year he won the

Ultra SkyMarathon Madeira adopted by British military intelligence in June 1941 for wartime signals intelligence obtained by breaking high-level encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter communications at the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park. ...

. In 2022, he won the

Man versus Horse Marathon The Man versus Horse Marathon is an annual race over , where runners compete against riders on horseback through a mix of road, trail and mountainous terrain. The race, which is a shorter distance than an official marathon road race, takes place ...

. Lightfoot works as a firefighter, based at Workington Fire Station and is managed by Iconic Agency.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lightfoot, Ricky 1985 births Living people British fell runners British firefighters British male long-distance runners British sky runners British ultramarathon runners IAU Trail World Championships winners Sportspeople from Workington Trail runners