The Dunsop Dawdle
The MONTANE x VOOM Nutrition Dunsop Dawdle.
I created the Dunsop Dawdle challenge round as a way of engaging with the core community of the Montane and VOOM brands alike.
I first came up with the idea for a local challenge round after taking on the George Fisher Tea Round, a 30 mile challenge round taking in all the summits you can see from the window of the George Fisher store in Keswick. I believed that I could create something to rival the Tea Round utilizing the local outdoor spaced we have in Lancaster. The natural choice then was the remarkably remote feeling Forest of Bowland National Landscape.
The Forest of Bowland poses unique challenges compared to rounds that take place in the Lake District, as paths are more scarce, and the ground beneath your feet is MUCH less reliable. Navigation skillsets are called into question, and resilience becomes key more than just fitness.
I chose Dunsop Bridge as the starting point for my round, due to its significance as the geographical centre of Great Britain. This generates its own interest and tagline.
From here, I weaved a path through the landscape, utilizing recce after recce to alter and shape the round as time went on. Eventually, I settled on a marathon distance round with over 1000m of ascent for the Dawdle, and half marathon distance round for the shorter, more entry-level friendly Dunsop Dash round.
I then got onto the marketing and promotional side of the round. I put up the physical map in-store at Montane Factory Shop Lancaster, with the route presence, along with two leaderboards (one for each round) and a QR code plus description of the challenge, to gauge the interest of our core customer, the trail runner.
Next, I created the logo, a pin marker, signifying the importance of the location of Dunsop Bridge, with the Montane Roundell sitting firmly inside, reminding you who’s round this is. I collaborated alongside Callum(the marketing manager at VOOM Nutrition), in order to get a leaderboard and event page set up on their site, a one-stop shop for everything from you could need to take on the round(gear excluded!). Together we pooled ideas and created a specific offer for participants that would reward them with a free nutrition sample pack to take on the round.
I added Dunsop Dawdle content into my marketing calendar at the back end of 2025 to ensure regular posting could occur and that we had enough to go off to start generating interest for the community to get out onto the round.
To date, all content relating to the Dunsop Dawdle has achieved over fifty thousand views, and led to a large number of participants, from amateur runners seeking a social run out, to professional and record-breaking athletes such as Louise Goddard, Barney Plummer, and Tim Pigott.
SEE MORE:
https://www.voomnutrition.co.uk/collections/dunsop-dawdle?srsltid=AfmBOorSD26_3IXxFqVfakangp7MbljQSeg1arHVi-GVhiaogkY9mdja
