Catching Up With – Georgina Lewis

A lot of you in the north east ultra running scene will know the Georgina Lewis first hand.  She’s taken part in pretty much every run in the north of England that has possibly been held and found herself at the sharp end of super long distance races mixing it with elite racers.  Georgina has had a challenging 12 months with big life changes and a niggling injury to deal with so we thought we’d catch up and see what’s going on with her.

First up a confession, Georgina is a long time friend of Cold Brew Events and has known Andy, Drew and myself for many years.  She helps out by marshalling at our events and many others and is always willing to give up her time for the benefit of others.  Being more of a mountain biker myself, I raced with Georgina as pairs and got the podium at Mountain Mayhem, Lewis Burn 8 and more.  So I’ve witnessed not only her running capacity but also her dogged determination and will to continue.  Above all this is the fact that she is a really kind hearted person with a generous spirit and caring nature.  She forms a great duo with partner Carole and the two black labs Pip and Ben.

Wind it back first, how did you get into ultra running? Have you always been a runner or were you into other sports first? What were the events you used at stepping stones to build up the distance and then where did you find your sweet spot (distance, climbing, terrain, etc)

I certainly wasn’t always a runner. When I was younger I was swimmer then spent all of my teenage years chasing a little white ball into a hole with sticks! I played both golf and hockey to quite a high level and continued to play hockey at University but when I finished Uni one of my friends asked if I’d do Edinburgh marathon with her. We had grand plans of nailing a training plan but that didn’t exactly happen and on the day I was pleasantly surprised to get round in just over 4hours without having to walk and actually, I really enjoyed it. Obviously the natural progression from that was to run 70miles along Hadrians Wall and then it all just escalated rather quickly from there.

I’ve tried my hand at everything to be honest but it didn’t take long to realise I pretty much just love going up and down hills. All the hills! The hillier, harder and wilder the better. I love rough stuff and technical scrambly terrain.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen your name on a race list. What have you been doing in the last 12 months?

I think the best word to describe the last 12 months would be “challenging” (and I’m sure Carole would agree!) 2025 started so well with a solid winter and spring training for an attempt at the Steve Parr round – a tour of the Lake District connecting every peak over 2500ft. Having completed a Bob Graham round in 2024 I was well aware of the undertaking this would be with around 116miles and 43,000ft to cover in less than 48hrs. I poured everything into this, working with Andy Berry (current Steve Parr round record holder) to give it a proper good go and was fitter than I had ever been. But after a seemingly never ending spell of brilliant sunshine and bone dry fells throughout April and May the weather decided to change its tune just days before I was due to set off and I was forced to cancel. After that all sights turned to Chamonix, having managed to earn myself an elite bib from a top 3 finish at UTS. But this time it was my sacrum (i’d never heard of it either, nor the doctor who had to google it when he saw the results) that decided to stop play. So I pretty much ended up spending all of last summer in the garden and allotment, after the mandatory sulking of course.

I know you’ve been injured recently, what happened there?

I’d had a niggly lower back for about a week but didn’t think much off it. I’d gone to the Lake District to do a session up Skiddaw with a backpack full of 2L pop bottles filled with water. Poured all the water out at the top and started running down but quickly realised something was very wrong. It was about all I could manage to get back to the car and got on the phone to the physio straight away. By the time I’d driven home I had to crawl on all fours from the car to the house as it was just too painful to weight bare. An MRI confirmed the physio’s suspicions – a stress fracture in my right sacral alar. We raked through everything with a fine tooth comb trying to figure out what went wrong – blood tests, nutrition, going through training plans etc. but the best anyone could come up with was “just bad luck”.

In the 2022 Cheviot Goat you were an impressive 5th behind some big names. Were you in good shape for that one?

I’d entered with my partner Carole, as she had (has) a score to settle and was going to be doing all the training with her anyway so figured I might as well run it too. As it turned out I ended up spending almost the entirety of the race with my good friends Rob & Katherine. They are two of the best people anyone could ask to spend 15hours on the hill with. The company made the miles fly by and it certainly didn’t feel like we were in a race just out on another long training run together. So yes, I was in pretty good shape but we weren’t pushing particularly hard, more just enjoying the day out.

What would you put down as your favourite ultra?

Kong lakes ultra 80k. “Brilliantly brutal”. Low key, friendly and really bloody hard. A lot of rugged ground and big climbs packed into quite a short distance. It didn’t run last year and I’m not sure if it will again but if it does I’m in.

What race/run would you put down as your greatest achievement? (a round, a race, most effort expended etc.)

I’d heard the UTS races were meant to be nails, but being a teacher doesn’t fair well for entering long races. The 100 miler starts on Friday afternoon so I had to settle for the 100k. I was a bit hesitant to give my money to company who’s values I don’t really align with, but from the moment the gun went to the moment I crossed the finish line I couldn’t fault it. The route really is incredible, volunteers amazing and I had one of the best days running ever. One of those days where everything just seemed to click. It was hard, but a really good and satisfying hard and I’m so proud to have finished 3rd in such a competitive race.

Once you get this injury out the way what have you got lined up? You mentioned another crazy “round” the other day. What kind of training plan are you sticking to?

Get that 99 Cheviot Hills route sorted and I’ll be first on the start list! I’m really interested to see if your North Star ultra can be done, it’s right on the limits of what seems possible and that’s really exciting!

The Steve Parr Round. I’m not sure why it isn’t more popular, although I do think it’s popping up on more people’s radars at the moment. It’s like the Bob Graham’s big brother, named in honour of Steve as he completed the first round in 1984. He covered 116 miles and 42550ft of ascent in a time of 42 hours 56 minutes, a record that stood for 36 years. An outstanding mountaineer, he tragically disappeared in the Himalayas in 1990.

As I’ve seen first hand, you’re also an impressive mountain biker. Got any plans to get back on two wheels?

Funny you should say that but I sort of have the biking bug again. I’ve been and ridden all the new trails up at Kielder and loved it and I may have my eye on a certain dirty duathlon…

As a dedicated vegan, do you find it helps your running? What are the common myths around your diet? Any messages for others thinking about it?

To be honest I can’t really call myself a vegan anymore. I reintroduced eggs into my diet a few years ago as we get them locally and saw the benefit of them as a complete protein source. I still try to avoid dairy, especially when I’m training hard as I feel like it makes me really phlegmy and can affect my breathing when running hard. I don’t eat meat and haven’t done for 10 years. The environmental impact of our diet is a big driving factor for me. A lot of people trying to go vegan fall into the trap of eating mega processed foods and meat substitutes and that can’t be good. It can be challenging to make the switch but make the time to cook from scratch and it definitely gets easier.

You’ve seen, and been part of, the rise of ultra running. Where do you see it going in the next 5 to 10 years?

Who knows the way the rapid commercialisation of the sport is going. There are obvious monopoly concerns which could impact smaller organisations and we risk losing the grassroots culture of the sport. The increase in popularity is great to see but inclusion and diversity seems to be suffering. The cost of participation is skyrocketing with people shelling out a small fortune and pumping out tonnes of carbon travelling all over the world playing “chase the stones”. This is neither sustainable nor accessible for all and it seems trail running, or at least the bigger races, are just turning into a playground for the rich. We need to support local races and organisations but we also need big and competitive races but surely there must be a better way to go about it? On a more positive note I’m really excited to see the depth of the women’s fields improving. There do still seem to be large gaps between the leading women in a lot of races though. I hope to see women’s races more closely contested as is the case with men’s racing. It’s much more exciting and can only be good for the sport.

Lastly, is Carole going to make it round the Goat route one day?

I’m her number 1 fan so of course I’m going to say yes! I can’t think of anyone else who deserves that finish more than her.