Total Warrior will not be taking place at Shap next year and the event may never return to Cumbria.

The county’s biggest obstacle race has attracted about 35,000 muddy competitors to the hilly farmland around Shap Abbey since it began in 2011.

But organisers Adam Dickinson and Andrew Murray, both from Cumbria, have announced that this year’s event, which took place in August, was the last in their home county.

“The main reason is, it’s outgrown the site,” said Andrew.

“The best thing about Shap was also its biggest weakness: the amazing location.

“There are lots of logistical issues. Our build is so complicated. The terrain makes it really complicated to keep growing the course.

“Being in the Lake District, you can’t just go and dig anywhere. In Leeds there’s a lot more scope for that.”

Andrew and Adam are now concentrating on the Total Warrior event at Bramham Park, near Leeds. Next year’s is on the weekend of June 21-23.

“They’re different types of courses,” said Andrew. “Leeds has a really big junior event. In the Lake District we couldn’t do that.

“From a brand point of view it was getting more tricky to have two events that were becoming quite different when you’re trying to give everyone the same experience.

“At Leeds we’re really growing the junior side so parents can run with their children.

“The target next year is to have the biggest ever Total Warrior with 10,000 adults taking part over the weekend and 3-4,000 kids.

“Leaving Shap is definitely the hardest decision we’ve ever had to take, when it’s still doing so well numbers wise. We had 5,000 this year. It is a bit of ‘heart and head’.”

Andrew is proud of the benefit that Total Warrior has given local businesses.

“The third year, there must have been 1,500 campers. On the Monday after the event I spoke to a Shap pub landlord.

“He said he’d been there for 15 years and on Saturday night he’d done four times more business than his busiest ever night.”

While some competitors have managed to complete the 10k course in less than an hour, Andrew is even more impressed by those who take much longer.

“To me it’s the people who take three or three-and-a-half hours to get around. They’re absolutely amazing people.

“And what they’re doing it for - the amount of money raised for charity. We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of pounds. They’re running in memory of someone or raising money for equipment for a child.”

Will Total Warrior ever return to Cumbria? “Never say never. We might do something different. Potentially a Junior Warrior. The Junior Warrior in Leeds is fantastic, getting kids off the couch and getting them muddy and climbing.”

An obstacle race will happen at Shap next year though. Survival of the Fittest, run by events company Rat Race, takes place on Saturday August 17.

Jim Mee from Rat Race said: “We were aware of Total Warrior and the event at Shap. When the guys at Total Warrior said they wouldn’t be doing an event at Shap in 2019, we were interested in doing something there.

“We know the site is very good and Total Warrior has been popular. I thought it would be a great opportunity to bring our Survival of the Fittest event there. We’ve run it for 12 years in various locations around the country.

“We’ve been in the market for longer than pretty much everybody else. We do 20 events in the UK, catering for about 50,000 people. We’ve got a really good reputation. People trust us as a brand.

“We’ve got some work to do on the route. We’re not going to create a carbon copy. This will be entirely different to Total Warrior. But it would be a shame not to use some of the natural features. There are good hills, water, and the ability to create a lot of mud.”

Survival of the Fittest obstacles include one of the country’s largest obstacle race walls, a jump onto an air bag, a slide, and Britain’s biggest ball pool, with 50,000 balls.

The course will be 10k with the option to go around twice. There will also be a 2k children’s run and camping.

“We’re all just regular guys who enjoy a challenge,” said Jim. “We’re not elite athletes and that’s reflected in most of those who take part in Survival of the Fittest. It’s challenging without people taking it too seriously.

“The camaraderie is very tangible. There are a lot of family, friends and couples. We get regular wedding proposals on the finish line.

“Everybody is a bit of a kid at heart. These events allow you to enjoy that.”

To book a place at next year’s Leeds Total Warrior visit www.totalwarrior.co.uk

For Survival of the Fittest at Shap visit, https://ratracesurvival.co.uk