Among the headline speakers from 15-17 May will be ultra running legend Jasmin Paris, Britain’s most successful mountaineer Alan Hinkes, and award winning investigative sports journalist David Walsh.

 Alan Hinkes

Founded in 2007 and sponsored by outdoor brand Thule, Keswick Mountain Festival (KMF) is one of the UK’s best-loved and most popular outdoor events, and kicks off the summer with a mix of outdoor sports and activities, live music, speakers, food and drink, and exhibitors and retail. The Festival Village in Crow Park is the heart of the event, located on the shore of Derwentwater and with a backdrop of the iconic Lake District fells. The village will include the Ellis Brigham Tent Talks marquee, which will host speakers on all three days of the festival.

The 2026 KMF Tent Talks will begin at 3:00pm on Friday 15 May with adventurer and outdoor writer Nic Hardy. Hardy is a Munro ‘compleatist’ who has written a guidebook to bagging that was published last year. Jamie, Ewan and Lachlan Maclean will speak at 4:30pm, sharing stories from their record breaking rowing feats on the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, which also raised over £1m for good causes. Speaking at 6:00pm, David Walsh is chief sports writer at The Sunday Times, and is one of the world’s most respected investigative sports journalists. Famous for uncovering the Lance Armstrong doping scandal, Walsh returns to KMF in 2026 to explore another extraordinary story of truth, courage and corruption: The Russian state-sponsored doping programme. 

Nic Hardy

Deo Kato will give the first Tent Talk on Saturday 16 May, starting at 12:00pm. A renowned ultra runner, Kato was the first person to run from Cape Town to London, highlighting the history of human migration from Africa to the rest of the world. He then launched the ‘381 Days: Running For Justice’ campaign, committing to running a minimum of 10km each day for 381 days in response to the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and inspired by the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955, which lasted the same length of time. Britain’s most successful mountaineer Alan Hinkes will speak at 1:30pm. Hinkes is the only Briton to have climbed all 14 of the world’s 8,000-metre peaks, and will tell tales of high-altitude adventures around the globe. At 3:00pm, adventurer Mitch Hutchcraft will share ‘LIMITLESS’, the incredible story of how he made the longest climb of Mount Everest by completing the world’s first triathlon from sea level to the top of the world. Kim Collison, one of the UK’s most accomplished ultra runners and mountain athletes, will speak at 4:30pm. Collison has a formidable running CV, including multiple records and major race victories, across a wide range of ultra distances. The ultra running theme will continue at 6:00pm with Allie Bailey, a runner, coach, speaker and author who has tackled some of the toughest endurance challenges on the planet and was the first woman to run 100 miles across frozen Lake Khövsgöl in Mongolia. Among many other achievements, Bailey has completed a 1,000-mile off-road route from Land’s End to John o’Groats and finished the 2025 Dragon’s Back Race inside the top ten. Named by The Guardian as one of the UK’s most inspiring adventurers, her bestselling 2024 book There is No Wall is now being adapted into a feature film.

 Mitch Hutchcraft

Sunday 17 May’s KMF Tent Talks will start at 10:30am with wild swimmer Sara Barnes. From struggling to walk across a car park after major leg surgery to immersing herself in the wild waters of the Lake District, swimming became a lifeline for Barnes and at 60, she swam with 60 different people in 60 locations, celebrating life and defying ageing. Now 63, dodgy knees and a repaired heart valve haven’t slowed her and she is still chasing wild waters. Miriam Payne and Jess Rowe are a rowing duo known as Seas the Day, and are currently attempting to become the first women’s team to row 8,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean, non-stop and unsupported. All being well, they will take to Tent Talks stage at 12:00pm to tell the story of a successful world-record bid, and their mission to inspire and empower young women, champion climate awareness, and raise funds for The Outward Bound Trust. Speaking at 1:30pm, Renee McGregor is a world-leading sports dietitian, performance expert and bestselling author of Fuel for Thought. McGregor will share insights and experiences from working with elite and professional athletes world-wide, including supporting Team GB at the Rio 2016 Olympics. Bringing the Tent Talks schedule to a close will be a global superstar of ultra running, Jasmin Paris, who is also a mother, small animal vet, and research scientist. Paris rose to fame in 2019 after winning the 268-mile Montane Spine Race outright, smashing the race record by 12 hours (it still stands). In March 2024, she made history as the first woman ever to finish the notorious Barkley Marathons in Tennessee, widely regarded as the toughest ultramarathon in the world.

 Jasmin Paris Photo:Loic  Tregan

All 2026 Tent Talk sessions are available by buying a sports ticket or festival ticket. Find out more and book tickets at https://keswickmountainfestival.co.uk/speakers. All of the latest information about the festival will be added to www.keswickmountainfestival.co.uk, and the public can also find the event on social media for updates.