Race report by Greg Jones.
After many months of training with a 10kg pack on my back, lots of cold, wet night-runs and countless kit adjustments I was at last standing on the start line of the winter Spine Race.This year I was doing the Challenger South – 108 miles from Edale to Hawes along the Pennine Way. My race last summer was longer (168 miles) but there were a few indicators that this year’s winter race was going to be … challenging.
We kicked off at dawn on Saturday. It was -8°C and foggy but as we climbed up out of the valley the sun rose over the hill and bathed us in glorious warm sunshine. I was moving well; the snow was only ankle deep and I was making good progress. This was going to be a great race.
This being the Spine Race though – it couldn’t last. In fairness though a whole hour passed before the skies greyed and the snow began to get deeper and deeper and deeper. It was soft sugary snow with a thin crust, ranging from knee-deep to waist-deep. Running was impossible, mostly it was post-holing or stepping in the footprints of those ahead. A procession of flailing arms and legs.
What made it worse was that there were no clues as to where the trail was so our route meandered over unseen tussocks and bogs. The next step might be a tussock top, or a deep wet muddy hole waist deep under the snow. Progress was very very slow and incredibly tiring.
We were the first race through with the Sprint runners not far behind and the full Spine Race runners starting the following morning. I hope they appreciated us breaking trail for them !
And so it went on for the rest of the day and in to the night. I was a few hours behind my plan but, given the conditions, that felt pretty good. I reached the first checkpoint just before midnight and had a lie down for four hours. Conscious of the 100km+ that lay ahead the following day I thought it only fair to give myself a bit of extra rest. My legs were buzzing so there wasn’t much sleep but it was enough to recharge (gps + torch + phone + me).
Heading back out into the dark I made good progress throughout the morning moving my way up through the pack, stopping only for an afternoon cup of tea with the nice Mountain Rescue people at Lotherdale. There I learned that they were starting to pull some of the back runners from the race. There were many racers behind me and I had oodles of time in hand so I was very surprised to hear that my race was in jeopardy. Half a dozen others received the same brief and not everyone at the tea-stop took the news well; some clearly deflated, some contemplating stopping there and then, and others asking to be chopped sooner rather than later to put them out of their misery. I chose to take it as motivation. I necked my tea, grabbed a handful of biscuits, headed out and powered up the next hill … returning soon after to collect my sticks.
So, I pushed hard for the next five hours or so. The snow was getting thinner, giving way to ice and frozen mud but it was runnable now and I’d clawed back a good few hours by the time I reached Gargrave. Gargrave is a major milestone on this race, not only because there’s a Co-op there, but also, this is where my race ended two summers ago. I was in good form this time, both physically and mentally. Emma was waiting there (I’m allowed one contact) and she joined me for a pastry and a smoothie in the bus shelter. Quite the night out!
Restocked and (briefly) rested I was ready for the long night ahead and, getting a bit cold, it was time to get moving again. Given the 120km that had passed before I was, not surprisingly, a bit stiff. But I resumed my power walk as I sorted myself out and headed on up the trail.
Normally the stiffness from a stop like that would start to go away once you got moving but something was amiss here and it wasn’t long before my power walk slowed to a shuffle and eventually to an excruciating dead stop. Frozen to the spot in the middle of the road my hip was screaming at me and I simply couldn’t move my right leg. It was as though my right foot was glued to the floor. Bugger!
And so, sadly, the Challenger South had beaten me once again. Some consolation perhaps was that barely half the starters in this race actually made it to the end. It was a truly tough race but strangely fulfilling and I’m sure I’ll be back for more. What madness
