My Winter Spine Sprint South 2026

This was the race that I billed as my swansong. I felt that with increasing age I could give up racing then knowing that I'd become a 'Spiner' and, as such, achieved a long standing dream.
I entered, as you have to, a full year in advance. Plenty of time to be fully prepared. . .
I completed 'The Lap' in May in preparation - similar distance and climb. I achieved that 2 hours faster than I'd expected so confidence was high. Training was going really well - until it wasn't! A really bad dog bite in July totally screwed up my plan. Many weeks off meant less weeks to get fitness back. Just what I didn't need. I managed to get an entry in for the the MFR - Ellan Vannin fell race in September and got it done, then, a week later headed to Italy for a 50km ultra - Lessinia Legend. I'd completed it before, surely I could cope? What followed was a personal nightmare - A DNF. I just couldn't climb well enough or fast enough. I was devastated! It sounds ludicrous but I drafted my spine withdrawal email, cried every time I mentioned racing and decided I'd never run again.
Luckily, at this point, Orran and Nikki stepped in. They were having none of it and Orran devised a plan to help me find joy in running again. That, together with massive support from my running friends, got me back on track in October.
Soon I was deep into training runs for the sprint - night runs, runs carrying increasing weight and fast climbing with poles.
All of a sudden Jan 10th came round - along with a massive dose of imposter syndrome. After a personally difficult Christmas it was a text from Nikki that was to resonate throughout the race to follow. " This is your race, for you and no-one else. Let's go." she messaged and somehow, as I stood on that start line, peace descended.
The race itself was a truly magnificent adventure and I enjoyed every moment - snow, black ice, the stars and long trudged through bleak moorland.
My race strategy was to break the race up into 3x 25k bits. That worked perfectly.
The first 25k was in glorious weather, the main issue being ice on Jacobs Ladder and snow drifts on the moors beyond (one step off the narrow trail and you could be waist deep.) Coming down off Ladlow rocks the only way was to slide on your bum. Great fun. The long descent into Torside which followed was actually much better than anticipated as all the technical rocky bits were smoothed out by snow. A fabulous cup of tea and a defrosting of frozen water bottles by the MRTs was much appreciated.
The next 25k was a bit of a slog - a long climb and miles of featureless moorland. Chatting to fellow runners was a brilliant way to pass the time. Most of this stretch was done with myself and Geoff Q leading a group (with a number of comments on how quickly we climbed - thank you Peel Hill reps!)
It was about 50k that my biggest problem occurred - my knee started to hurt. This was to prove a real nuisance and by the last 15k I could no longer bend my leg, descending sidewards like a crab.
Slower now due to tiredness and my knee we set off from Nikki's food bar on the last stretch and this is where I made my worst mistake. A lapse of concentration (its hard work following a line on your watch) caused a nav error that added about half an hour to our time. Even worse it took us down a long hill that we then had to climb back up. Talk about cross with myself!
The snow and wind now came in and the rest of the race was in blizzard conditions. A question of digging deep, lots of fast walking, bits of running when my knee allowed( thank god for poles) and painfully negotiating the black ice down into Hebden Bridge. The last couple of miles down from Stoodley Pike seemed to take forever.
In true spine fashion the race ends with a twist, a climb up a steep road to the end. However, by that time, I hardly noticed it as I was so elated to be finishing.
We finished the 47+ miles in 16 hours 21 mins and I had the best cup of tea and cheese pasty I have ever had at the welcome centre.
The whole adventure was the most amazing and life affirming experience and I just can't wait to do it all again. I'm on the wait list for next year and the year after I am hoping to do the longer challenger race to celebrate turning 70. Swansong? No chance!