The MONTANE® Spine® Race 2017 gave us another epic edition of this 268-mile non-stop monster which follows the entire Pennine Way.
The most Brutal Race in Britain, is how it’s proudly described and you will find few to disagree.
“Each edition of the race has shown us just how brutal the British winter can be. Unrelenting, wild and savage have been used to describe the event to good effect. At times the conditions may feel overwhelming but with the right amount of determination you can achieve a lot more than you may think,” the organisers say.
This year, the men’s honours were taken by British runner, Tom Hollins, who battled magnificently through to achieve his goal of a sub-100 hour finish. Fantastic stuff at 99:25:36. Second was Pavel Paloncy at 100:54:45 and third was Eugeni Rosello Sole at 101:46:45. Carol Morgan won convincingly in the women’s race with 109:54:00.
The weather has been predictably hellish with freezing temperatures and lots of snow. RunUltra’s very own Andy Mouncey was one of the brave souls who took part but had to pull out through injury. We asked him just why it was so brutal.
“Blame ‘Compound’ and ‘Cumulative,” he says.
“There really is no margin for error. You make a bad call / ignore warning signs and because of C & C it will come back and bite you in the ass – even if that’s a few days down the line.
You need to keep making smart decisions in crap weather, under exertion, on your own and sleep-deprived.
There ain’t much daylight – most of the view will be under the light of a head torch and it’s very remote. You are on your own for a very very long time b/w very very few checkpoints – self management and acting proactively is key”.
You can follow the remainder of the race live and get final results here.
