By Daniel Stinton
I didn’t expect to be writing this so soon. It’s only mid-week and whilst many of us have barely caught up with our weekly emails and maybe ran a few miles, out there in the bleak winter weather, racers have been continuously battling along the Pennine Way on the Montane Spine Race.
Those of you dot-watching will no doubt be aware that Wednesday evening, Jasmin Paris became the first female to win the race outright. Not only that but she also broke the overall course record by a massive 12 hours, completing the 268 mile challenge in 83h 12m 23s.
I ran along the Pennine Way on Sunday morning and caught the first few racers close to Kinder Downfall. Pushing for an early lead, Eugeni Rosselló Solé came flying past me at such speed I didn’t even have chance to get my camera out. Later that day, a lead group was established of Eugeni Rosselló Solé, Eion Keith and Jasmin Paris.
Since then, my Facebook and Twitter feeds have been a flurry of excited messages as Jasmin passed through Hawdraw in first place closely followed by Eugeni, gradually increasing their lead over Eoin Keith. 194 miles into the race at Alston, Jasmin pushed on ahead and maintained first position and we’ve all been glued to the tracker ever since. She kept that position until the end of the race. We’ve been providing regular updates on our forum HERE.
Photo credit: YANNBB
The scale of this achievement is immense. Not only taking the overall record, Jasmin also broke the previous ladies record by 26 hours (enough time to fit a Spine Challenger in as well?)
RunUltra spoke to Jasmin later last year about her achievements and fitting in training/racing alongside motherhood. You can read the full interview HERE
Continuing the theme of breaking records, Jim Mann took the lead during the early stages of the 108 mile Spine Challenger on Saturday and maintained first position to cross the line in 22h 53m 28s, smashing the existing course record by almost three hours. Wouter Huitzing finished second followed by Howard Dracup in third (times below)
Carol Morgan, who held the previous ladies record for the Spine Race, came first in the Spine Challenger in 31h 47m 37s, followed by Jenny Yeo and Jennifer Scotney (times below)
We’ve discovered this morning that Eugini had to pull out of the race 6km from the finish and the Spine safety team supported him off the hill. This shows how far to the limit racers have to push themselves in the Spine and it’s upsetting to hear after such a fantastic week.
What an amazing few days it’s been – and of course it’s still not over with competitors spread out along the course for hours/days to come.
Montane Spine Race
- Jasmin Paris – 83h 12m 23s
Montane Spine Challenger
- Jim Mann 22h 53m 28s
- Wouter Huitzing 25h 56m 52s
- Howard Dracup 27h 19m 18s
- Carol Morgan 31h 47m 37s
- Jenny Yeo 35h 36m 39s
- Jennifer Scotney 38h 53m 16s
Montane Spine Challenger MRT
- Men – Joe Farnell 32h 25m 18s
- Ladies – Jane Hilton 51h 31m 36s
Dan Stinton, Interim Editor
