Montane Winter Spine Race

Montane Winter Spine Race

Four hundred and thirty-one kilometres of the Pennine Way, run non-stop in the worst week the British calendar offers. The route climbs out of Edale onto Kinder Scout, works north over Bleaklow and the Yorkshire Dales, crosses Cross Fell — the highest and most exposed ground in the Pennines, where the Helm Wind blows — follows Hadrian’s Wall east and finishes over the Cheviots at the Border Hotel in Kirk Yetholm.

The limit is 168 hours. Sleep is the runner’s own decision, taken in checkpoints hours apart, and the race is usually decided by who manages it best rather than who runs fastest. Almost none of the course is reachable, which is why the Spine has the most devoted dot-watching audience in the sport. On Livebib the whole line is on the map with the runner on it, checkpoint splits as they land, and an arrival estimate that keeps moving through every night.