Montane Spine Challenger North 2023

Despite classing myself as an ultramarathon runner, I have only pushed myself to 40 miles in races in the past, apart from looped races where I have completed 120kms in 24 hours.  How hard could the montane spine series be???

I had initially signed up to the montane spine summer sprint; a 48 mile race from Edale in the peak district, however I upgraded my race due to pride.  I went on a costal run spanning approximately 20 miles from my grandparents’ house in Alnmouth to a neighbouring village called Craster.  My Grandad has told everyone in the village about this and beams with pride of my achievement still.    My Grandparents are getting older and every conversation with the Gp adds to the list of ailments, so I dreamed up the idea of blowing my Grandads mind with a 160 mile race that will end 30 miles away from their house.

I began to collect the equipment that was deemed mandatory kit, then followed through with extra stuff if deemed necessary.  One of the things that I overlooked was a running cap, I had pretty much spent up but needed a hat.  I made contact with Våga and explained my situation, they were more than happy to jump to my aid.

Time flew by until the 18th of June at 18:00 (start time) at Hardraw. I stood on the start line unsure if I had the race in me, the first checkpoint was as far away as my furthest ultramarathon!  The heavens opened with thunder and lightning, with an intense downpour of rain, waterproofs were on before setting off, the Våga hat was on under the waterproofs and gave more definition to the hood. 

Minutes ticked into hours; I had found a decent rhythm and had passed a lot more people than initially planned, the rain slowed down and the hood came down, I found that I had enough support from the Våga hat to protect me from the elements without overheating.  Fog set in accompanied by the dark; headlight came out and fit nicely under the hat without any movement.  I ran through the night until hitting checkpoint 1, despite falling and ripping my coat, and being soaking wet and tired.

Checkpoint 1 arrived around the same time as first light.  I felt refreshed upon seeing the sunrise and popped my blisters, dressed my wounds, got changed and got on my way. This section was beautiful, I passed several waterfalls including low force, high force, cauldron snout, as well as the scenic views of High Cup Nick in Dufton.  I was feeling tired when getting towards checkpoint 2, I believed that I was seeing faces in the trees…I also believed that I had passed the checkpoint as it was further away than expected, and I felt that I had sunstroke.  I was amazed how the weather could turn from thunder, lightning, fog and rain to blistering sun, the hat once again saved the race for me by keeping me cooler.

I made it to checkpoint 2 (Alston) where I popped blisters, showered, dressed wounds and went to bed after eating the infamous Alston Lasagne (This years record was 8 lasagnes) between checkpoint 1 and 2 I met a man called Phil who would stay with me to the end of the race, we began to work together, operating gates, and spurring each other along.

We set off in the early hours towards checkpoint 3 (Bellingham) with head torches on; making good progress, there was more rain and sun throughout our trip to Bellingham, but we ticked off distance quickly and could navigate better as a pair.  We soon arrived at Hadrians wall and ticked off the section of the wall before getting to Bellingham.  I managed 1 hour sleep here, we set off early heading towards checkpoint 3.5, which is more of a monitoring station.  This took us through Kielder Forest in the dark again with narrow paths.  The head torch was on again under the hat as I was navigating at the front, things went smoothly despite the fog closing in, the boggy terrain.

We reached checkpoint 3.5 and had a quick brew, sorted out water bottles and got on our way to the cheviots (hut 1 and hut 2) we managed to arrive on the ridge line of the cheviots for sunrise.  We all stopped to drink in the view for a minute, then carried on with our race.  The trudge to hut 1 was a hard slog with lots of undulating ground, boggy patches and exposed areas of the cheviots…Then hut 1 appeared as if a mirage.  They didn’t have anything for us in hut 1 other than shelter from the wind and words of advice, however we were nearly in Kirk Yetholm and felt good…tired but good.

They said at hut 1 that hut 2 was 10 miles away, I had 26kms on my watch and realised that hut 2 was not far from the finish; we hoofed it from hut 1 to hut 2 meeting up with the winner of the full spine race who was amazed at our teamwork and speed, however I think he was just being nice!

Hut 2 arrived, they had more to offer than hut 1; a warm brew, good laughs and replacement of one of my water bottles.  Me and Phil had made the plan to touch the wall together early on and were both focusing on completing this as a team now.  Pass or fail it was done together, but we were more than 24 hours ahead of cut offs and were flying. 

We decided on a slow and steady final descent into Kirk Yetholm, there was nobody near enough to challenge our positions, the closest was 4 hours away.  We took a steady run into Kirk Yetholm, through the barriers and touched the wall together.  I couldn’t think of anyone better to support me through the journey and complete this race with.  I feel that I could have done it without Phil, but it would have been a tighter finish for both of us.

The main bit of kit in all of my drop bag, my main bag and on me was the Våga hat.  It kept me warm through the night times, sheltered in the thunder and lightning, was not effected by the use of the head torch and kept me cool in the blistering sun. The hat was easily packable and is going to become a permanent bit of race kit for me for future races.  I love it!

Thanks very much for the support of Våga, without the company, I may well not have completed this race.  The hat was used for all 160miles