Ever since my big brother walked the route in the late 1960s, the Pennine Way has always been a part of my life. One of the teachers at my secondary school rode his bike along the route in the early seventies (I suspect he carried the bike most of the way - this was well before the days of mountain bikes), which seemed impossibly romantic. For fifty years, the Pennine Way signs, with their acorn insignia have been a symbol of adventure. These days, I live fairly close to the route and I run a bit of it most weeks, but it has lost none of its allure.
So, in just over a week, I'll be heading down to Edale in Derbyshire to start the Summer Spine Challenger race, which covers a good slice of the Way. First, let me put things in perspective. The Spine Race, tags itself as Britain's most brutal. It covers the full 268 route of the Pennine Way and it takes place in January, when there isn't much daylight, the weather is generally awful and the route is knee deep in mud. The Summer Spine does the same route, but with more daylight and a good chance of less rain and mud. The Challenger only covers part of the route, stopping at Hawes in Yorkshire after 108 miles. There is also a Sprint version, which covers 43 miles and ends at Hebden Bridge.
Compared to the real Spine Race, what I'm attempting is relatively easy. However, in what sort of alternative universe does covering 108 miles and climbing two thirds of Everest count as easy? For that matter, when did 43 miles become a sprint? As the saying goes, "any idiot can run a marathon, it takes a really special idiot to run an ultra!"
In case you hadn't picked it up, I'm more than a little nervous. The Challenger is more than twice as far as I've covered in any other race and the terrain is tough. However, I'm also completely in awe of the nutters who do the whole length of The Spine in summer or in winter; they really inspire me.
So, I've got a little matter of 108 miles to complete and a maximum time of 60 hours to do it in. When I first mentioned this on Facebook, a friend said that there was no problem because you can walk at a steady 3 miles an hour, which means you can complete the distance in 36 hours. Yes, but... Walking three miles an hour over rough Pennine paths is actually pretty tough, not to mention the need to sleep, eat and whatever else is needed after a long time on the trails. However, 108 miles is a long way and lots can go wrong - a few bad blisters and everything is over. I'm confident that if I can keep moving, I can finish the event within the time limit, but is not going to be easy.
I've trained hard and with Dave Troman's help, I've improved my fitness over the last six months. However, I'm still carrying more of a lockdown-tummy than I would like. OK, I'm no where near as overweight as I was a decade ago, but even a little extra padding on the tummy (and I have more than a little) can have an impact on you climbing up hills. Ian has spent a lot of time working on my legs - which tightened up after the South Tyne Ultra a few weeks ago and I'm feeling pretty good now.
The race is self-supporting. Effectively, this means that you either have to carry all of your food and water with you and only replenish it at places that are open to everyone else in the race. In practical terms, this means that even though I'll pass within four miles of our house, Sue is not allowed to ply me with hot coffee and chocolate - not unless she is going to make a coffee for everyone. Thankfully, a local triathlon club are setting up a support station on the moors near to home, so I can get a coffee.
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| Out on a windy-windy moor. Running past Top Withens on the Pennine Way. I'm hoping for better weather in June! |
Most races have checkpoints every ten miles or so, where you can grab a few snacks and fill up your water bottles. Fitting with its ethos, the Spine only has checkpoints every forty miles or so. There is one at Hebden Bridge after 45 miles and then another at Malham Tarn, 26 miles from the finish. I'll have access to a drop bag at Hebden, so I'll be able to pick up more food and a change of shoes.
Normally an event like this would have a mass start, but due to Covid, the race is starting in waves two hours apart. The slowest participants are in the last wave, to avoid lots of bunching as the faster runners overtake the slow ones. This means that I'll be in the last group to get going and in all probability, I'll be near or at the back of that group.
My primary aim is to finish the thing. There is a pint of beer with my name on it in a pub in Hadraw and I want to earn it! Finishing within a reasonable time would be nice, but it isn't the priority. I'll run parts of the route, but I'll walk anything that is moderately rough or even slightly uphill. I'll leave my ego at home and not try and compete with the younger, fitter and thinner people charging ahead of me.
The bit that bothers me is the first section to Hebden Bridge. This is around 44 miles with about 7,000 foot of climbing. However, I don't know this part of the route at all, so so it's going to be very new to me. I kick off at 10.30 on Saturday morning and I'd like to leave Hebden around sunrise on Sunday - earlier would be nice. I'm not planning on sleeping the first night. I know myself well enough to manage this, but I will need to get a few hours kip at some point on Sunday. My plan is to leave my sleeping mat and heavy bivvy bag in my drop bag and to pick them up the checkpoint. I'll have an emergency bivvy bag with me at all times in case I need it.
So the aim is to get out of Hebden Bridge early on Sunday morning. I'll be tired and very stiff at this point, so I hope that I'll be able to walk the stiffness off. The next section is much more familiar and I've covered most of it numerous times. There are bits that are definitely runnable - assuming I'm capable of running after 60 miles or so. I'll climb up past the place where I watched John Kelly on his record breaking run up the Pennine Way, but unlike him, I'll stop for a coffee and a bacon sarnie shortly afterwards.
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| John Kelly, clearly not stopping for a bacon sandwich before Cowling |
The next refuelling stop is the Coop in Gargrave. As long as I'm moving ok, I should hit that well before it closes. A hot pie or pasty and another coffee won't go amiss. I don't suppose the chippy will be open when I pass through. From Gargrave it's not too far to the checkpoint at Malham Tarn, though there is no hot food or access to drop bags there. One of the things I'm nervous about is crossing the limestone pavement above Malham in the dark and when I'm very tired. Depending on how time goes, I might grab a little bit of a kip before climbing up the cove, otherwise, I plan to bivvy sometime shortly after the checkpoint.
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| Above Malham Cove; not the best place for tired legs |
The last section involves a bit of the unknown with a trip over Fountains Fell, and from there I'm on familiar ground with a climb over Pen Y Ghent and the long trip along the Cam High Road towards Hawes. I've done this section at night twice on the Y3P ultra, hopefully, this time, I'll get to see what it looks like. It would be nice to run down the hill into Hawes - last time I did it, I seem to recall that I spent more time sliding on my bum than actually on my feet. The race ends in the village of Hadraw a mile or so from Hawes, and I'm determined to run through the sheep fields to the finish line (though there is a stile that I'm already dreading!). As I stagger to a finish, the people doing the whole Summer Spine will still have a 160 miles to go - I salute them!
So, I've got the GPX files for my watch and I have most of the compulsory kit (I still need to buy some antihistamines). I still need to buy some baby bel cheese and a few mini-pork pies, my food of choice on long events. I also need to play with my Garmin watch to make sure that it does what I want it to do, but basically, I'm ready to go. Any training or preparation that I've not done now will never get done. It would be nice if the weather was dry and clear, but I really don't want it to be hot. Keeping hydrated will be a challenge whatever happens, in hot weather it will be very difficult.
It's going to be a long fast(ish) hike, with a bit of running thrown in. That being said, I'll count the whole thing as a run - if you want to argue with that - go and do it yourself! If all goes well, I'll jog into Hadraw sometime on Monday afternoon or evening, with a stupid grin on my face and tears in my eyes.
Wish me luck!
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