Spine Challenger

On Saturday 12th January 2013 I set off on the 108 mile Mountain Marathon called the Spine Challenger. This followed the Pennine Way from Edale to Hawes with one main checkpoint 45 miles in at Hebden Bridge and a smaller tented one at Malham Tarn around the 70 mile point. The race is a pretty new concept. Last year was the first time it was run and only one person finished it. This was mainly due to the harsh winter conditions and the amount of equipment people were carrying. The race also runs alongside a bigger race called The Spine, which covers the full 268 miles of the Pennine Way.

At 0700 we all met at Edale village hall where there was a buzz of nerves and excitement. Some people were chatting away to people they knew, others were pottering around with kit and some like me decided to have a sit down and a cup of tea. I sat there and looked around. There were people of all ages in the room varying in height, weight and nationality. There were two Spaniards who had a look of business about them and a guy training to go up Everest who was kitted out in top of the range RAB gear. There were the people from last years race who obviously new each other and chatted away and there were the newbies like me who sat in silence or potched with their kit. Despite their history and background there was one thing in common, a room full of people who meant business. A room full of people who were going to complete this challenge. Some would not make it but I could sense that these people would try their hardest whatever the outcome.

On the start line we had a pre-race picture and apart from the odd quirky comment it was pretty silent. The sky was clear and the temperature was cool so everyone was itching to go. Finally Phil, one of the race directors, counted down from 5 and we were off! The first few miles were pretty frantic, people were trying to get in the position of their relevant abilities but due to the channelling effect of the track this was not possible. Eventually I found myself out with the front group of about five people. I had never done a 100+ miler before so didn't really know how I would handle it, but my competitiveness streak put me up there with the top guys and I found myself pushing the pace. After about ten miles I was in fifth place and realised that if I kept the current pace going I would burn out and would not be able to finish the race. I slowed myself right down and let the others go off into the distance. I settled into a rhythm of 5-6km an hour and maintained that as best as I could. The going was pretty tough. All the slabs on the path had iced over and either side of them the grass was pure bog. It was a choice of whether to ice skate or wade! I found a happy medium and ran on the edge of the slabs where I got a bit of traction from the slab and grass. From 20 miles in I was on my own. There was no one in front and no one behind, just me out on the open moors plodding along ticking the miles off.

As the day went on my energy levels started to drop. I slowed down to around 4-5km an hour and started to feel the constant slamming of feet on the ground taking its toll on my knees and ankles. My toe nails were throbbing and I knew this was from running downhill. The constant bashing of toes into the front of the shoe pretty much guarantees that you will lose a couple of nails. I already knew both my big ones would be going! Mentally I was in a good place. I knew what I had to do and how I was going to do it and I was coping well being on my own even after such a long distance. On my map I had circled prominent features every 500m which I put my thumb on as I passed them. This was a psychological game. Instead of looking at the map and seeing a large distance to go, I was only ever looking 500m ahead giving me plenty of small victories and morale boosts.

From 30-40 miles the light started to fade away and I prepared my head torch for some darkness. So far I had navigated pretty well and had not needed to turn my GPS on once. I was hoping that the night would be clear and I wasn't disappointed. Although there was no moon, the stars shone and there was plenty of ambient light. As I crossed the M62 the street lights from Manchester glowed brightly lighting up the mountainside and gave me a sense of real loneliness knowing that there were thousands of people down there and only me up here in the wilderness. It took me a while to settle into the darkness, I kept getting the feeling that there was someone else around me, but I could not see anyone. My mind was playing tricks on me, maybe the first signs of fatigue kicking in. I started to find navigation slightly harder as the night went on. I could only see as far as my head torch would let me, approximately 40m so missing junctions and features was pretty easy. I got to a place called the Pike on a mountain above Hebden Bridge pretty close to checkpoint 1 where I made a bad navigational error. Instead of checking my map that the path I was following was the right one off the hill I presumed that because there was a town below I was on the right one. When I got to the bottom I realised I had gone West instead of North and now had 3km of uphill to correct myself. Not a major problem, but 45 mins extra time on the clock. I finally got back on track and made it into CP1 at 2117.

At the CP I checked in and straight away the admin tea brought me a hot cup of tea and some chili con carne and rice. This was a very welcoming sight and I tucked in. Also on the table were lots of bananas, boiled eggs, cakes and sweets which I tucked into and some flat coke which re-stock your sugar level. I then got into my drop bag and re-taped my feet for support and blisters. At this point I had no blisters, hot spots or aches and felt in a good way. I knew the temperature was going to drop so I swapped my Lycra trousers and windproof for a set of walking trousers and rainproof outer shell jacket. I also put on windproof gloves and a thermal hat. My plan was to rest until midnight and then continue on. Not long after I arrived another man arrived. His name was Dan and he was doing this event as a training event for Mount Everest. We got chatting and he was literally getting taped up, fed and then leaving. We decided that together the night would be more bearable and teamed up. It meant leaving an hour earlier than I wanted, but being with someone through the 15hrs of darkness was going to be worth it. It meant someone to talk to, but also two brains working on the navigation and morale support to keep each other going. At 2320 we left checkpoint 1 and started the 60 mile stage of the race.

We started of pretty well and made good speed averaging around 6km an hour which for the dark is pretty good. We wood take it in turns being front man, so that we had some rest from being the navigator. This was ideal as it saved some energy which would be needed later on in the race. Dan was a good guy and we chatted away. At around 2am the temperature really started to drop and I could feel myself getting very cold. We stopped to put on another layer. When I took my backpack off it was completely covered in ice! By 3am we were both suffering. Dan was really feeling the cold and suffering with blisters and a bad ankle. I also felt cold and could feel my ankles swelling. We slowed right down and this caused us to start getting even more cold. We hit a road and tried running to warm ourselves up but it was just too cold. At this stage Dan had four layers on including a down jacket and was still shivering. I could see that it was getting to him and knew that we had to find shelter and get warmed up. When I suggested it to him he didn't argue to push on and I knew we had to stop. Out of the darkness a small building appeared. It was some sort of shed on the moor. I had a look with the torch and it had a bolt but no padlock. We opened the door and found it was full of tools and rubbish. It was just big enough to get two people in. We moved a few things around and laid some plastic down on the floor. We then jumped in our sleeping bags and set the alarm for two hours. However when it went of we felt no better so slept for a further two hours.

At 9am we woke up and packed our kit away, putting everything in the shed back where it belonged. We now felt fresh and ready to move off. It was still cold outside but the sun was up and we could see. We set off and found that we were both pretty stiff. It took us a long time to get the muscles going and neither of our feet felt any better. We were going pretty slow and a group of three over took us.We didn't know how many people had overtaken us when we were sleeping and so didn't know where we stood. I knew it was pretty obvious that I was no longer 5th and that I was now in a battle to just complete this race and any ideas of competing were long out of the window. Dan really started to struggle with his feet and we slowed to under 3km an hour, We were losing a lot of time and we both knew it. I could not leave him though, he was in a bad way and leaving someone behind like that is not an option in any scenario. Besides we had become a team and as long as he still wanted to go on I was going to help him. I was starting to deteriorate too. My ankles were really swollen and I could not go down hill without feeling sharp pain up my shins. I took some ibuprofen and tried to crack on but I knew I was hurt. I just hoped I could make it to the 70 mile point where the medic could patch me up.

By 1130am Dan became pretty negative and knew he could not go on. He said that he was going to get to the next village and bin it. I was gutted for him. I could see it was a hard decision for him and I tried to talk him around, but we both knew that his time was up. Even if he did continue, at the speed we were going we would not make the 60 hour cut off. We got into a village and he stopped at a pub to call the race staff to say he had finished. I now realised I had some time to make up otherwise I would be doing the same. I seen that Dan had a walking pole. I asked him could I have it as i knew I needed all the help I could get. He gave it to me, which was a really nice thing to do. I set off up hill and got a good little pace going. I was back up to 6km an hour again and felt OK. I still felt the pain on the downhills but I was coping. After 5 miles I caught up with two old boys on the trail out for their Sunday walk. They were going at a similar pace to me so I decided to talk with them. I asked them how far they were going and it turned out they would be covering the next 6 miles on the trail, bonus! I explained to them what I was doing and asked if I could walk with them along the trail. They were more than happy and the next hour and a half they talked me through all of the route I had left to cover and where I could make up time, where was dodgy and how long each bit would take to walk. Their local knowledge was invaluable and it gave me enough information to formulate a plan which meant I could stop for a 6 hr sleep at the small checkpoint at Malham Tarn. When I left them they gave me all of their food from their backpacks which was a really nice touch!

It was coming up to last light and I spotted a pub on the trail. I had only eaten trail bars and sports bars for the last 30 hours so I decided to stop for a proper meal. Inside I ordered a Beef baguette and chips with a J2O and give myself 20 minutes rest. It was so good to be off my feet and in the warm. The food was really good and I wolfed it down. The 20 minutes I lost were probably worth a couple of hours in how much my morale had just risen! I turned my phone on and I had about 20 messages of support come through. Throughout the race so far every time I turned my phone on I had a whole host of messages waiting. It really lifted my spirits and got me focused. I looked out the window and saw that it had started to snow and light was fading. I quickly packed up knowing that it was time to crack on.

On the map I had 8km to go to the 70 mile point where I would rest up. The route followed a river and was fairly flat so it should take me an hour and a half. What I didn't realise was that the snow fell quite heavily covering all the tracks and the falling snowflakes glistened in the light from my head torch blinding me. Not long after leaving the pub I made my second navigational error. I strayed of the track and went down a really boggy valley. Only at the bottom I realised my mistake and spent an hour finding the track. The going know became really tough. I could not see the track and kept going slightly off it. There had been livestock in the fields and the ground was churned up and full of water filled holes. These had iced over and the snow had settled on top making them impossible to see. I kept slipping into them getting cold water on my feet every time and bashing my ankles further. By know I was becoming pretty angry with the lack of progress and pain. I was soaking wet, cold and in pain. I had 5km to go but felt like it would take five hours. I sat down and thought about quitting. I turned my phone on and messages of support came flooding through. I knew I had to keep going. My girlfriend Clare had a saying before I started the race which kept going on and on in my head 'Come on, man up! You can do this!' It really pushed me on despite the pain.

At 2130 I made it to the mini CP. All that was there was a small tent with two medics and a member of the safety staff. I got inside and they made me some noodles and a cup of tea. The two medics set to work on my feet and when I took my shoes off I saw two very swollen ankles and two blood blisters in between my big and next toe the size of a marble. They bathed them in hot water and then went to work popping the blisters and strapping up my ankles. My feet were in a bad way and I needed their help to keep me going. The constant wet had taken its toll too. Underneath my feet had gone white and clammy. I had trench foot and it wasn't going to go anytime soon. Luckily as I was the first person to stay at the CP I got a space in a corner and got some sleep in the warm. Everyone else who came would have to sleep out in the snow. I slept for six straight hours and at 4am the medic woke me up. I packed away quickly and had a cup of tea. I was now well and truly seized up and my feet still hurt. I had 30 miles to go with the biggest summits of the race still to come with 16 hours to do it. I had to get going and keep the speed up all the way to the end.

The snow had stopped falling now but there was a good 8 inches on the ground. People who had left the CP before me had left an easy trail of footprints for me to follow. I managed to get some good speed going and found it pretty easy going. I started to climb up the first big hill. To begin with I was fine but then I started to tire quickly. My earlier feeling of being fresh was quickly fading away and I was back to slow and painful. I reached the summit at first light and could see the summit of the next big hill, Pen y Ghent in the distance. However there was a massive drop down into a valley and back up again before I could climb that! I started to go downhill and know my ankles were completely gone. I winced with every step I took and could not get any momentum going. I tried walking sideways, backwards on my bum but nothing worked! I was in the hurt locker and I knew it! It took a long time to get to the bottom. By know it was nearly 9.30 am. I was losing far too much time. I started to climb Pen Y Ghent. Going uphill did not hurt me and I got a good bit of speed going up. The stick I had of Dan helped a lot. As I got to the top two competitors overtook me. They said they knew the shorter way around the next village so I tried my hardest to keep up and follow their foot prints. The directors new about this short cut and said if we could find it we could use it. The two guys did find it and I followed. I cut off about 6km saving myself probably two hours at the speed I was going. I know felt really good. I had 12km to go and the going was pretty flat and steady. I motored on getting up to 5km an hour. It was 2pm and I did not want to be out another night. 5km from the end there was a small safety station with a camera man. They gave me water and some biscuits which I needed. I ran out of both a few hours before. I wolfed them down and set off on the last push. As if to test me an ice cold wind started blowing really hard cutting straight through my clothes and spraying snow into my face. I started talking to it, saying 'you can try all you want, you are not braking me now'.

I came around a corner and I could see Hawes way down in the valley. I had mixed emotions. I could see the end, but I had a long downhill to cover, this was going to hurt! Light was starting to fade and I slowly limped down of the hill. Halfway down there was a flock of sheep. With my one stick I must of resembled a farmer as they all came right up to me and started following me down the mountain. Luckily no one seen me as I probably would of got ripped for being a Welsh man surrounded by sheep! They were actually a welcome distraction, they took my mind off the pain and I got to the bottom. I was now on roads and had a 1km to go. I started to feel the end was close, my morale was sky high. I got into the village and there it was a sign showing me the way. I came around a corner and the finish appeared, an old village hall. I stepped inside, checked in and that was me done! 57hrs and 2 minutes of absolute pain! I sat down for two hours on the stage just getting my senses back and letting the pain go. The enormity of what I had achieved did not cross my mind. I was just happy to be off my feet in the warm!

The Spine Challenger was more than a race it was a survival exercise in some tough conditions over a long distance. I went through some really low lows and some really high highs! I have found out a lot about myself and how far I can go even with a minor injury. It is an addictive sport and within two days I was looking for my next race. The people who enter these types of races are something else. They are prepared to push their bodies to the absolute limit in the worst conditions imaginable to achieve their goal. These are people who know how to make a success of life and are easy people to be around.