Olly’s Spine Race 2026

152 miles of 267 miles along the Pennine Way

I had my kit packed a week before the race and Lyn’s asked me the day before whether I felt ready…I never pack this far in advance of a race. My training had been going well - tick, my planning and pacing on recce’s - tick, 4 years of experience - tick. Still I felt 98% ready, but that’s a big part of what attracted me to the Spine race…that I could be meticulous in my prep and still be 100% confident that it will present me with completely new problems.

One of the other great joys of these races is that they offer unique experiences at the margins. Sometimes even small details like running through the night as the temperature drops below freezing and the ground starts to sparkle as frost sets in, or the life affirming good nature of complete strangers that feed you chocolate so you don’t need to take your mitts off and get cold hands.

So even though I faced my first DNF the Spine experience has got me hooked and it’s the only time I’ve ever really wanted to have another attempt - possibly also because my body was ready to run for a week but was stopped short 2 days early!

You know the excitement at the start of a race - queues at the portaloos - leg swings to try and drum out the nervous energy. The Spine starts with everyone quietly shuffling about desperately trying to appear relaxed….we’re all thinking the same…it’s a hundred hours not 1 hour calm the fu*k down. Having Benji was great as he could get wrapped-up in the excitement, while I could hide behind attempted parenting.

We set-off across a familiar first section to Hebden Bridge. I was loving it and in my element with some proper weather, home crowd support and the chance to see your pals running towards you on the Trigger race. On reflection I didn’t over-cook this but I was bouncing through the snow, hauling others out of snow drifts and having fun….I thought there will be plenty of time for misery and grit.

CP1 Hebden Bridge. I was only about 45 minutes, re-stocked on snacks and they provided hot food. One of my plans entering the race was to take on as much hot food and drink as possible at every opportunity - so two bowls of Chicken congee a bowl of lentil pasta, and a bowl of swiss roll and custard *2 cups of tea. Living my best life.

For a lot of the first section I was back and forth with the Women's leader. A super strong Fin that could walk fast but also kept getting lost and taking wrong turns circling back and asking for directions, I think it was her general chaos for a pro that made me chuckle, like many of the competitors she fell and hurt her knee which meant she could only walk as running was too painful by about 100 miles…then went on and did another 150! This became a common story throughout the race that a unique combination of cold and wet meant your options were often sapping cold bog or glass like ice under a slick of water on rocks and stones. This took a lot of concentration and also led to falls. So the race was having a huge amount of retiring runners including John Kelly and Chris Cope that both suffered falls that led to other issues.

In the Spine you must avoid compounding errors. This race is active maintenance and rolling problem solving.

Running through the night I remember relatively little but ran alongside a friend and previous Dragons Back 2021 finisher, it rained on and off and we trucked along to Gargraves. I slowed at this point but was enjoying moving at my own pace as we hiked up to Malham Tarn. It was light by the time I reached the monitoring point and made the most of my 30 minutes. Put my feet-up, bowl of noodles….another cup of tea. At this point I learnt that John Kelly was just 15 minutes before curled-up in a bad state on the floor and they had medivac’d him off the course in one of the vehicles. Anna Troup joined us and quickly moved to chase the lead women.

Next section to Hawes CP2. 1. Fountains fell, 2. Penyghent, 3. Cam High Road; 25 miles - sleep for 2hrs. A quick summary that went through my head exiting the comfort of the monitoring point.

Weather was obviously not great further on as we had updates of route diversions. No Penyghent. This was one very rare occasion that being told we weren’t heading to the summit wasn’t a disappointment! So really a pinch up Fountains Fell and then the drag of Cam High Road to get my head around. By the Cam High road I had caught the tail runners for the Spine Challenger South - they run the same route but start a day earlier. Back of the pack runners are the best characters - they’re out there longer than anyone else in winter weather and know how to pass the time with resourcefulness and great humour. I met one New Zealander making his way out of a tea morning in a local church. He obviously made himself welcome!

A good push along the Cam Road with another Spine South runner and then came into Hawes with Charlie Knights doing the full Spine, he was having trouble with his feet and some chaffing but moving well. Hawes YHA is a big milestone. It’s the longest stage on the route without a Checkpoint and warm bustling oasis. A pal, Sophie Littlefair from Hope also met me and walked me in - she’d just won the Sprint South after a year of injuries so in high spirits and this just lifts you a notch. Feeling great at this point and looking forward to sleep and a change of socks, charge my watch, eat veggie chilli and more tea.

I called Lyns at this point, from a warm bunk feeling very confident.

Sleep didn’t really happen, this concerned me a little as I become a bit narcoleptic beyond 36hrs without any sleep. You hear people talk about Hallucinating with some drama, and my experience tends to start with something like being drunk, or getting nitrogen narcosis - this becomes disorientating and over tricky terrain where you need to focus it can end your race. I also know that you can fix this feeling by passing out for a dirt nap on the trail for 10-30mins.

Trouble is you head out of Hawes onto Great Shunner fell - about a 6km slog. Facing some fierce weather in the small dark hours and clag - this just creates a wall with the light from a head torch. Descending became blind, lethal and slow from the rain and ice. So no dirt naps. I did fall over on my left knee into a pool of ice water - very quickly got up and did my ‘if you keep moving nothing broken check. I place this ascent and descent in my top 10 all-time scary moments - from the combination of challenges that came together.

Around Kisdon the route became more sheltered. I was weaving and stumbling…had to have my nap, so zipped-up my jacket, switched off my headtorch and leant into a pile of bracken on the trail side. I like napping on the trail pointing in the direction I need to head. For safety and a wake-up call when another runner passes you, but also to avoid getting disorientated. Another long distance pal Kev Munt is still out on the Pennine Way as I type, unfortunately he headed 4 hours back south before one of the safety team re-orientated him.

If I added 8 hours to my race, how would I respond? That takes some strength. #learnfrom kev.

Someone did pass me and after 25mins of sleep in the rain I felt great. I also fancied some company and a bit of a chase, so went after the runner - like some ridiculous mini race for one place. A fun run for the next hour or two. As it turned out I felt great and moved really well all the way to Tan Hill and towards Langden Beck - about a 6 hour high, so Tan Hill was a short stop for some soup, but then straight out again catching-up with a New Zealander called Sophie Grant. We had a good few hours hiking and chatting about why Brits like making things hard, fell running short shorts versus trail running visors, soup, dogs you like to run with and her Belgian Malinois.

A cameraman turned-up and I got a bit shy - so tried to avoid the lense and questions. At that point learnt that Sophie and John Kelly were brand ambassadors for La Sportiva, she mentioned as he’d dropped out the cameras will all be on her now. My bubble of escapism was under attack.

By this point Charlie had caught-up with us and brought more smiles. We headed toward Langdon Beck along the river - wow - High and Low force should be on everyone's bucket list. Epic. The water was very high so it made a very memorable end to the leg into CP3. Charlie decided to have a short dirt nap so I rolled into CP3 on my own. I was welcomed by someone offering to take my shoes off - he told me he’d got plenty of experience. I have no idea what his name was. Cheeky.

CP3; The best chicken curry.

Would you like a naan with that?

Yes please…Can I have two?

Sure.

Darren stumbled into the room. I was thinking he was about an hour ahead. He’d just got his leg strapped by the medics and it wasn’t looking great, he had a worried look on his face that only comes from someone that DNFd the previous year having broken his ribs and knew this might be his last shot at the race. Charlie then rolled-in, I joked that his nap ended-up being more like a siesta. He hadn’t had any sleep and having foot issues. They were waterlogged. Blisters are a minor issue in Ultra’s, but once your feet soak up the water the skin gets thick and weaken’s, as you continue to run the skin shears from the flesh on your foot. In Charlie's case he removed his socks and the skin came off with them, ‘De-gloving’ his toes. The fix is to replace the skin with K-tape, but running on these feet is like running on hot coals. Both these guys still had 116 miles to go and both of them finished. Chapeau chaps.

In contrast - my feet and legs were looking great!

But I didn’t travel more than about 200m from CP3.

What happened and why I DNFd?

I tried to get some sleep but my feet started swelling and both Achilles exploded with pain, I spoke to the medics and took some pain killers but I couldn’t sleep. I had plenty of time to meet the cut-offs, so at this point I thought I could raise my feet and hope they improved. After two hours there was no change so I decided to get back out on the course. I strapped my feet back into my shoes and headed out. It took about 20 minutes to move 200m and the pain on both sides was impacting how I was breathing. This was unique - I’ve managed a lot of different pain but I couldn’t shift this or move forward with it - so I sat on a style and let Charlie know that I was dropping back. Heading back into the CP my plan was to rest out some of my time advantage. I didn’t fully appreciate that I was only allowed 8 hours at each CP even though I had >24hours on the course. We were also informed that there could be no stopping for the next 18 miles to Dufton. So I would need to get at least that far before I could bivvi and rest more. So I timed out and was retired from the race.

I have great memories from my 152 miles up the Pennine Way, and it’s the only ultra I have immediately thought I want to do again. This has surprised me, but I now understand why the Spine world gets under your skin.…