The Spine Race 2012...an Epic Adventure !! ( Part 3 )

Checkpoint 3 ( Middleton-in-Teesdale ) to Checkpoint 4 ( Alston ) approx 44 miles

After a 2 hour power snooze I woke refreshed. I packed down some porridge and plenty of tea. The Checkpoint staff were amazing, nothing was too much trouble.
Whilst I was asleep my feet had dried out, and were now ready to be dressed / taped for their next 44 mile onslaught.
Even with the intense pain in my feet I felt really good. I had come through 3 tough sections of the race and now I felt I would definately finish.

Steve & I heading towards Sayer Hill

Steve and I left Checkpoint 3 together in joint lead after a good rest, in decent physical shape. Now our sights were set on Alston ( Checkpoint 4 ) approx 44 miles away. Between us and Alston lay the infamous Cross Fell, the highest point of the race, and notorious for it's own treacherous weather system.

It was a cold, clear day with a biting wind. Scott Gilmour ran along with us for a while out of Middleton-in-Teesdale.

Me, wrapped up against the elements.

As we headed past High Force towards Sayer Hill, we could here shells firing on the ranges further away on the moors to our left. At any time I was expecting a tank to come rolling over the horizon.

Soon we came to Falcon Clints, and beneath it an iced up slippery boulder field we had to clamber over. I stopped to do a little blister management on a new hotspot. Steve took the opportunity to film the event on a minature handycam given to him by Scott, to get some raw footage in the field. I haven't seen the results of this yet, I doubt hollywood will be calling Steve and I soon for our film making skills !

We still had plenty of daylight and rounding a corner the raging cascade of Cauldron Snout came into view.



Cauldron Snout





I arrived at the bottom of Cauldron Snout. It was raging. Along side the boiling outflow was basically a cliff you had to ascend using various handholds / footholds. Which conveniently were covered in a nice slick film of ice, making passage precarious.

Eventually Steve and I reached the top, much to our relief, and pressed on towards Dufton Fell.

Now with all the mileage I had covered, sore, blistered, leaking feet was not the only problem. My lubrication of certain delicate areas was proving insufficient, and chafing was becoming the issue.

Basically I could have fried an egg on my bum cheeks !! A possible new survival technique !! Not that Steve would have thanked me for it !!

So out with industrial strength Sudocrem, and a little short term relief. Fortunately nipples, back and shoulders were all fine, no chafing.

Steve and I moved on quickly towards High Cup Nick, a spectacular ring of cliffs that drop hundreds of feet to the valley below. We got there in complete darkness skirting the upper ring of cliffs, where a few feet to the left of the path it plunges straight down. This was reminiscent of my run on the 208 mile Tor Des Geants in Italy.

Once off the tops I quickly descended, running down to the village of Dufton. I was feeling really strong with over 150 miles covered.  Steve was pressed but managed to keep up with me.

We pulled into the Stag Inn, where the barmaid put together a bacon & egg toastie, chips and beans, along with fresh coffee. This was greatly appreciated, as on a Tuesday evening they don't serve food. The locals couldn't believe we had been up on the fells, and that we were running to Scotland.

I met Dougie, Mark Caldwells dad, who was waiting for Mark, so he could get a sleep in the campervan.

Steve and I pressed on.

The weather was closing in, the wind getting up. We had our biggest challenge now facing us.

A string of high tops and ridges that goes on for miles and notoriously dangerous.

Great Dun Fell ( 848 metres ), Little Dun Fell ( 842 metres ) and finally Cross Fell ( 893 metres )

The other danger is that in some areas there are sink holes and pits.

Steve and I marched on submerged in darkness and the escalating winds. We quickly ascended up to the south eastern top of Great Dun. As we reached the top visibility plummeted to 1 metre and winds were now reaching 60 to 70 miles per hour. It was terrrible conditions.

I shouted to Steve over the screeching wind for us to stay side by side. We hunkered down beneath the man-made rock pillar cairn of Great Dun, whilst I took a precise compass bearing. Steve had GPS, but it was vague at times. I paced counted on a bearing, and bang we hit the pathway. Then quickly lost it again in the poor visibility and also due to the obscurity of the path. Another bearing and I picked it up again. We moved on slowly bent double against the screaming wind. We were taking a serious battering, but we kept eating through this, and importantly kept moving in the severe cold.

We reached Little Dun Fell by walking straight into the cairn on the summit ! I was pleased with my navigation. We huddled down behind the cairn out of the wind and celebrated our little triumph with a piece of Richard Lendon's Mum's homemade fruit cake ! Fantastic.

Now it was time for the big one, once more into the breech !!

We stepped out into the howling maelstrom, navigating onto the path. However the path was lethal, great swathes of ice covered the paths. They were impassable. We had to leave the path and go around which meant navigatinf to relocate the path again. We did this repeatedly and again, BANG !! we walked straight into the Cross Fell summit cairn.

Steve and I were on a high, we'd accurately navigated in the dark, in 60 to 70 mph winds when we couldn't see our hands in front of our faces !

We quickly crossed the tops and started our descent. A little further on we stumbled into Greg's Hut.

A little safe bothy on the side of Cross Fell.

John Bamber and Paul Shorrock from the Spine Team had set up a base there for runners to seek some respite from the conditions.

John and Paul gave Steve and I a big welcome. John fixed us some piping hot coffee and some noodles. I huddled close to the stove for warmth whilst John and Paul took some photos.

We chatted for a while and then headed back out to push on to Garrigill.

John and Paul did a great job establishing a base in Greg's Hut.

Back into the elements, the weather was changing. It was now lashing, horizontal, freezing cold rain. An absolutely evil night to be out. Still I felt good, had some nice hot coffee and noodles inside me.

We cracked on, descending quickly to Garrigill, making excellent time.

I could practically smell Checkpoint 4 despite it being 7 miles away. Now we were mostly on the flat, just some fields ansd riverside pathways to negotiate, we'd done the hardest part......or so we thought.

The path descended into a sea of mud, knee deep in places. It really started to sap our strength. The path also disappeared through fields of mud and slop. It was becoming frustrating, so near to Alston yet such slow going.

Eventually we broke out of it and arrived at Checkpoint 4, the Youth Hostel at Alston. Hoorah !!!

I was cold, wet and tired.

Phil Hayday-Brown, Becky and Anna met us, and quickly got Steve and I into the drying room to discard some of our wet outer layers. Then it was copious amounts of food, HOT SHOWERS, such luxury and importantly sleep, in a proper bed !!!

I'd made it to Checkpoint 4 !! Over 180 miles covered, only 88 to go. I was definately going to finish this. The Spines back was breaking !!

to be continued......





The Spine Race 2012...an Epic Adventure !! ( Part 2 )

Checkpoint 2 to Checkpoint 3 ( 33 miles )

So we'd made it to Hawes, Checkpoint 2.
Once in we started getting a picture of the attrition taking place on the race behind us. Several runners had withdrawn through various injuries and one runner with hypothermia. Now there were only 10 left in the race.
I was pretty dog tired, ready for plenty of food and a few hours sleep. I also needed to get my feet checked out. The harsh mix of terrain, frozen rough ground, rock, deep bog, mud and stream crossings were all having an effect on my now throbbing feet.
I removed my shoes and socks to reveal some pretty impressive blisters and a few raw spots. I'd been doing my best to treat any early signs of hotspots, but this terrain was mashing my feet.
Now was my introduction to the 'feet team', Anna, Becky and Dan. Here on in I developed a love / hate relationship with them for the rest of the race.
Whilst I had my fill of a really tasty Muligatawny soup Anna got to work draining blisters, squeezing my right big toe to remove the fluid & pressure building behind my nail. To say the air was blue is putting it mildly !
If you are reading this and have a desire to take part in the 268 mile Spine race, at some point you will need to embrace and deal with the pain in your feet !

Trust me, in the picture above I'm not laughing !!
Once my feet were dealt with and I'd had my fill of soup, noodles, bread, tea etc, I settled down to 2 hours of blissful sleep. I'd been on the go for 41 hours without sleep.
Surprisingly I awoke refreshed. I waddled penguin-like to Becky who then dressed my feet, taping up some of the damaged areas.
I re-stocked my race pack from my drop bag, then along with Steve and Richard, departed Checkpoint 2 for Middleton-in-Teasdale, Checkpoint 3.
Our stomachs were full, we were well rested, our spirits high and we were on a mission to Finish !
We had overtaken Mark Caldwell without realising, the previous night.
Mark had decided to Bivi down on the trail somewhere between Horton and Hawes. I was now ahead of Mark.
However if I wanted to win the Elite class there was no letting up.
Mark Caldwell is an incredibly driven, determined athlete, with a wealth of mountain experience.  He just keeps going and going and going, no matter what the pain, he'll push through it.

Mark Caldwell

Steve, Richard and myself headed out of Hawes and up over Shunner Fell ( 716 metres ). The day was beautiful, a cloudless sky, bright sun but extremely cold. The route up over Shunner was very icey. Whole sections of the route were virtually impassable. We had to take detours around the ice onto peat bogs. The moorland was desolate but had a beauty to it, an untouched landscape. After Thwaite we passsed by Arn Gill Scar with gaping cave entrances, and onto Keld.

Still the banter between us all rolled on. I looked back often into the darkness to see if I could spot Mark's headtorch, but it seemed we were well ahead.

From Keld we crossed over Stonesdale Moor, conversation was dropping off, we were all starting to feel the biting cold. Richard then broke the silence with  a random 10 questions at Steve and myself. This took our thoughts away from the cold for a while.

Our next aim was Tan Hill Inn situated 520 metres above sea level.

On arrival we burst through the door into a lovely warm bar. I asked for food, to which Sarah the barmaid replied they were shut. I was totally downcast. Then everyone in the bar started laughing.

We then feasted on the best ever homemade Mushroom soup, huge chips and giant mugs of coffee. Fantastic !!

We were asked as to why we were out on such a god forsaken night on the Pennine Way. We explained we were in a race to Scotland, not just for ourselves, but also to raise money for charity.

So on hearing this the Tan Hill Inn gave us free food and coffee, and a customer donated money to the Help for Heroes charity. This restored our faith in the human race. A great bunch of people.

We headed off into the night and onto the peat bogs. It was bitterly cold but the Tan Hill Inn had warmed us up. 17 miles to go and we would be at Checkpoint 3.

The temperature was around -10, and in the wind it reduced further. Steve and I were feeling great. Eating regularly, keeping our furnaces stoked we marched on. Richard was starting to succumb to the cold.

Further on the route became obscure, difficult to navigate. This slowed us down and the cold started to affect Richard more. I kept urging Richard to eat, I asked him if he had another layer to add. He did, but couldn't make up his mind if he wanted to put it on or not.

The pace was slowing and the cold was now starting to affect Steve and I.

Richard was becoming increasingly confused, his speech started to slur. He was slipping into Hypothermia.

Richard made the decision enough was enough, his race was run after 135 miles. He wasn't warming up. Richard's core temperature had probably been dropping over the last 2 days.

So at Blackton Reservoir he decided to call for rescue.

Richard turned on his phone........no reception !

So Steve switched on his phone......no reception !!

So I tried my phone, turned it on, and......no reception !!!

By this time Richard had taken off his pack and there was some relief that it was all now over. Errr....

not quite. Richard asked what we were going to do, I replied, 'put your pack on and we're going a further 1.5 Km across the fields to a road-head' Richard was not happy, Steve and I chased him up and off we went.

Fortunately 1 Km further on I managed to get some phone signal, so I phoned the Spine team with the grid reference. Steve and I sat with Richard until he was collected.

Part of me was sorry to see Richard go part of me relieved.

Richard is a great guy, spend any time in his company and he'll brighten your day. However in his hypothermic condition he was slowing Steve and I down, to the point that we could also become victims to Hypothermia.

Richard Lendon retiring from the Spine race at 135 miles is no failure. Prior to the race, the furthest Richard had ever run was 50 miles in favourable conditions. On the Spine race he covered 135 miles of the most brutal, gnarly unforgiving terrain imaginable in extreme cold weather conditions.

This is an impressive feat, and I expect Richard will be back toeing the Start line in 2013.

With Richard now safely in the hands of the Spine team, Steve and I cracked on.

We upped the pace considerably, I now meant business, I had a lead to maintain.

Navigation was spot on and we flew through the next 5 Km to Middleton-in-Teesdale. Ironically the last 5 Km since Richard had been picked up were the easiest of the entire section.

On reaching Checkpoint 3 we met Richard, who was now in great spirits and back to cracking jokes. A brilliant guy !!

Feet were the order of the day again, more lancing, draining, squeezing, swearing etc etc. Then huge feed followed by a pleasant 2 hour sleep, Perfick !!!

To be continued.......



The Spine Race 2012...an Epic Adventure !! ( Part 1 )

Pre race day



Kit checked, bags packed, unpacked, re-packed, weight cut down as much as possible.... this had been going on for several weeks, much to the irritation of my long suffering wife Vicky. Now Thursday 12th January had arrived and I was getting a lift with Mark Caldwell, fellow competitor, to Edale.
It turned out to be a Scottish contingency road trip, 4 x runners in a campervan, Mark Caldwell, Ben Hunter. Andrew Collister and myself. In Girvan we fuelled on fish & chips, I had an exploding coke bottle episode in the chipper and we picked up Mark's dad, Dougie, then it was off at full speed, literally, to Edale.
After a comfy night in the campervan in an obscure Asda car park, it was off to Spine Race HQ in the village hall of Edale.
There we met Scott Gilmour, Phil Hayday-Brown, the rest of the expert team and some fellow competitors.
Just after 6.00pm we all sat down to a series of presentations inc, navigation, weather, hypothermia, hypoglycaemia etc and most notably areas of the route to watch out for - a series of pot holes as deep as 140 feet, lying alongside the route and not fenced off. Disused mine shafts, sink holes, precipices.....etc etc etc. It was at this point that most competitors sphincters were starting to get tighter....... and the enormity of the task ahead was realised.....!

Spine trophies

  

Race briefing

So after all the up-beat good news we then fired up our stoves and each competitor received a full kit check to ensure we were packing all the required kit.
Then it was back to the Ramblers Inn and off to bed to sleep.........zzzzz

Race Day 14.01.2012  ( Day 1; Start to Checkpoint 1.....43 miles )

I managed a decent nights sleep, got a decent breakfast inside me, picked up my race pack and headed to the Start with Richard Lendon. It was a beautiful sunny, frosty day, not a cloud in the sky.
After a photo call with all 17 fellow competitors, a little after 9.00am we Started. The race was on !!

Race start line

It was quite amusing at the Start. It was an uphill start and a fair few competitiors took off as if it was a 10K, I stuck to my plan on pacing myself along with Mark Caldwell, 268 miles over rough terrain is a long, long way, where a lot can go wrong.
I settled into a steady pace, heading up out of Edale and onto Jacobs Ladder, the first decent ascent. The field was already starting to string out.
Then it was up onto the plateau of Kinder Scout, a sea of peat hags, basically giant man-traps. This is where I made a navigational error and basically turned myself around trying to exit a deep peat hag.
Fortunately I realised my mistake early and got back on track with a little bit of relocation, catching up with the field. We ran over the spectacular Kinder Downforce, which was frozen solid, then onto paved pathways across the peat bogs. Paving stones in normal conditions would have been great, but this day they were covered in sheet ice, making going very treacherous. numerous runners took some heavy falls. I witnessed Sharon Gaytor, fellow Elite competitor, take a nasty fall onto her side at this point. I was later to find out that, unfortunately, Sharon had retired at 25 miles due to repeated falls and taking quite a beating with the conditions.

Me on Kinder Scout

The field of runners by now had thinned out. Mark Brooks ( 100 mile Challenger competitor ) had taken an early lead,  and was now 30 mins ahead, closely followed by Mark Caldwell, ( Elite competitor ).
I settled into my rhythm, running closely with Steve Thomson, Richard Lendon and Andrew Collister.
Gradually night fell. We were forming a close group, the banter was great. Richard is priceless, a hilarious guy to be around. He's always talking and is an authority on where every pub, cafe, tea room along the entire Pennine Way can be found. He had ringed them all on his maps ! As we neared a pub he kept dropping hints of his need for salt & vinegar crisps, Steve and I closed our ears and we continued into the night.
Temperatures were dropping, it had been below freezing during the daytime, but now it was dropping to around -6, and in the wind it felt even colder. On this race you can't afford to stand still or you run the risk of starting to shut down.

'Twas a cold and frosty night.......

The cold along with the dark can start to make thought processes slow, the Pennine Way was proving to be badly signed, harder than expected to navigate, with parts of the route becoming very obscure over peat moorlands, very easy to get lost. My orienteering skills helped along with occassional gps use.We made a slight nav error at Standedge costing ourselves around 15 minutes, however later we caught up with Mark Caldwell and Andrew Collister who'd had a similar event. Later we crossed over the M62, a significant indication as to how far we had already travelled.
At this stage my feet felt good, I was warm, energy levels were high and I was alert, all good.

Past White Holme reservoir and Chelburn Moor we pushed heading for Stoodley Pike, a rather ostentatious victorian memorial, that never seemed to get closer. Eventually we passed it and headed on into Hebden Bridge, crossed the road and up a steep hill over fields to Colden, and down to Checkpoint 1 at 23.14hrs. 
I'd made it to Checkpoint 1 - one part completed only 225 miles to go !!!
Richard and Steve asked when I intended to leave the Checkpoint, and if we should sleep. I opted for a 1 hour power nap after a plate of baked tattie, beans and cheese. However I could only lie and close my eyes, my body and mind were in race mode, I couldn't sleep.

Checkpoint 1 to Checkpoint 2  ( 62 miles )

Richard Lendon

Steve, Richard and I left together at 02.30 hrs feeling awake and refreshed, and in good spirits. Now we were in for a long haul, to Hawes.
From Hebden Bridge we headed over Heptonstall Moor, Wadsworth Moor, and Oakworth Moor. I maintained good contact with the map and we made good time. Conversation rolled along, along with the constant miles.
I was constantly grazing, keeping energy levels at optimum, however as we neared Gargrave I could feel myself tiring. I needed more than my snacks to fuel up.
Having listened to Richard talking about all the different coffee shops for the last 30 odd hours, Steve and I relented. We stopped at the White Cottage Coffee Shop in Gargrave.
It was the best thing we did.
Fortunatley the owners kindly let us in. Steve, Richard and I resembled post apocalyptic road warriors crossed with Mr Gay UK, thanks to being caked in mud and wearing lycra !! We were also eminating a bit of a whiff.
We absolutely stuffed ourselves, much to the amusement of the owners and fellow diners. We basically sampled the entire menu !! Boy it was good.
Eventually we all rolled outside with stuffed bellys and great spirits. We were ready to race once more!!
Quickly we moved towards Malham, and the spectacular sight of Malham Cove as daylight faded.
On the way up I was asked numerous times by tourists why we were going up when everyone was coming down. When I explained we were in a race all the way to Kirk Yetholm in Scotland, they were a little bit astonished ( under statement ). Basically they thought we were all bonkers !!
On past Malham, over moorland, the trail becoming difficult to navigate. The wind was now getting up, chilling me down to the bone. I added another layer and maintained grazing from my snack bag.
Eventually we neared Pen-y-ghent. A large mountain, steep sided and very exposed. As I looked towards the summit I noticed a headtorch, it was Mark Caldwell, about 1 hour ahead.
Richard was slowing, Steve and I pushed him on. The track was completely covered in ice, making going very treacherous. We couldn't afford to slow down or we'd start to lose heat. Steve was excellent at force marching the pace on.
On the other side of Pen-y-ghent lies Horton in Ribblesdale, where there is a pub. We all checked our watches, 21.20hrs, and we were on the wrong side of the mountain. Could we make to Horton before last orders??? The race was now really on!!
We scrambled up the sheer face of Pen-y-ghent, blasted over the top and ran down the other side.
At 22.25hrs we made it to the pub, hoorah !!!
On arrival at the pub we asked for 3 x large mugs of coffee, to which the landlord explained the kitchen was shut, everything cleaned and switched off. So I asked if he could just boil a kettle for hot water. This wasn't possible due to some lame excuse. Not exactly great customer service !!
In the end we drank coke and ate crisps.
Still we got warmed up, and after 45 minutes hit the trail again.
I pushed on, trying to up the pace along with Steve, conversation flowed and we were making good time.
Around an hour later Richard started to slow, complaining of cold. He'd added a layer but was still a little cold. I pushed on more, and explained to Richard we were only 6 miles from Hawes.
BIG LIE !! But it worked, for a while. Richard picked up the pace.
The best bit of deceit on my part came when Richard spotted a sign stating 4 miles after I had told him there were only 2 miles to go. I explained the sign was actually in Kilometres ( BIG LIE number 2 ) much to Steve's amusement.
Eventually Richard twigged and started to slow, feeling cold. He said he needed to sit down for a while. I told him if he sat down I would stab him in a testicle with one of my running sticks !! It did the trick and after some very tricky navigation we all made it to Hawes ( Checkpoint 2 ) 105 miles covered in total. Only 163 miles to go.