Races
Summer Spine
Edale to Kirk Yetholm on the Pennine Way. Two hundred sixty-eight miles, non-stop. Britain in June, which still means bog and wind.
The mountain
The Pennine Way, with a few signed diversions. Kinder. The Dales. Cross Fell. Hadrian's Wall. The Cheviots into Kirk Yetholm. Two hundred sixty-eight miles. Ten thousand seven hundred thirty-two meters of ascent. Bog, flagstone, and fence lines. High Cup Nick is the postcard. The Cheviots are the bill.
The work
Self-reliant. No private crew. No pacers. You may use cafes and pubs. Five staffed checkpoints: Hebden Hey, Hardraw, Middleton-in-Teesdale, Alston, Bellingham. Resupply bags move between them. Navigation at night on a national trail that has options. June daylight is long. The weather is not kind just because it is summer.
Race morning
Eight a.m. in Edale. One hundred fifty-six hours to the Border. Field of one hundred fifty. Mandatory kit. You have to have done a long ultra or a Challenger to get in. Then you walk out of the Peak District and do not stop.
Watch outs
Daytime can hit the mid-twenties Celsius. Night can sit at zero. Bog that eats a shoe. Getting off the Pennine Way onto a bridleway in the dark. The last hills into Kirk Yetholm after a week awake.