Roger Completes the Spine Race
- Details
- Category: News
- Published: Monday, 06 March 2023 16:44
At last, my account of the 2023 Winter Spine Race. It took much longer to write than it did to complete the 268 mile course! https://www.strava.com/
So this was my attempt to put my dnf of 2020 behind me. That year I had managed to get over the end of the actual Pennines into the South Tyne Valley but crawling through the mud and bogs in the rain and dark meant that when I became too cold, I didn’t have the mental resources to think my way out of it with another layer, a sleep, food etc. I was so desperately tired that I just wanted to stop. Would I do better this time? I had made a lot of mistakes during that race but also with preparation of kit etc. For example, I had been unable to recharge my headtorch spare battery quickly enough and when both of the batteries were spent I had to switch to my spare torch but wasn’t sure that I had enough battery power to make it to the next checkpoint. In short, lack of foresight put me under pressure when I was already tired. The other thing to avoid was to consider any section of it easy. The headline climbs of Pen-y-Ghent and Cross Fell and the technical challenges of the Falcon Clints boulder field and the Cauldron Snout waterfall might demand more attention but long trudges through nondescript forest plantations require a great deal of concentration and application.
