Ultra runner Ellie Atkins took part in the Summer Spine Challenger South Race. Ellie’s report is below.
I travelled up to Edale on Friday 13th June for the kit check – a stringent check that everything on the 36 page kit list passed muster. Thankfully my waterproof gloves, poo shovel and bivvy bag were all present and correct, and I lined up at 8am on Saturday morning to start the 108 mile journey up to Hardraw along the Pennine Way, climbing (and descending) 5,400m in elevation. It’s an unsupported race, and there was only one checkpoint just after Hebden Bridge. My plan for the race was to keep everything extremely comfortable – if I ever felt like I was putting in any effort to keep moving I would back off. I planned to eat every half hour, and I’d packed a whole host of “real food”, including, quite unwisely as it turned out, a hardboiled egg. The first 77km up to the checkpoint was truly enjoyable. Conditions were glorious, with amazing views. I kept to my plan and only jogged when I was finding it super easy. I came in to the Hebden Bridge checkpoint as the sun was setting and spent an hour re-fuelling, having a shower (complete game changer), changing my clothes and emptying fragments of eggshell out of my kangaroo pouch!
The second part was into the unknown, my furthest race to date being the (very flat) SVP 100km. I didn’t sleep and continued through the night, seeing the head torches blinking across the valleys in front of me. I teamed up with a chap power hiking and we continued over the hills until the sun rose, keeping up a solid pace. At Malham Cove, 135km in, he sped off up the steps, and this was really when the distance started taking its toll and I started to flag, teetering over the limestone pavement. My legs were hurting, the bottom of my right foot was falling apart, and I was in pain on every step. This was when the mental challenge of ultra running really came into play, and I used my competitive nature and internal “why” to my advantage, knowing that through the night I had moved past a number of women out on the course. The weather had also started to deteriorate, with high winds and driving rain, which made scrambling up Pen-y-Ghent quite a challenge! Once I reached Horton-in-Ribblesdale, though, the end was in my sights with only 24km to go. I had some extremely interesting hallucinations on the misty Cam High Road, with non-existent animals and vehicles forming from silhouettes of plants on the path. I found my second (fourth? fifth?) wind coming off that final hill, and jogged the last 5km in through Hawes, almost bursting into tears on being handed a cup of hot, sugary tea by a lovely volunteer and being told I’d come in second place with 36 hours and 18 minutes.
I’d recced a lot of the route on long runs over winter, but as the Spring marathon season approached I’d neglected my hill training and gone for laps of the West Site at Tuesday Night Tempo instead, chasing an unlikely marathon PB. A few sessions on the Stairmaster in the month between the Helsinki marathon and the Spine wasn’t going to cut it, and I definitely regretted not doing more work on managing my fatigue over the elevation. I was so proud of how I managed the mental exhaustion though, and it made (at least some) of the night shifts I’ve done over my career as a doctor worth it!
It really was an incredible experience, and I was amazed to get on the podium as that had been nowhere near any expectation I had coming into the race. The race has truly earnt its title as “Britain’s Most Brutal” and I will absolutely not be going back for any more! The attrition and mental challenge of that final marathon segment was something I have never experienced before and have little desire to experience again. I’m so grateful to the wonderful volunteers at the start, finish and the checkpoint, the safety team out on the course who always had a smile for me and the two Mountain Rescue Team pop-up aid stations (a bacon sandwich at 3am has literally never tasted better).
Congratulations on such an amazing achievement.
