Northern Traverse 2023

What do you call a cheese that isn’t yours? Nacho cheese!

It’s around 4am in the morning and I’m trudging through the moors above Shap on a cold crisp spring night. I’ve been moving pretty much non-stop for about 20 hours. It’s the witching hours just before dawn and I’m at a low point both mentally and physically.

I have 3 companions – they are also at a low point and we are resorting to humour to attempt to lift our spirits, hence the cheese jokes (I’ll spare you the rest….).

The late cancellation of the Arctic Spine race in which I was due to participate provided an opportunity to put myself on the start line of the UK edition once again. Training had gone well and I was looking forward to toe-ing the line without the chest infection and broken ribs which had accompanied me during last year’s race.

My brother Alan very kindly drove me down to Edale for the statuary pre-race registration which consisted of preparing the runners for race conditions by making them queue outside the registration venue for over an hour in freezing conditions.

So what it all this Spine malarky all about then?

I’ve known about the Spine Race for a very long time now and have spent countless years watching the steady progress of dots moving northwards over the course of a week in January.

It’s always been a race that has terrified me.

The route follows the 268 miles of the Pennine Way over generally high exposed ground from Edale in the Peak District to Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish borders with few opportunities for shelter.

So I didn’t complete the Dragon’s Back Race this year. My main concern going into the race was my knee as I’ve been suffering from tendonitis which has curtailed my training, I barely ran for the four weeks preceding the race although I did manage to do some hiking with help of poles on the descents.

Ultimately though what stopped me was the heat and cramp.

At the start line

The cramp started kicking in after around six hours on the descent coming down to the checkpoint at Ogwen but other than that I was feeling okay.

Day -1, The Calm Before the Storm

Lots of races badge themselves as the hardest in the world. It’s very subjective and impossible to compare something like the Spine to The Marathon Des Sables or Badwater they all have different challenges. The Dragons Back goes for a specific niche “The toughest mountain race in the world”- it’s a hard statement to argue against. For me the toughest element was the multi day nature of the event. I’ve done lots of long events, back to back long training days and completed a Bob Graham Round in just over 21 hours but nothing on this scale. 195 miles over rugged mountainous terrain climbing (and descending) around 52,000 feet (almost twice the height of Everest from sea level).

Pre-race

I’d considered entering the inaugural running of this event last year but it sold out before I’d made the decision. For those unfamiliar with the event the following description is taken from the website :

“The Montane Cheviot Goat Winter Ultra will test even the most experienced ultra runner. 55 miles of the harshest winter trails, 9500 ft of lung-bursting ascent including the highest summit, The Cheviot, standing at 2,674 ft. Throw into the mix the unpredictable Northumberland weather that includes everything from deep snow, ice, gale force winds and torrential rain and you’ll be tested physically and mentally.”

Even before I had completed my Bob Graham Round last year I had decided that my next big challenge was going to be a Paddy Buckley Round. It is similar in terms of ascent and distance but widely considered much tougher because of the roughness of the terrain and lack of trods/footpaths.

Given the reccying I had done I definitely agreed with this and knew that it was going to be a challenge to complete in under 24 hours which was my goal and my schedule. I hadn’t done as much training as I did for my BGR last year and had a few annoying niggles which I hadn’t been able to shift, mainly a sore left glute and right angle which I’d twisted about 6 times during my training. I hadn’t been feeling well in myself either and considered cancelling the attempt a number of times.

Well all good things must come to an end and my Bob Graham journey came to an end when I climbed the stairs and touched the door of the Moot Hall in Keswick at 7:19pm Saturday 24th June.

It was the culmination of 7 months of training and around 5 years of planning, procrastinating, talking and preparation – to say I was happy is an understatement.

I was working on a 22 hour schedule and my training had went well so I was confident going into round.