{"id":239445,"date":"2026-01-15T13:23:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T13:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/239445\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T13:23:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T13:23:11","slug":"montane-spine-racers-battle-brutal-conditions-to-borders-finish-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/239445\/","title":{"rendered":"Montane Spine racers battle brutal conditions to Borders finish line"},"content":{"rendered":"

Giancarlo RinaldiSouth Scotland reporter<\/p>\n

\"DavidDavid Murch\/Montane Spine Race<\/p>\n

Men’s race winner Sebastien Raichon took nearly four days to reach the finish line in the Borders<\/p>\n

Runners have started to arrive at the finish line at the end of one of Britain’s most demanding endurance races, having faced “brutal” conditions after Storm Goretti.<\/p>\n

Competitors in the Montane Spine Race set off on Sunday from Edale in Derbyshire on the 268-mile (430km) challenge along the Pennine Way to Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders.<\/p>\n

Conditions have been so testing for this year’s event that many runners have had to abandon the race.<\/p>\n

First to reach the finish line – and win the men’s race – was France’s Sebastien Raichon in a time of 95 hours 43 minutes and 52 seconds.<\/p>\n

\"DavidDavid Murch\/Montane Spine Race<\/p>\n

Conditions for this year’s event were extremely testing once again<\/p>\n

He overhauled long-time leader Eugeni Rosell\u00f3 Sol\u00e9 from Spain late in the race.<\/p>\n

“I ran a patient race, the parable of the tortoise and the hare was in my mind the whole way and I wanted to make sure that I was the tortoise,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Eugeni is a young runner, I had to be patient.<\/p>\n

“I was expecting smaller hills, and the trail was more beautiful and brutal than I had imagined.”<\/p>\n

Other runners are still out on the demanding course but many have had to abandon the race.<\/p>\n

The inaugural Winter Spine Race in 2012 attracted just 11 starters – with only three of them reaching the finish at the Border Hotel.<\/p>\n

Organisers describe the the event as “more than a race, it’s a battle of survival”.<\/p>\n

Founder and director Phil Hayday-Brown said the conditions had been “particularly brutal” this year, with deep snow on the opening weekend giving way to ice and standing water.<\/p>\n

\"JamieJamie Rutherford\/Montane Spine Race<\/p>\n

Racing took place in the aftermath of Storm Goretti<\/p>\n

He said: “Warming temperatures over the last few days have made the already infamous bogs even more treacherous, and the summits are absolutely freezing.<\/p>\n

“Of the 153 that started this year, 57 have now DNF’d [did not finish], and that will likely rise as the cut offs get tighter and tighter.<\/p>\n

“It’s been an incredibly trying race, and even for some of the most experienced athletes on the field it’s proved too much.<\/p>\n

“The Winter Spine Race certainly takes no prisoners, and no amount of planning can prepare you for the savage weather and gruelling trail this time of year.”<\/p>\n

The route crosses some challenging landscapes including the Peak District, Yorkshire Dales, Northumberland National Park, Hadrian’s Wall, and the Cheviots.<\/p>\n

The difficulty level is compounded by it taking place in the depths of winter when conditions are even more testing.<\/p>\n

\"ClorroeClorroe Cam\/Montane Spine Race<\/p>\n

Organisers describe the race as a “battle for survival”<\/p>\n

\"DavidDavid Murch\/Montane Spine Race<\/p>\n

Despite the difficulty, hundreds of people take part across a range of races<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Giancarlo RinaldiSouth Scotland reporter David Murch\/Montane Spine Race Men’s race winner Sebastien Raichon took nearly four days to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-239445","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}