A heavy downpour greeted the runners at the start of this race and the odd shower kept cropping up as the race progressed.  It made great conditions for running.  Peter Mackrell of Clayton went into an early lead and although he was being chased by team mate Adam Wale, his victory never looked in doubt.  Also from Clayton, April Thorpe had a brilliant run in the ladies race to not only take first place, but to finish in the top ten overall.

Carl Nevison had an excellent race to lead the Barlickers home.  In the early parts of the race, he was looking strong but lying in around 10th position.  However, he seemed to manage to maintain his pace whilst others were tiring on the long climb out of Colne and he ran out in 7th place. Great running by Carl.  Stan Dreiling also had a good race and strong finish to come home in 36th place.

Jacqueline Collins and Emma Law ran closely together throughout the race, but towards the end, Emma, running on her favourite surface of tarmac, eased in front. Lisa Gee was surprisingly full of energy on the final climb from Lenches and in her second Hendon Brook race, finished with a PB.

The Barlickers finished as follows:

Men's Race
7 Carl Nevison 1:34:59 (2nd M55)
36 Stan Dreiliing 1:48:14
51 Andrew Smith 1:52:34
85 Anthony Brown 2:08:17
106 Raymond Banks 2:19:34

Women's Race
4 Emma Law 1:52:28 (2nd F40)
5 Laura Craig (2nd F35) Time Unknown
6 Jacqueline Collins 1:54:55 (1st F45)
17 Lisa Gee 2:12:44

Under 9
2 Jude Mirfield 2:58

Under 11
10 Theo Mirfield 7:51

Andy Berry's jet setting lifestyle caught up with him in this race.  He flew in from Chicago last night and optimistically thought that the jet lag would not affect him.

Men's Race
5 David Mirfield (1st M40)
12 Carl Nevison 48:42 (1st M55)
33 Stan Dreiling 52:51
35 Andy Berry 53:05
39 Andrew Smith 53:32
45 Shane Muller 54:21
91 Raymond Banks 1:06:02

Women's Race
9 Jacqueline Collins 55:48 (1st W45)
10 Laura Craig 56:15
13 Emma Law 57:35
41 Nicola Muller 1:09:34
49 Emma Pease 1:11:59

13 Robert Cranham 33:30 (2nd V40)

12 Carl Nevison 1:03:32 (2nd M50)
26 John Mason 1:07:12
31 David Pease 1:09:36
58 Pete Jackson 1:17:51
69 Paula Cullen 1:19:59

5606 Des Walkden 1:35:48

As ultra races go, the Spine race must be amongst the toughest. Runners have to complete the 268 miles from Edale in Derbyshire to Kirk Yetholm in Scotland carrying their own food and water, in addition to changes of clothing and a bivvy. There are only five check points on the route where they can get a hot meal and a rest.

John Boothman has completed this race on numerous occasions and it was perhaps the fact that he could not get into the Winter Spine Race that he decided to take part in the Summer race.

John’s tactics are always pretty similar. He does not rush off at the start, but just goes at a steady pace which he can maintain and as others tire or drop out, he works his way through the field.

The route goes over many summits which are races in themselves. Stoodley Pike, Pin Haw, Pen y Ghent, High Cup Nick are just a few and demonstrate the challenge faced by all competitors.

There were 158 starters and by the first check point, three and a half hours into the race, John was 27^th overall and 24^th male. By the time they reached Hebden Bridge, he had already moved up to 15^th position and 10^th male.   He continued in this vein until he reached Alston where he was lying in 9th place overall and 5th male.  He arrived there over two days after the start, two days in which he had very little sleep. He had made it over Cross Fell to Alston with fellow runner David Town and the two had worked together for some distance.

At Alston, both runners agreed that they needed to catch up on some sleep and they stopped there for four and a half hours. When they arrived there, John was feeling good and David was struggling a bit. After their rest, the positions reversed. John was not feeling at all well and his legs were giving him problems, particularly on any uphill sections. As the two runners approached the Greenhead checkpoint at the start of Hadrian’s wall, John was not looking good and his head was down. John decided to take a break at Greenhead, leaving David Town to press on ahead on his own. One of John’s problems besides his legs was the fact that he did not feel that he was digesting his food properly and what he had eaten was not turning into energy. After taking a rest at Greenhead, John set off following the Roman wall and as he did so, his demeanour improved and although he was still struggling with his legs, John was starting to look more like his old self. However, he was not achieving his early pace, allowing two runners to pass him and by the time he reached Bellingham He had dropped to 12^th place and 9^th male. He took a long rest of five and a half hours at Bellingham to prepare himself for the final push over the Cheviots into Scotland. He was not passed again and as a result of a runner dropping out, he gained another place finishing 11^th overall and 8^th male. Once more, it was quite a performance from John.

Special mention should be made this year of the women in this race. Most of the competitors in this race were men, in fact women only made up less than 14% of the starters. Yet the first two finishers in this race were both women and five of the twenty two women starters finished in the top twenty. Long distance ultra running appears to be a sport where women can compete on equal terms with men and if more women start to enter this competition, the day may come when they dominate the top twenty finishers.

Full Results

It was a warm day for this race, but the ground underfoot was firm and Buckden Beck was down to a trickle.  Young Callum Lambert cycled from Ingleton via Ribblehead and Cam Fell to take part in this race.  He easily won it, collected his prize and his cup and then cycled home again. Quite some athlete.   Lex Whittaker of Ambleside had a brilliant race to finish second overall and first lady.

It was good seeing some old hands returning to this race such as Colin Valentine, Pete Dugdale and John Thompson. 

The Barlickers finished as follows;

14 Robert Cranham 49:50 (2nd M45)
16 Andrew Smith 50:24 (1st M60)
44 Nick Kendall 1:06:04

U9 Race
2 Jude Mirfield 4:10

U11 Races
12 Theo Mirfield 8:45

Men's Race
38 David Mirfield 17:33
64 Carl Nevison 18:39 (2nd M55)
71 Robert Cranham 18:55
111 Shane Muller 20:51
129 Raymond Banks 22:45 (1st M70)

Women's Race
8 Emma Law 20:04 (2nd W40)
10 Laura Craig 20:23 (3rd F35)
32 Nicola Muller 25:12 (2nd W50)