Nobody thinks of a marathon as a sprint, yet this race is called a sprint despite encompassing almost two back to back marathons. It is the first part of the Spine Race Series and covers the 46 miles from Edale in Derbyshire to Hebden Bridge.

This year Ian Cocks entered and set off at a blistering pace and was amongst the first three who were running together as a group. The initial reaction was that he had gone off too fast, but that was without knowing the training that Ian had put in. In fact he had carried out the largest block of training ever over 14 weeks, in which he reccied the whole course and carried his full kit weighing 10.5 kg up and down Pendle. As Ian said, “Descending with that kind of weight is very challenging on your legs”.

This what Ian said of the race:

The race was going well until I got to Wassenden and then the cramps started. This was a surprise being a cold day . I held 2nd place from the start of the race till the finish with 3rd place just kept behind me until we got to Snake Pass which is 10 miles in , then I didn’t see him again.

Ian is being a little modest. He ran a brilliant race. He trained and prepared well and it was perfect execution on the day. It was only that he came up against that superb athlete, Rupert Allison that he did not take first place.

2 Ian Cocks 8:53:13

4 Robert Cranham 19:37
6 Lucas Payne 20:09
55 Dave Halliday 25:53