Huge kudos for Jasmin Paris, the British ultrarunner who has just won the 268-mile Spine Race along the full Pennine Way, in a record time while expressing milk for her 14-month-old daughter, Rowan, along the way. She crossed the line in 83 hours, 12 minutes and 23 seconds - more than 12 hours faster than the previous record holder, Eoin Keith (95:17). Paris is the first woman to win the race outright.
The previous women’s record was 109 hours and 54 minutes, set by Carol Morgan in 2017.
An event billed as ‘Britain’s most brutal’ The Spine Race, which first took place in 2012, is a non-stop ultramarathon from Edale in Derbyshire to Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders. Runners travel 268-miles along the full Pennine Way, carrying their own kit. Held in the winter, this year conditions were as brutal as ever, with runners battling 50-mile-per-hour winds and rain along the route.
The race started on Sunday morning, with Spain’s Eugeni Roselló Solé and Paris leading. Paris started to create a gap on Solé on Tuesday evening, before crossing the line at 7pm on Wednesday evening, 10 miles ahead of the Spanish runner, who unfortunately had to withdraw from the race 6km from the finish.
Paris had done the last 17 hours of her race completely on her own. Over 83 hours, Paris’ total rest time, including eating, sleeping, packing kit and expressing breast milk, was just over seven hours.
This was Paris’ first attempt at the Spine race, but she already has an extraordinary running record. She holds the women’s records for the UK’s three premier 24-hour mountain running challenges: the Bob Graham Round (England), Ramsay Round (Scotland) and Paddy Buckley Round (Wales). For the 2016 Ramsay Round she has the fastest time outright: 16hrs 13mins. She also finished sixth in the 2016 Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc, her first 100-mile race.
Meet the eco champions racing against climate bre inov-8 pre-race blog, being away from her daughter would be her biggest challenge, yet biggest inspiration: “I think the mental battle will probably be my biggest challenge. For one thing, I think I’ll really miss Rowan, who I have only been away from a couple of times for a single night since she was born. On the plus side, I think I’ll have the very best motivation for getting to Kirk Yetholm as quickly as possible!”
