Racing Through the Long Winter Nights in the UK
Rob Howard / 13.01.2013
If you thought January was ‘downtime’ for competitive UK adventure racers you’d be wrong – cold winter days and nights are an opportunity to get out and compete in some of the most extreme events in the calendar.
There are regular races taking place from Open Adventure, Tri-adventure and there is the Ice Man duathlon as well, but perhaps the most challenging races are single sport events, which take place mostly in the dark, in the coldest month of the year.
The first of these is ‘The Spine’, which is taking place now. (It began on Jan.12th.) This event is a non-stop winter ultra-marathon covering the entire length of the Pennine Way long distance footpath, and is deemed Britain’s most brutal race. The route is 268 miles of ice, snow, cold and savage winds and competitors have 7 days to complete the race, which includes just 5 checkpoints and has a course record of 151 hours 2 minutes.
You can find out details of how the brace competitors are getting on at www.thespinerace.com but updates are mostly on their Facebook page. (There is not a lot of info, so don’t expect too much.)
Later in the month there are two full on night events to test mountain bikers and mountain runners to their limits. Both will be ideal training for those who want to step up to longer multiday and expedition adventure racing as well – providing the chance to test equipment, navigation and performance through the night.
For the mountain bikers the Strathpuffer – a 24 hour MTB endurance event held in the depths of the Scottish winter. Past events have had every type of weather you can think of, including gales, ice, 2 foot of snow and temperatures down to -10C, so it’s advisable to be well prepared. The reputation of the race is such that it attracts international entries and was included in U.S. Bike Magazines top 10 of ‘Toughest Mountain Bike Events in the World’.
The race takes place in Strathpeffer in the Scottish Highlands using a 11km course ridden in continuous circuits and the race is open to solos and teams so you don’t have to ride right through the night. (Last year the solo winner completed 26 laps.)
This year the event takes place on January 26th/27th and that is also the date of the new ‘Marmot Dark Mountains’ event, an overnight winter mountain marathon.
The new event will be staged by Ourea Ltd. who also run the Dragon’s Back Race and the Great Lakeland 3 day challenge, and the Race Director is OMM elite winner Shane Ohly. The race has a full range of mountain marathon courses from elite at 11 hours to C at 8 hours, and there is also an 8 hour score class for those who really want to test their night navigation!
The race will be somewhere in Northern England, and the exact location won’t be announced until January 23rd.
You can find out more about these races at http://www.strathpuffer.co.uk/home and http://www.marmot-dark-mountains.com.
