Lions’ Kevin tackles epic Spine Race
THE SPINE Race is one of Britain’s hardest races, covering the entire length of the Pennines in winter conditions.
Having previously completed the shorter Challenge version of the race, Stainland Lions’ Kevin Robinson this year set his sights on the big one, and headed out at the weekend to tackle the epic full-length 268 mile route.
As well as all the usual challenges of running alone across difficult terrain with minimal rest, Kevin had Storm Brendan to cope with, and on Tuesday morning was forced to drop out.
Speaking afterwards, he thanked everyone who had turned out to support him along the route and reflected: “I picked up injuries due to slips as early as Sunday afternoon. Since then I’ve been constantly assessing.
“Lots of fun, great learning and experience from the race and 120 miles under my belt.”
While Robinson and his fellow Spine Race runners were heading north up the Pennine Way from Edale, the 25 mile Trigger Race was sending runners in the opposite direction.
Entrants had to navigate their way from Marsden to Edale via Black Hill, Bleaklow and Kinder, zigzagging from side to side to visit checkpoints at various aircraft crash sites along the route.
Leon Severn and his navigator Jim Harris managed a course pb of just over 6 hours 15 minutes. Jim described himself afterwards as “very broken”.
David Culpan was the sole Lion at this wet and boggy run round Ponden Valley and Kirk across 6.7 miles. David finished in 76.49 despite falling in the river at the crossing point. The river was flowing very fast, and even for runners who kept their footing, the water was waistdeep.
Three Lions completed this year’s Brass Monkey Half Marathon. The route heads out of York on fast flat roads before looping back to finish at the racecourse. Fraser Ambrose led the Lions home in a fantastic new personal best time. Becki Watson ran the race as part of her marathon training.
Gillian Jago ran well at the Temple Newsam 10 to finish in 1:31:46, despite having fallen heavily at Brighouse parkrun the day before.
Rebecca O’Neill came within 45 seconds of her all-time personal best at the Garstang 10K, finishing in 47:24 despite running on tired training legs. Rebecca was third in her age category.
Fifty four Lions set off from the 1885 pub in Stainland on Sunday morning for the club’s Winter Handicap race.
The race was the first counter in this year’s club championship, and many of the runners were keen to get some points on the board.
John Bassinder and his team of race organisers had resurrected an old favourite route around the hills of Stainland.
All the participants predicted their finish times before the race, and the Handicap trophy was awarded to Catherine O’Shaughnessy, the runner whose finish time most closely matched their pre-race prediction.
The fastest man on the day was Darren Reece, who completed the route in 36:06, whilst Zoe Greenhough was first Lady in 41:05.
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