Winner of UK’S toughest race takes baby feeds in stride

A MOTHER has broken the record for Britain’s toughest race just a year after giving birth.

Jasmin Paris, 35, knocked 12 hours off the record for the Spine Race ultramarathon and became the first woman to win the seven-year-old event.

Ms Paris, a vet, claimed victory despite having to stop at every checkpoint to express milk for Rowan, her 14-month-old daughter, who recently recovered from two back-to-back viral infections.

She finished the 268-mile route along the full Pennine Way in 83 hours, 12 minutes and 23 seconds, starting on Sunday morning and finishing on Wednesday night.

The contest is frequently called “Britain’s most brutal” race and extends from the Peak District to the Scottish Borders. Conditions were gruelling, with 50mph winds and driving rain along the route, which features a total elevation equivalent to almost twice the height of Mount Everest.

Fewer than half the starters generally finish the race. Ms Paris, who is from Derbyshire, wrote on her blog of the difficulties of training while having a newborn child.

She said: “Training became a juggling act with baby time, training frequently taking second place, or losing out altogether. To reconcile the two, I started to train from 5am to 6.30am before work, while my little family were cosy warm in bed, but it wasn’t easy, especially after a night of broken sleep.”

Her total rest time, including eating, sleeping, dealing with kit and expressing milk, was just over seven hours. She juggled running more than 30 miles a week with writing a thesis, working as a vet and being a first-time parent.