The three leaders in this 268 mile race reach Horton in Ribblesdale at 8.12 am Monday - just 24 hours 12 minutes and c 95 miles from the start at 8am on Sun 13 Jan at Edale.
When I went to bed on Sunday night (12.30am) - the three leaders had just passed East Marton, at the Leeds Liverpool Canal heading for Gargrave... and this was just their first day!
Early on Monday I drove to Horton for 8am.. and lo, as dawn broke the three of them came down the Pennine Way Footpath and entered Horton. (c. 95 miles!!!)
See http://live.thespinerace.com/ and https://thespinerace.com/
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(By Tuesday morning 15 Jan,, just past 8am. (i.e 48 hours from the start) - "I see Eugeni is at Dufton - and Jasmin is (according to the marker) almost at Dufton.. So they did High Cup Nick in the dark!. Eoin must have had a good sleep at Middleton - he has yet to reach High Cup Nick.")
And by Tuesday evening at 10pm.. Jasmin is at Hadrian's Wall near Once Brewed.. and she is accelerating from Eugeni. with about 45 miles to go.
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Anyway back to Monday After videoing the three "stars" I enjoyed a bowl of bean and vegetable stew, (though the sausage and eggs looked tempting too)
and chatted to the Pen y Ghent Cafe staff, medics, cave rescue team on duty (also Settle Tai Chi instructors) and photographed a Spine Race Challenger competitor.
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At lunch time I attended the funeral at Kirkby Malham of a friend of mine, Hannah Pullan (aged 96). I enjoyed meeting her relatives.. and as I ate lunch in Kirkby Malham Village Hall, I thought of the Spine walkers who would be walking up by the river Aire, a quarter of a mile from the Hall.
Afterwards I drove up and parked at the south end of Malham Tarn. I walked down to Water-Sinks - after the heavy rain yesterday, the water was sinking in the correct place.. Here I met Spine Race Competitors, some in pairs, some individuals.
I accompanied them a little way towards the Tarn and gave them a mini geology talk about the area and how the Malham Tarn Estate S(SSSI, Natinal Nature Reserve) has had about 390 species of higher plant (wild flowers etc) recorded from it. I suspect most were more interested in the cup of tea and sit down they might get at the Centre.
So I started asking them where they came from, etc.. Japan won the record for distance. He told me he was still suffering from jet- lag, having only just arrived in the country.
Competitor number 216 was the Invertebrate Curator at Cambridge University - and works with Henry Disney, of Diptera fame . Henry used to be the Director of Studies at Malham Tarn when I worked there long ago. We were both delighted to make contact. As we walked along the shore I told him about a special Caddis-fly - Agrypnetes crassicornis - which lives in Malham Tarn - and no-where else in the UK. I picked up a heap of Canadian Pondweed that had blown onto the shore .. Yes the walkers would agree it had been windy yesterday.
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| Pricking a blister |
It was getting dark as I headed back to my car.. and I had no torch
Meanwhile I will just do a little more dot watching, watch some of the stunning videos of the route, then and then go to bed
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