Tag: Running

Three-day Recce on the Pennine Way

Post author By Ray Poynter
Post date June 4, 2022
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Last weekend I did a three day recce of the Pennine Way, from Hawes to Dufton, as part of my preparation for the Spine Race – which starts two weeks from now.

On the Friday I took trains from Nottingham to Garsdale, a bus to Hawes, and started running. I didn’t start running until about 1pm, so it was a shorter day, covering 27KM and climbing 1229 metres. I spent the night outside the Tan Hill Inn (the highest pub in the UK). I had a bivvy bag, sleeping bag and mat with me – you can see my green bag in front of the green tent. It was fun sleeping in the bivvy bag, but it was not a great night’s sleep. Dinner was in the pub 🙂

Tags Running

Running

Britain’s Most Brutal Sprint Race

Post author By Ray Poynter
Post date January 20, 2022
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This post is about taking part in the 2022 Montane Spine Sprint Race.

If you already know about the Spine Race, you can skip this paragraph. The Spine Race is held twice a year (January and June) and currently comes in four versions. The full race is 268 miles (about 431KM) along the Pennine Way, from Edale in the Peak District to Kirk Yetholm in Scotland. The runners do their own navigation, the route is a hiking path (with some scrambling) and is hilly. In the Winter the runners have seven days to complete the course, this drops to six-and-a-half days in the Summer. There are also: the Challenger Race (108 miles/ 174KM) which I ran last Summer, the Challenger North Race (160 miles / 257 KM) and the ‘Sprint’ which is ‘just’ 46 miles (74 KM). The winter version of the Spine Race is referred to as ‘Britain’s most brutal race’.

Tags Running, Spine

Running

Today is my comma day!

Among people who have a running streak, your comma day is when you have run everyday for 1,000 days. For me, that was today.

My current streak (there have been other, shorter, steaks before) started on 31 December 2018. During the last 1000 days I have run every day, always 2 kilometres or more. My total distance over the 1000 days is 9,692km (6,022 miles), that is an average of 9.7km a day (or 6 miles a day). The longest single run was 108 miles in Junes of this year (but that took 38 hours, so it was two days’ worth of running).

Tags Running, streak

Running

108 Miles of the Spine Challenger Race in 38 Hours

Post author By Ray Poynter
Post date July 9, 2021
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On Saturday, 19 June, at 7:30 in the morning I set off as a participant in a 108 mile (174 km). race along the Pennine Way. 38 and a bit hours later I finished the race, at 9:42pm on Sunday. I ran it slightly slower than I had hoped, but I was very pleased to finish 26th out of 111 runners. Here are some of the highs, lows, and whys about that race – and my target for next year.

But, first things first, I dedicated this run to raising money for my favourite charity, CoppaFeel!, raising awareness of breast cancer amongst young women in the UK. So far, thank

Tags Running

Running

My first 100KM Run

Last Saturday (May 25, 2013) I took part in my first 100KM race (the London to Brighton Challenge), raising money for the breast awareness charity CoppaFeel! (more on the charity later, but you can donate via my JustGiving page). Last summer I walked 100KM in the Oxfam Trailwalk and I ran in an 80KM race […]

Tags Running

Australia Running

Australia’s Toughest Marathon?

Post author By Ray Poynter
Post date May 3, 2013
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At the end of May I am running a 100KM race, the London to Brighton Challenge (to raise money for the CoppaFeel breast cancer awareness charity), if you’d like to sponsor me, please visit my JustGiving page. Although I have run an 80KM race before, this will be my first 100KM, and it requires a fair bit of training and ideally mini-goals along the way. One of my challenges, in terms of my training schedule, was that April was a heavy travel month for me, with conferences and meetings in Vietnam, Japan, and Australia – so I was on the lookout for a goal in Australia to add focus to my training.

Tags Marathon, Mount Mee, Running