The Spine Race claims more top contenders

We’re three days into the U.K.’s Montane Spine Race, and the brutal 429-kilometre course has already claimed several victims. The most recent and most surprising among them is Sabrina Verjee, who was leading the women’s field until she dropped out after nearly 22 hours of running. Damian Hall is still leading the men’s field by a wide margin and shows no signs of slowing down.

Sabrina Verjee #447, who was the leading woman in the Montane Spine Race, has retired at Horton in Ribblesdale.
She won't be repeating her 2020 win this year.#spinerace
1/3 pic.twitter.com/8F9UeqIKqx

— Montane Spine Race (@TheSpineRace) January 10, 2022

Updates from the 2022 Montane Spine Races

Verjee drops out

Ultrarunning fans were surprised to find out that Verjee, who shattered the 214 Wainwright Peaks record in Britain’s Lake District last June and was leading the women’s field by a long shot, had dropped out on Monday just before 1 pm. She is the second leading woman to bow out of the race, after Anna Troup, female Pennine Way record holder and winner of the 2021 Summer Spine, surprised everyone by stepping off the course on Sunday after less than five hours of running.

She leaves Debbie Martin-Consani and Elaine Bisson in her absence to battle for the title, with Nicola Sommers not far behind.

Hall leads the pack

@Ultra_Damo drinks an imaginary cup of tea before leaving CP3 on @TheSpineRace pic.twitter.com/0H5jNtT68W

— John Ashworth (@ionicimhotep) January 10, 2022

After more than 50 hours of running, Hall has created a substantial lead on the rest of the pack as two other top competitors have dropped out. Kim Collison, who was only a few minutes behind Hall in the early stages of the race, stepped off the course early Monday morning, and Tian Erwee, who showed potential to make a late-race surge to catch up to Hall, bowed out Tuesday morning around five a.m.

With Collison and Erwee out of the race, that leaves Eugeni Roselló Solé in second place. This is the Spanish runner’s shot at redemption, after challenging for second place in 2020 but ultimately dropping out later in the race. Behind him, there is a close pack of runners, including Douglas Zinnis, James Leavesley and previous course record-holder (and the second-place finisher in both 2019 and 2020) Eoin Keith of Ireland.

As of Tuesday morning, 29 competitors had dropped out of the race. With five more days to go, there will likely be more casualties, which means the race is still anyone’s to win.

Course change-up

Many have noticed runners bypassing the climb to Pen-Y-Ghent.
The safety team have closed that section of the course due to low visibility.
This diversion will remain in place through the race.#spinerace pic.twitter.com/xYMHjYnxsq

— Montane Spine Race (@TheSpineRace) January 11, 2022

Another woman wins Montane Spine race outright (summer version)

Storm Arwen hit the course on Monday, downing thousands of trees. As a result, runners have been forced to bypass the climb to Pen-Y-Ghent because the safety team has closed that area due to low visibility. This has reduced the course length by 15 miles, removing the possibility of any course records this year.