Competitors in the shorter, 108-mile Challenger South race set off from Edale in the Peak District at 8am on Saturday morning, and are given 60 hours to reach Hawes in the Yorkshire Dales.
On Sunday morning, entrants in the main Spine Race started from the same point, but will complete the entire 268 miles of the Pennine Way, finishing in the Scottish Borders.
A considerable section of the full route passes through Yorkshire. Runners cross the border at Standedge, near Huddersfield, and cover large areas of the Calder Valley and Bronte Country, taking in moorland landmarks such as the Stoodley Pike monument and Top Withens ruins, Ponden Hall and the Walshaw Dean reservoirs. Hebden Bridge is the largest settlement on the route.
The trail then enters Airedale and then the Yorkshire Dales National Park, passing Malham Cove, part of Pen-y-Ghent, the village of Horton-in-Ribblesdale, the market town of Hawes, Great Shunner Fell, Kisdon Force, Keld and the National Park boundary at the Tan Hill Inn.
The route then becomes part of the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in County Durham.
There were only 11 entrants in the first Spine Race in 2012, with just three finishing, but this year’s event has attracted hundreds, with numerous overseas competitiors. In 2019 a woman, Jasmin Paris, won the overall race.
Yorkshire Post photographer Tony Johnson headed to the Calder Valley and captured Challenger South runners on National Trust land at Marsden Moor.
To buy an image, contact [email protected].
2. Spine Race
By the Brun Clough checkpoint, runners have already completed a marathon Photo: Tony Johnson
