The Montane Spine Fusion race is a 268-mile non-stop race along the Pennine Way and is often regarded as one of Britain’s most challenging endurance races. After three and a half days of solid racing, 38-year-old Sabrina Vejee crossed the line, becoming the first female to win the race outright.
Her incredible race, lasting 82 hours, 19 minutes and seven seconds, saw her leading from start to finish. Verjee ran the last 109km on her own and the leading male athlete, Esteban Diaz Castaneda, was approximately six hours behind Vejee when she finished.
The conditions have been testing, with rain, low clouds and reduced visibility in higher areas. Verjee also experienced testing gale force winds over the Cheviots. Her finish time is the fastest recorded time for a female athlete, beating the previous summer female record by nearly 48 hours. The overall course record is held by Mark Denby, with a time of 78:04:14. The winter record for the course is held by Jasmin Paris in 83:12:23, which was set in January 2019.
Reflecting on her race, Verjee said: "Right now I feel ok, pretty good, very happy. It’s a shame Cees [Cees van der Land, who was forced to withdraw after 236kms] wasn’t there with me at the finish, but I have the win outright now” she joked. “Over the Cheviot’s there were gale force winds, it was terrible up there. But it was the only way I was staying awake. I would just doze off and be facing the other way at times and think where have I been for the last half hour?”
Listen to Sabrina Verjee on episode 17 of the Runner’s World podcast here.
