What’s it like to win Britain’s toughest race?
Two bridesmaids became brides at the 2025 edition of Montane Winter Spine Race, the 268-mile monster that is known as Britain’s most brutal ultrarunning challenge. Lucy Gossage, an oncologist and former professional triathlete who had been the third-placed woman last year, bested her previous time by almost 18-and-a-half hours to travel the Pennine Way from Edale to Kirk Yetholm in 87:41:38. Meanwhile run coach Kim Collison, who had failed to complete the course on three previous attempts, finally touched the famous finish line wall as the overall winner in 82:46:32 – the third-fastest time ever.
What does it feel like to traverse the Cheviot Hills on the English-Scottish border after three solid days of running, knowing you’re going to win the Spine? ‘About two hours from Kirk Yetholm, I knew the finish was definitely going to happen, and the pain that had been slowing me down started to disappear,’ says Kim. ‘It was like I decided to turn the pain down a little bit, or not listen to it any more, and make sure I enjoy this moment, because I’ve worked really hard for it. A big smile came on my face – it was just raw emotion.’
When we speak, Kim has only just arrived home, driven by his wife – another impressive achievement for Alison Love, given that she had just finished joint second in the 108-mile Winter Spine Challenger South. Lucy Gossage, also at home, still seems to be processing what happened: ‘Getting there was pretty special, but I don’t really think it’s sunk in yet, what I went through,’ she says. ‘It was a really strong women’s field, with quite a lot of hype before the race. I didn’t expect to be the person that won it.’
Both athletes were extremely motivated to improve their approaches to tackling this beast of a race. ‘I’ve been waiting for this event for 350 days,’ says Kim. ‘It’s been my main goal for four years. I’ve had lots of other good events in between but everything has been focused on the Spine start line.’
For Lucy, it was mainly about staying strong mentally: ‘Mindset, and staying cognisant, and making good decisions, was as important as physical fitness I think. I had really bad sciatica going into this, which could have been really limiting, but I ended up thinking that if I could do really long training days with one leg hopping, and I don’t have to run fast in the Spine, I’ll be able to cope with it.’
The race could have felt even longer than it actually was, because the weather gave them every season along the way. ‘We had everything,’ says Lucy. ‘Sun, snow and ice at the start, crazy winds and rain at one point, and then when the snow started to melt you could step into drifts that came halfway up your chest. Then there was mud when the snow was gone and it even felt like we had a day of spring at the end.’
Kim had learned plenty from his previous DNFs, and at last his fine tuning paid off. ‘Last year was especially frustrating because I definitely had it in me, but I still had one more key puzzle to solve,’ he says. That was a knee issue so small that, according to him, ‘It took 130-odd miles for it to come out.’
‘You could run a 100-mile race and get away with it, but the extreme nature and repetitiveness of the Spine means it eventually finds you out. I worked with a physio to improve this mechanical imbalance, focused on improving my hip mobility, and developed strategies while running to check in on my body and my posture and do some little bits of stretching to help my body out.’
The same as last time, Lucy’s biggest problem was cold-induced asthma, but this year other issues such as sleep and navigation were, in her words, ‘nailed’.
‘This time I slept earlier,’ she says. ‘I had just over an hour quite early in night two, and I think that was the decision that ultimately won the race for me. It was amazing. After that I was moving much more quickly and it really set the momentum for the rest of the race.’
Kim had ‘a half hour snooze’ at Hawes, 107 miles into the journey, ‘three-ish hours at Langdon Beck, and three five-minute trail naps along Hadrian’s Wall.’ He says that even those few snatched minutes were a huge help. ‘It’s a quick reset. You go from moving like a zombie and not being able to focus, to moving with purpose again.’
Any stray hikers who bumped into him in the later stages might have been a bit frightened. He confesses to ‘shouting at myself – strong words to try to empower you, wake up and keep yourself moving.’ There were also hallucinations. ‘I get audio hallucinations – it’s like the voices of people talking in the distance but you can’t hear what they’re saying, which is quite disturbing.’ Near the end he was having conversations with his own shadow. ‘It really felt like I wasn’t alone any more. You’re kind of having these Jekyll and Hyde talks with yourself.’
Covering these kinds of distances with a miniscule amount of sleep must be barely comprehensible for most of us. For context, is running 200 miles twice as hard as running 100? ‘No, it’s more like three times harder,’ says Kim. ‘There’s a multiplication factor. It’s almost like the second 100 miles feels like 200 miles.’
For Lucy, a 14-time Ironman triathlon winner, this also feels very different: ‘I never thought I’d be doing anything competitive ever again after I gave that up, and this is competitive, but I’d say it still feels more like an adventure compared to triathlon which was all about performance,’ she says. ‘The Spine is about performance too, but it’s more about problem solving.’
This year, for both of them, problem solved. And that means, at least at the moment, neither of them intends to enter the Spine again. ‘I don’t think I have any reason to go back,’ says Lucy. ‘It is a cool race, and I’ll be jealous next year, but I’ve ticked that box now and I’ll find other adventures.’
For Kim, even after this, there is still the urge to make things harder. He wants to take on Tor des Géants, the epic Italian trail race that is shorter than the Spine at a mere 205 miles, but has more than double the elevation. ‘I’ve had a DNF there too, so that’s another one I have to go back to,’ he says.
In some dark, twisted, incredibly painful way, is it possible this is actually fun? ‘If you’re the kind of runner that enjoys running fast all the time, it’s not that sort of fun. But if you’re someone that likes challenges, overcoming obstacles and problem solving, it’s a brilliant thing to do,’ says Kim. ‘You learn so much about yourself, and that can be a wonderful journey.’
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