In a truly unbelievable display of form, Jack Scott has not only won the 2024 Montane Spine Race, but also beaten Jasmin Paris' legendary record from 2019.

This year's race took the term 'stacked field' to another level, with over 9 previous race winners taking part alongside a series of high calibre competitors, including 2x Montane Dragon's Back Winners*. Despite virtually every one of the individuals involved saying that they wanted to 'run their own race', it was clear from the start that the race was very much on, with the pace significantly ahead of anything we've seen in previous years.

To put the pace into context, by the time the lead pack came through Hawes they would have beaten the winning time of the Spine Challenger South by over an hour - despite having a further 168 miles to go. It was also quite telling just how far the existing records, which appear as trophies on Open Tracking, were behind the rest of the field.

* for a fantastic breakdown of these competitors and their credentials read Edshakey's superb Spine Race 2024 thread

Perhaps unsurprisingly the fast pace brought about a high attrition rate, with a great many drop-outs amongst the leading pack. Perhaps what is most mind-blowing about Jack's performance is the strength of his finish, which was achieved on 54 minutes sleep. Whilst the ground conditions are undeniably good, and fast, due to the bogs being frozen, the flip side of this - which has to be acknowledged - is the extreme cold that the competitors have had to endure.

Reports from other competitors are that water-bottles were freezing rapidly, making it hard to hydrate, and despite people wearing all the clothes that they had they were still getting cold. As such, whilst some may say it was 'good conditions', it was a long, long way from 'easy conditions'. 

Jasmin's 2019 record of 83:12:23 has endured, despite many attempts to beat it, because it was a truly outstanding run. For it to be broken full-stop would be impressive, but for it to be beaten by 10 hours is truly unfathomable, with Jack finishing in a time of 72:55:05.

The race is still underway, so more to come over the coming hours/days.

Happy Dot-Watching!