The Montane Spine Race has grown into one of the most iconic events on the ultra running calendar and is often called ‘Britain’s most brutal endurance race’. This is certainly true of the winter edition and this year, we had John Conway in action for the 12th edition of the race. John took the start line of the so-called ‘Montane Spine Challenger North’ event – a ‘shorter’ (if such a term has any meaning for a 168 mile race) – version of the full spine inaugurated in 2022.
The first year the route was diverted due to storms, so this year’s race would be only the second running of the formal version of the course. Irishman Joe O’Leary set entirely new standards when he won the race in 44 hours 37 minutes. Our attention locally in Wicklow was fixed on John Conway, his wife Laura O’Driscoll and Parnell’s Michael Dowling who formed a formidable trio for much of the race. Laura was in the lead when she unfortunately had to withdraw from the race, leaving the duo of John and Michael to venture onwards.
Once Tom Hollins, a former winner of the full Winter Spine, and Nikki Arthur (the women’s winner who took 20 hours off the female record in her first outing at this distance) had crossed the line, John and Michael were leading the hunt for 3rd spot in the men’s race. They were hunted by Josh Ellis, who managed to claw back over 2 hours going into each of the two final split points called simply ‘Hut 1’ and ‘Hut 2’. He never got nearer: Michael and John ran the final checkpoint 8.5 minutes faster and had a solid gap of 1 hour 22 minutes by the end as they kissed Hadrian’s Wall.
| RESULT |
| 1. Joe O’Leary (Munster Trail Runners) 44:37:20 |
| ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————- |
| 4. John Conway 58:49:58 (3rd men’s category) |
Glendalough AC 