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A road winding down from the shoulder of Mam Tor toward the green Edale valley and Kinder Scout
Ian Cylkowski / Unsplash

Montane Winter Spine course maps and checkpoints

Five non-stop January races on the Pennine Way, from 43 miles over the Cheviots to all 268 miles from Edale to Kirk Yetholm.

January 9 to 16, 2027 Edale, Derbyshire to Kirk Yetholm, Scottish Borders

The Spine is the Pennine Way in January, run non-stop. The full race starts in Edale in the Peak District and finishes in Kirk Yetholm, just over the Scottish border, 268 miles and 156 hours later. Challenger South covers the southern 108 miles to Hawes, and Challenger North the 160 miles north from Hardraw. The Sprints take the first 46 miles to Hebden Bridge or the last 43 from Brown Rigg, near Bellingham.

The organizer puts January daylight at about eight hours and nights as low as -10°C, so most of your race happens in the dark. It's unsupported and you navigate yourself, with a handheld or watch GPS required by the rules. The rules also tell you to find somewhere with phone reception before you call race HQ, so don't expect a signal everywhere on the moors. Download the map before you go: your phone's GPS shows where you are with or without a signal.

This is an unofficial guide: Goat Maps isn't affiliated with Montane Winter Spine. Check the official site before you enter or race.

Spine Race course map

Every course's checkpoints on the Goat Maps topo map. Each course has a map of its own further down.

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Spine Race courses

CourseDistanceClimbingStartTime limit
Spine268 mi (431 km)35,210 ft (10,732 m)Sun, Jan 10, 8:00 AM156 h
Challenger South108 mi (174 km)17,884 ft (5,451 m)Sat, Jan 9, 8:00 AM60 h
Challenger North160 mi (258 km)17,356 ft (5,290 m)Sun, Jan 10, 6:00 PM108 h
Sprint South46 mi (74 km)6,617 ft (2,017 m)Sat, Jan 9, 12:00 PM18 h
Sprint North43 mi (69 km)5,771 ft (1,759 m)Tue, Jan 12, 12:00 PM18 h

Spine Race Spine

The whole Pennine Way, Edale to Kirk Yetholm, in 156 hours.

Distance
268 mi (431 km)
Climbing
35,210 ft (10,732 m)
Start
Sun, Jan 10, 8:00 AM
Time limit
156 h

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You start on Sunday morning in Edale and climb onto the Kinder Plateau, then cross the South Pennines to the first checkpoint at Hebden, above Hebden Bridge. From there it's the Yorkshire Dales past Malham Tarn and Pen-y-ghent to Hawes, then Tan Hill and the bog hole on Sleightholme Moor that the route notes still warn about. After Langdon Beck you pass High Cup Nick and go over Cross Fell, the highest point in the Pennines at 893 m, to Alston. Then it's Hadrian's Wall, Bellingham and Byrness, and the last long push over the Cheviots, with two mountain huts where you can stop for up to two hours each. You can't detour to the Cheviot summit.

For 2027 the limit drops from 168 to 156 hours, and the longest stay at a checkpoint from 8 hours to 6. The records are Jack Scott's 72:55:05 and Jasmin Paris's 83:12:23. The full route climbs 10,732 m.

checkpoints

miWhereCutoff
0Edale (start)
46.3Hebden (CP1) Drop bagArrive by 20 h, leave by 22 h
82.6Malham Tarn (monitoring point) Leave by 48 h
108Hawes (CP2, Challenger South finish) Drop bagLeave by 60 h
151.4Langdon Beck (CP3) Drop bagLeave by 84 h
165.1Dufton (monitoring point)
185.6Alston (CP4) Drop bagLeave by 110 h
225Bellingham, Brown Rigg (CP5, Sprint North start) Drop bagLeave by 130 h
241.7Byrness (monitoring point) Leave by 140 h
268Kirk Yetholm (finish) Drop bag156 h (Sat 8:00 PM)
High Cup Nick, a steep U-shaped valley lined with crags in the North Pennines
Ian Cylkowski / Unsplash

Spine Race Challenger South

Edale to Hawes, the southern 108 miles, in 60 hours.

Distance
108 mi (174 km)
Climbing
17,884 ft (5,451 m)
Start
Sat, Jan 9, 8:00 AM
Time limit
60 h

Take this course offline

Download its map in Goat Maps and you can find the next checkpoint without a signal.

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Challenger South starts in Edale on Saturday morning, a day before the Spine, and finishes in Hawes. It crosses the Kinder Plateau and passes Malham Cove and Pen-y-ghent, with one checkpoint, Hebden, and the monitoring point at Malham Tarn. The organizer rates it about as hard as the full race. Your resupply bag goes to CP1 and the finish.

The MRT Challenge South runs the same route under the same rules, for active Mountain Rescue team members.

checkpoints

miWhereCutoff
0Edale (start)
46.4Hebden (CP1) Drop bagLeave by 24 h
83.1Malham Tarn (monitoring point) Leave by 48 h
108Hawes (CP2, Challenger South finish) Drop bag60 h (Mon 8:00 PM)
Hull Pot, a collapsed cave below Pen-y-ghent in the Yorkshire Dales, with a flat-topped fell behind
Ian Cylkowski / Unsplash

Spine Race Challenger North

Hardraw to Kirk Yetholm, the northern 160 miles, in 108 hours.

Distance
160 mi (258 km)
Climbing
17,356 ft (5,290 m)
Start
Sun, Jan 10, 6:00 PM
Time limit
108 h

Take this course offline

Download its map in Goat Maps and you can find the next checkpoint without a signal.

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Challenger North starts at 6 PM on Sunday in Hardraw, just outside Hawes, so your first night begins at the start line. It takes in the rest of the Yorkshire Dales, the North Pennines, Hadrian's Wall, Northumberland National Park and the Cheviots, with checkpoints at Langdon Beck, Alston and Bellingham, where your resupply bag waits.

The MRT Challenge North, for active Mountain Rescue team members, runs the same route under the same conditions.

checkpoints

miWhereCutoff
0Hardraw (Challenger North start)
42.1Langdon Beck (CP3) Drop bagLeave by 27 h
56Dufton (monitoring point)
77Alston (CP4) Drop bagLeave by 50 h
117Bellingham, Brown Rigg (CP5, Sprint North start) Drop bagLeave by 76 h
133.7Byrness (monitoring point) Leave by 86 h
160Kirk Yetholm (finish) Drop bag108 h (Fri 6:00 AM)
Hadrian's Wall running along a grassy ridge on the walk to Sycamore Gap in Northumberland
Peter Gladwin / Unsplash

Spine Race Sprint South

Edale to Hebden Bridge, the first 46 miles, in 18 hours.

Distance
46 mi (74 km)
Climbing
6,617 ft (2,017 m)
Start
Sat, Jan 9, 12:00 PM
Time limit
18 h

Take this course offline

Download its map in Goat Maps and you can find the next checkpoint without a signal.

Open in web map

The Sprint South starts at noon on Saturday in Edale and finishes in Hebden Bridge by 6 AM Sunday at the latest, so most of it is in the dark. There's no checkpoint on the way. Your resupply bag goes straight to the finish. On the 2026 tracker the route passed Torside and Standedge and crossed the M62 on the way north.

checkpoints

miWhereCutoff
0Edale (start)
46Hebden Bridge (Sprint South finish) Drop bag18 h (Sun 6:00 AM)
Sunlight breaking through cloud over gritstone rocks and moorland in the Peak District near Castleton
Tom Wheatley / Unsplash

Spine Race Sprint North

Brown Rigg to Kirk Yetholm, the last 43 miles, in 18 hours.

Distance
43 mi (69 km)
Climbing
5,771 ft (1,759 m)
Start
Tue, Jan 12, 12:00 PM
Time limit
18 h

Take this course offline

Download its map in Goat Maps and you can find the next checkpoint without a signal.

Open in web map

The Sprint North starts at noon on Tuesday from Brown Rigg, by Bellingham, and finishes in Kirk Yetholm. The organizer points out that only four of your 18 hours will be in daylight. After Byrness the route climbs into the Cheviots and passes the two mountain huts the Spine runners use.

Registration

Entry is first come, first served, through a virtual queue. Entries for 2027 opened at noon on Monday, February 2, 2026 for the Sprints, and on Wednesday, February 4 for the Spine (noon) and the Challengers (1 PM). All five races are now sold out, with a waiting list you can check in the runner portal. The organizer says most people who want a place usually get one.

You have to be 21 or over. Finishing Challenger North or South qualifies you for the Spine, and so does an ultra over 80 miles. Without either, the race director looks at your experience, and mountain marathons, fell races and rounds like the Bob Graham count in your favour. The Spine costs £1,345: a £600 deposit when you enter and £745 due 100 days before the start. Deposits aren't refundable, but if you pull out more than 100 days before the race you may get back part of what you paid on top.

Checkpoints and rules

The curved limestone cliff of Malham Cove under a blue sky and white clouds
Greg Willson / Unsplash

The checkpoints have hot meals, hot and cold drinks, somewhere to sleep, medics and your resupply bag, which can weigh up to 20 kg. Hawes, Alston and Bellingham have showers. You can stay up to six hours. At the monitoring points at Malham Tarn, Dufton and Byrness you get 30 minutes indoors.

The races are unsupported. Pubs, shops and cafes on the way are fine, but hotels and B&Bs aren't, so you sleep on the trail or at a checkpoint. Friends and family can cheer you on once during the race, and you can't take food or drink from them. Pacers aren't allowed; poles are.

The organizer doesn't publish checkpoint mileages. The distances here are approximate: measured along the 2026 tracker route and fitted to the distances the organizer does publish.

Getting to Edale and home from Kirk Yetholm

Sunlight breaking through cloud over gritstone rocks and moorland in the Peak District near Castleton
Tom Wheatley / Unsplash

Edale has a station on the Hope Valley line, 22 miles from Manchester Piccadilly and 20 from Sheffield. The 2025 race pack suggested booking YHA Edale, or Castleton YHA if Edale is full, and said parking in Edale for the week takes the PayByPhone app or a High Peak rover pass, which has to be posted to you, so order it early.

Nobody knows when they'll finish, so there's no pre-arranged transport home. The organizer will help with taxi numbers, bus and train timetables, and lift-sharing. Runners from abroad can pay to have a 20 kg luggage bag carried along the route with their resupply bag, though they can't get into it on the way.

Weather and kit

Hadrian's Wall running along a grassy ridge on the walk to Sycamore Gap in Northumberland
Peter Gladwin / Unsplash

The organizer gives daytime temperatures of 0 to 10°C and nights of -10 to 2°C, and warns of deep snow, storm force winds and driving rain. Up high it's colder: on Great Dun Fell, 847 m up on the Pennine Way's climb from Dufton, the Met Office's January average is a high of 1.6°C and a low of -2.4°C (1991 to 2020).

The route notes list bad weather diversions around Pen-y-ghent, the River Tees and Cauldron Snout, and lower routes for Cross Fell and the Cheviots in extreme conditions. The 2027 winter kit list is the 2026 one with clearer wording, and you carry the whole list the entire way. Set your GPS to British National Grid. The route files come out on Outdooractive about six weeks before the race.

Spine Race checkpoints and GPS coordinates

For crews and spectators: each place on the map in decimal degrees, latitude first. Paste them into any map app or add them as waypoints in Goat Maps.

  • Edale (start)

    53.36480, -1.81422

  • Hebden (CP1)

    53.75818, -2.03395

  • Hebden Bridge (Sprint South finish)

    53.74361, -2.00847

  • Malham Tarn (monitoring point)

    54.10111, -2.16376

  • Hawes (CP2, Challenger South finish)

    54.30374, -2.20384

  • Hardraw (Challenger North start)

    54.31606, -2.20712

  • Langdon Beck (CP3)

    54.66924, -2.21828

  • Dufton (monitoring point)

    54.62028, -2.48462

  • Alston (CP4)

    54.80896, -2.44193

  • Bellingham, Brown Rigg (CP5, Sprint North start)

    55.13809, -2.26201

  • Byrness (monitoring point)

    55.31699, -2.36928

  • Kirk Yetholm (finish)

    55.54735, -2.27494

Spine Race FAQ

When is the Spine Race 2027?

The Sprint South and Challenger South start on Saturday, January 9, 2027. The Spine starts at 8 AM on Sunday, January 10, and the Challenger North at 6 PM that evening. The Sprint North starts at noon on Tuesday, January 12, and the Spine closes at 8 PM on Saturday, January 16.

How long is the Spine Race and what is the cut-off?

268 miles on the Pennine Way with 10,732 m of climbing, and 156 hours to finish. Before 2027 the limit was 168 hours.

How do you qualify for the Spine Race?

Finishing a Challenger North or South, or an ultra over 80 miles, qualifies you automatically. Otherwise you describe your experience when you enter and the race director decides, with mountain marathons, fell races, rounds like the Bob Graham and navigation in your favour. For a Challenger, an ultra over 60 miles qualifies you, and for a Sprint, a marathon. You must be 21 or over.

Can you have a support crew or pacer on the Spine?

No. The races are unsupported and pacers aren't allowed. Friends and family can cheer you on once during the race, but you can't take food or drink from them. Pubs, cafes and shops on the way are fine.

Is there phone signal on the Spine Race?

Don't count on it. The race rules say that if you sleep out or stop for more than 30 minutes, you find somewhere with reception and text or call race HQ. You must carry a phone and a GPS. Download the route in Goat Maps before you go: your phone's GPS works without a signal.

What is the Spine Race record?

Jack Scott holds the course record, 72:55:05. Jasmin Paris holds the women's record, 83:12:23, set when she won the race outright in 2019. In 2026 Sebastien Raichon and Anna Troup won.

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Updated . An unofficial guide, from the organizer's published information. Coordinates from the organizer's course and OpenStreetMap contributors. Photos from Unsplash. Organize a race? We help with course files.