Scott’s trailblazing performance saw him cross the line in 72 hours, 55 minutes, 5 seconds, after recording just 54 minutes of sleep across the duration. Damian Hall claimed second place with a time of 82 hours, 25 minutes, 10 seconds, which also saw him beat Paris’ five-year course record, setting the second fastest time ever recorded after Scott. Konrad Rawlik and Sportshoes x Montane athlete, Dougie Zinis, finished third and fourth respectively, with their finishing times quick enough to win five out of the last eight events, a testament to the level of performance on show this year.

Meanwhile, French runner Bannwarth backed up her performance as fastest female in last year’s edition by repeating the feat this time around, finishing in 92 hours, 2 minutes, 23 seconds, over five hours quicker than her performance last year. Last year’s female runner-up, Hannah Rickman, once again claimed second placed female, recording a time of 104 hours, 41 minutes, 7 seconds.

Runners had to overcome freezing cold conditions, as wind chill induced temperatures fell to as low as -20°C across firm, frozen footing, with over 50% of runners failing to make the finish line. The race is widely regarded as Britain’s most brutal endurance race, requiring runners to tackle the Pennine Way, in a 268-mile, non-stop, seven-day race that sees participants climber over 10,000 metres in extreme, sub-zero weather conditions.

Speaking on his experience, #TeamMontane athlete James Nobles, who unfortunately had to pull out 44 hours into the race due to an injury, commented: “What a race experience that was. 180 miles of the 268 complete and I loved every second of it. It’s not every day that you get to test yourself against the best in the business, and I felt very comfortable for the majority of it. Whilst the cold weather meant the ground was rock hard, and ultimately what contributed to my injured foot, the starry night skies and bluebird days were spectacular. This race has a firm grip on me, and I don’t think it will be long until I finish what was started.”

Elsewhere, records were also smashed in the Montane Winter Spine Challenger North, a shorter, non-stop 160-mile race along the Pennine Way from Hardraw to Kirk Yetholm which sees participants tackle the northern section of the full race route. Joe O’Leary took over 16 hours off the course record, finishing in a time of 44 hours, 37 minutes, 20 seconds, ahead of #TeamMontane athlete Tom Hollins in second place. In the female race, Nikki Arthur also put in a record-breaking performance, recording a time of 52 hours, 17 minutes, 19 seconds, a huge 20 hours ahead of the previous female record. Susan Fawkes finished as runner-up.

Meanwhile, The Montane Winter Spine Challenger South, a 108-mile race which encompasses the southern half of the full race route, saw Daniel Weller emerge victorious with a time of 24 hours, 48 minutes, 21 seconds, while Samantha Lissauer claimed first-placed female with a time of 33 hours, 16 minutes, 28 seconds. The Montane Winter Spine MRT Challenge North and South, which is only open to active members of the Mountain Rescue Team, saw Paul Nelson and Tom Parkin win the respective events.

The Montane Winter Spine Sprint, the shortest challenge at 46 miles in length and with a cut-off time of 18 hours, also saw course records toppled, as Rupert Allison shaved more than 40 minutes off #TeamMontane athlete, Jon Shields’, previous course record, to take the win with a time of 7 hours, 28 minutes, 9 seconds. Jessica Johnstone also set a new female course record, taking over 90 minutes off the previous best, with a time of 10 hours, 4 minutes, 42 seconds.

Montane’s Marketing Director, Matthew Hickman, commented: “The Montane Winter Spine Race is quite rightly regarded as one of the toughest ultrarunning challenges there is, so to see so many records broken this year is a sign of the incredibly high standard of this year’s runners. Jack started it off with a barely believable performance in the main event, which was emphatically backed up by a host of runners across the series of races. Achievements like this perfectly encapsulate what the Montane Winter Spine stands for, and all participants should be immensely proud of their efforts.”

The Montane Spine Race series consists of the Montane Winter Spine alongside the Montane Summer Spine and the newly introduced Montane Arctic Spine, which will be making its debut in February this year.

More information on the results can be found here: https://live.opentracking.co.uk/spinerace24/

More information on the Montane Winter Spine Race can be found here: https://montane.com/pages/montane-spine-race