{"id":42945,"date":"2019-01-18T15:47:52","date_gmt":"2019-01-18T23:47:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=42945"},"modified":"2020-08-07T13:50:37","modified_gmt":"2020-08-07T20:50:37","slug":"jasmin-paris-on-her-record-setting-win-of-britains-montane-spine-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/news\/jasmin-paris-on-her-record-setting-win-of-britains-montane-spine-race","title":{"rendered":"Jasmin Paris on Her Record-Setting Win of Britain’s Montane Spine Race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Her hood cinched tight against the unforgiving British winter, Jasmin Paris ran through the continual pool of light laid down by her headlamp. The horizontal rain blew into her eyes, obscuring the upcoming checkpoint where she would briefly rest, eat and pump breast milk for her 14-month-old daughter before racing on into the dark hills.<\/span><\/p>\n

After 83 hours, 12 minutes and 23 seconds, Paris crossed the finish line Jan. 16 to become the first woman to win Britain’s Montane Spine Race<\/a>. She smashed the previous record, held by Eoin Keith, by 12 hours.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Spine Race, along the <\/span>Pennine Way National Trail<\/span><\/a> that traces the backbone of England, is widely known as one of the most grueling endurance races in existence: a one-week, nonstop ultramarathon that covers <\/span>nearly 40,000 feet of climbing<\/span><\/a>. Competitors carry their own kits with everything they need to be self-sufficient, including a sleeping bag, bivy or tent, cooking stove, at least 3,000 calories between checkpoints (of which there are five), and a GPS for navigation of the route between mountains, farmland and heather fields. The only thing Parris didn\u2019t have to carry was her breast pump; it was in the drop bag that was ferried between checkpoints.<\/span><\/p>\n

She ran through the first night as planned, and slept just over two hours the second night. She planned to sleep the third night, but had pulled ahead of her closest competitor,\u00a0<\/span>Eugeni Rosell\u00f3 Sol\u00e9. \u201c<\/span>I knew he\u2019d catch me on the checkpoint so I wanted to be gone before he got there,\u201d she said. \u201cThat was the clinching deal\u2014I think that was the point when he lost his motivation for chasing me.\u201d She finished 10 miles ahead of Sol<\/span>\u00e9<\/span> at 7pm Wednesday evening. Sole was forced to pull out of the race with about 4 miles to go, suffering too much from the effects of the cold weather conditions to continue. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Jasmin

Paris trudges uphill with a smile during the 268-mile race, which runs through the center of Britain.\u00a0 Photo Credit: Mick Kenyon (Racing Snakes)\/Montane Spine Race<\/p><\/div>\n

Paris isn\u2019t a pro athlete. She\u2019s a 35-year-old ambassador for inov-8, whose kit she wore for the race, but doesn\u2019t want deeper ties than that. \u201cI prefer to be free of any obligations, because running is a hobby,\u201d she said. \u201cI have a career of my own and don\u2019t want running to become another career.\u201d Paris is a veterinarian practicing small animal medicine; she trained for the Spine Race in the middle of completing her doctorate focused on acute myeloid leukemia. Her thesis is due at the end of March.<\/span><\/p>\n

She is, however, an accomplished athlete with a strong passion for mountain trail running. She ran right up until her due date when she was pregnant with her daughter,\u00a0Rowan, and won the <\/span>British Championship<\/span><\/a> just four months after Rowan was born. This September, Paris took silver the in the women\u2019s <\/span>Skyrunner World Series<\/a> in Glen Coe, Scotland<\/span>. She acknowledges that she was lucky to have an easy pregnancy and no trauma with birth. But even after winning the championship, she felt that her body wasn\u2019t back to pre-baby fitness.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the end of summer, and I was pleased to have gotten what I got,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I felt I had a way to go. The long winter nights were drawing in, and I was training in the cold and dark, and I wasn\u2019t sleeping with the baby. I was finding it harder and harder to get out of bed to train and just increasingly wasn\u2019t doing so. I needed some motivation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Spine Race had been on her radar since its inception in 2012. The start line in Edale, Derbyshire, is near her parents\u2019 home where she grew up, and the finish line in Kirk Yetholm isn\u2019t far from where Paris lives now with her husband and daughter in Scotland. She calls it a \u201cnatural line.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d followed the race previously, and it gets you really involved in watching the trackers,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s always been a little part of me wondering how well I could do. Whenever I saw the racers and the conditions they were in I thought, <\/span>\u2018Why would you put yourself through that?\u2019<\/span><\/i> But there was always a little part of me wondering how well I could do. Deciding to run the race was a combination of the intrigue, the natural route and the need for motivation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Jasmin

Paris greets her 14-month-old daughter, Rowan, at the finish line on the evening of Jan. 16.\u00a0Photo Credit: Mick Kenyon (Racing Snakes)\/Montane Spine Race<\/p><\/div>\n

She began training in the morning from 6am to 8am, leaving her daughter with her husband\u2014a window when the baby was usually well-behaved and didn\u2019t need milk. She soon started incorporating runs with the stroller, parking it at the bottom of the hill for hill reps or on the trail while she did speed intervals back and forth.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve found it\u2019s been really enriching in all senses having the baby. It makes it more challenging, but it\u2019s so possible,\u201d she said. She credits the support of her husband and family, and the fact that Rowan is no stranger to the adaptability required by her mom\u2019s passion: Last October, Paris and her husband raced the <\/span>Els 2900<\/span><\/a>, a route that follows huts over the seven highest peaks in Andorra in the Pyrenees. \u201cI was still breastfeeding, and my mom came up to the first hut with the baby, and carried her up to the next one, too\u2014so Rowan was a big part of that race. I would tell new parents not be frightened and give it a go. Everyone is incredibly helpful and accommodating.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI really love being in the hills. Hearing the noises of the animals and the wind in the heather, the quiet of the fog\u2014that\u2019s part of the magic of it for me. You think in a relaxing way. It diffuses all the worries you have when you run.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Running has been part of Paris\u2019 life since she discovered trail racing just out of university. Road running had never appealed to her, but the adventure of long stints through the mountains hooked her quickly, as well as the meditative nature of long runs. \u201cI really love being in the hills. Hearing the noises of the animals and the wind in the heather, the quiet of the fog\u2014that\u2019s part of the magic of it for me. You think in a relaxing way. It diffuses all the worries you have when you run.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to completing her doctorate and taking her daughter into the mountains as much as possible, Paris aims to run <\/span>La Petite Trotte \u00e0 L\u00e9on<\/span><\/a> in August, a nonstop ultra through the Alps, with her husband.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s already assured me that he wants more sleep than I chose to get in the Spine Race,\u201d she said with a laugh.<\/span><\/p>\n

Related articles<\/strong>:<\/p>\n