Dave Phillips defies stormy weather to take SILVA Northern Traverse title

Dave Phillips overcame the challenge of Storm Kathleen to become the overall winner of the 300km SILVA Northern Traverse.

Windy weather battered the runners right from the start on Saturday morning at St Bees and also led to extremely wet ground conditions on the coast-to-coast route, especially the notoriously boggy sections through the Yorkshire Dales.

All change at Richmond

Pre-race favourite Mark Darbyshire set off at a blistering pace and was well ahead of both the course record and the next runner behind him when he got into Richmond in the Dales on Sunday morning.

However he would retire at that point to leave Phillips, the winner of last year’s Summer Spine Race, out on his own but with the still-testing conditions to deal with.

And he did that briliantly over the next 24 hours to forge further clear, reaching the finish at Robin Hood’s Bay shortly after 8am on Monday in a time of 47 hours, 32 minutes and 14 seconds.

At that point Scottish runner David Parrish, the 2023 Cape Wrath Ultra winner but taking part in his first long-distance continuous race, was a clear second in the men’s standings, with Finnish runner Juha Lehtonen in third and that was how it would stay.

But ahead of both of them was Hannah Rickman who, despite the less-than-ideal conditions, beat the course record set by Lisa Watson in 2022 as she won the women’s race [report here] and finished second overall behind Phillips.

Congratulations to Dave Phillips, the first male to cross the finish line for the SILVA Northern Traverse!
📷No Limits Photography pic.twitter.com/YeSFi401Kg
— Northern Traverse (@northerntravrse) April 8, 2024

Parrish would go on to finish second in the men’s race, over six hours behind Phillips.

Sleep deprivation

Speaking afterwards, Phillips said: “It was an adventure! I’m happy. I wanted to do it in under 48 hours. That wind was relentless, but it was more tailwind than headwind. It was the conditions underfoot that made it slow. The bogs were super boggy! Even coming across the last bit was so wet.

“Coming over that coast path now was the toughest because I thought I wasn’t going to make it in under 48 hours. Last night was terrible without any sleep and I was a bit all over the place until the sun came up. I didn’t have hallucinations, but was just really confused about how long things were taking. I thought I was going round in circles most of last night.

“I only had 10 minute sleeps along the trail. I might have been better off just sleeping three hours and perhaps I’d have been quicker. I’ve never tried properly sleeping in a races. There’s that moment on the trail where you know you’re going to sleep. I’ve never tried sleeping in an aid station. You’re better off just lying in the mud!”