Spain’s Eugeni Roselló Solé withdrew from the Montane Winter Spine Race – dubbed ‘Britain’s most brutal’ – in agonising fashion late on Wednesday after seemingly having a second victory at his mercy.
The long-time pacesetter led by over 20 miles from his nearest challenger at one point deep into the gruelling 268-mile slog from Edale in the Peak District to Kirk Yetholm on the English / Scottish border.
But since his win in the second edition of the Spine Race back in 2013 he has endured incredible heartache in the event and unfortunately this was the latest occasion.
He’s returned no fewer than 12 times since 2013 and often led the race only to fail to finish on no fewer than 11 occasions – in 2019 he was just three miles from the finish when he stopped.
So there was always the chance of history repeating itself even when he surged into a commanding lead in the snow and the ice having set off at 8am on Sunday morning.
Running to a standstill
Fast forward 72 hours later to Wednesday and he was around 20 miles clear of his nearest challenger when the wheels first threatened to come off again.
He had tried to get some sleep at earlier checkpoints and when Roselló Solé reached Byrness his lead had shrunk to 12 miles but when he left there he asked those at the aid station to post the following: “I arrived wandering because I hadn’t slept at all. During the morning I didn’t know if I was competing or why I was running.
“After sleeping for more than two hours I’m back, strong and heading to the finish.”
Unfortunately for him that didn’t prove to be the case as he made slow progress and then shortly after 9pm the race organisers announced he had withdrawn despite still being nearly 10 miles in front of the rest at that point.
‘Brave decision’
They posted on their social media channels: “Eugeni Rosello Sole has withdrawn from the Montane Spine Race at Hut One.
“After experiencing extreme exhaustion and suffering from the extremely cold weather Eugeni has taken the brave decision to withdraw from the race.
“He’s currently safe and well with the Spine Safety Team.
“Eugeni is an individual that encompasses the word ‘determination’.
“After thirteen starts on the Spine race, with two completions, he’s been in this position before. Yet every time the Pennine Way has knocked him down he’s dusted himself off, prepared again and returned to face the route.
“I think we can all learn a bit about determination from Eugeni. He’s ran an incredible race up to this point, outlasted some tough competitors and pushed himself to his limits.
“Eugeni, we know we’ll see you again.”
France’s Sébastien Raichon looks like being the main beneficiary having emerged as his main challenger on Wednesday.
Test of attrition
But this year’s race had been notable for it’s high attrition race as the conditions made it even tougher than normal.
American John Kelly, a previous winner and the FKT (fastest known time) holder for the Pennine Way was the pre-race favourite but he retired inside the first 24 hours along with several other notable names.
James Nobles was in the mix in the chasing pack well into the third day but he too would make an unfortunate exit, with the race’s media team explaining “he was showing signs of hypothermia and shortness of breath” before being looked after and cared for by the support teams.
Nobles’ namesake and fellow Brit James Leavesley had also been going well but didn’t make it past Greenhead more than 72 hours into the race.
All of which underlined the scale of the challenge but even by Spine Race standards, Roselló Solé’s withdrawal was a tough one to take.
