Summer Spine Race, 2026

Edward Payne won the men’s race in 82:28:07, finishing 9 hours 6 minutes 48 seconds clear of Samuel Adams, who came in at 91:34:55. That lead was 2.9 times the gap from Adams back to James Green, who took third in 94:46:40, a further 3 hours 11 minutes behind. Jenny Hartley won the women’s race in 104:55:46, with Danielle MacGill second in 108:05:41.

Twenty-six women finished, the most the race has ever had, and they made up 28.6% of the 91 finishers. On a route from Edale with 10,730 metres of climbing, more than one finisher in four was a woman.

The distance between the two winners has grown over the past decade. From 2017 to 2021 the gap between them stood at 18.4%, and from 2022 to 2026 it stood at 23.7%.

The record number of women came from a smaller field. There were 10.8% fewer finishers than at the last edition, so the women’s total rose while the field as a whole shrank. Behind the winners, the two races converged. The median woman finished in 134:49:39 and the median man in 130:49:19. Over more than five days on the trail, those two figures sit close together.

The field was not a young one. Half the finishers were 48 or older, and the chart shows how finishing times changed across those ages.

The time limit was 156:00:00, and every finisher made it. The last man reached the finish in 152:56:39 and the last woman in 153:02:34. In the closing hours the two divisions ended almost together, as they had through the middle of the field.