Pavel Paloncý and Eugeni Rosello Sole lead the 268-mile MONTANE® Spine® Race overall, while Carol Morgan leads the women's race. Sarah Davies wins the 108-mile MONTANE® Spine® Challenger women's race. The 108-mile MONTANE® Spine® MRT (Mountain Rescue Team) Challenge race finishes at 2am, Tuesday, 17 January.
Despite a 30-minute time penalty, Pavel Paloncý (CZE) and Eugeni Rosello Sole (ESP) jointly lead the MONTANE® Spine® Race as Britain's most brutal race heads into a second night.
The MONTANE® Spine® Race is a 268-mile footrace along the Pennine Way, England's oldest and generally thought to be toughest, National Trail in winter.
The two previous race-winners broke away from 2016 winner and course record-holder Eoin Keith (IRL) within the first two hours of the start on Sunday. Keith was often only 1-2km behind them during the night. But as dawn broke on Monday morning they began opening up a gap, with Keith saying he was suffering from the sleep monsters as he climbed Pen-y-ghent (2277ft/694m) in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
At 1:38pm, Paloncý and Rosello Sole reached the race's second major check point (CP), at Hawes, 108 miles into the race. They left after just eight minutes, with Keith arriving an hour later.
The Irishman slept at the CP for around two hours, leaving at around 6pm. By that time however, Tom Hollins (GBR) had arrived and left, in so doing overtaking Keith and moving into third place.
In a further twist, when Paloncý and Rosello Sole arrived at Hawes, they were served with a time penalty, for inadvertently shortcutting the course during the night (which provided a 20-minute competitive advantage).
Their unauthorised route was adjudged to have benefited them by approximately 20 minutes and the race directors punished the two runners with a 30-minute time sanction (20 minutes that they gained and a 10 minute penalty, 50 per cent of the time they gained).
Paloncý and Rosello Sole have chosen to serve the stop-and-go penalty at CP3, Middleton-in-Teesdale, later tonight, during which they won't be allowed to access the checkpoint facilities.
Meanwhile they are being pursued through the night by Hollins and Keith. Keith has had a sleep. None of the three ahead of him have yet.
Carol Morgan (GBR), who has previously won the MONTANE® Lakeland 100 and the Fellsman ultramarathons, leads the women's race, from Helene Dumais (CAN). Morgan is seventh overall in the race, clearly running with great strength.
There have been 14 retirements so far.
The 108-mile MONTANE® Spine® Challenger women's race was won by Sarah Davies (BGR) in a time of 27:53. Emily Ledder (GBR) was second in 46:07 and Jane Carpenter (GBR) third in 52:38. The race ends at 10pm today.
The MONTANE® Spine® MRT Challenge women's race was won by Ella Corrick (GBR), in 58:18.
Dominic Layfield's (US) new record for the MONTANE® Spine® Challenger is now confirmed at 28:00.
CURRENT RACE LEADERS:
MONTANE® Spine® Race (M): Pavel Paloncý (CZH)/Eugeni Rosello Sole (ESP)
MONTANE® Spine® Race (F): Carol Morgan (GBR)
RACE WINNERS:
MONTANE® Spine® Challenger (M): 28:00, Dominic Layfield (US)
MONTANE® Spine® Challenger (F): 37:53, Sarah Davies (GBR)
MONTANE® Spine® MRT Challenge (M): 33:40, Alasdair Cowell (GBR)
MONTANE® Spine® MRT Challenge (F): 58:18 Ella Corrick (GBR)
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