Run Moor & Mountain

Coaching for a successful Spine race 2027

Got your place?

This will be a fantastic adventure, but you’ll want to get yourself to Edale in the best possible physical and mental condition. As well as Spine race-specific physical training, I provide expertise in the factors that will maximise your chances of success: race nutrition, sleep strategy, foot care, psychological approaches, pain management, navigation, and kit.

As well as finishing the full race myself in 2024, I have successfully coached athletes for all five of the Spine Race distances, and spent 2 weeks as part of the Spine Safety Team. I know the route, the terrain, and the race itself really well.

I have spaces for runners who have a place in any of the race distances. Get in touch for a chat.
[email protected]

Last month I was glued to Dave Stephenson's dot on the M***ane Spine race. It was an epic week and was fantastic to see him finishing so strong but no surprise as he has worked really hard all year. Doesn't he look proud? And so he should do!
(race photos to follow, I'm about 6 months behind on athlete social media reports...)

He was kind enough to write this lovely review which I am of course sharing here because I'm delighted.

"I did it!!...with big thanks to Kate Farley: As a distance runner who has never been coached before, I wasn’t sure how it would help me prepare for the Spine Race. At the age of 62, I entered the Winter Spine Race and I contacted Kate from Run Moor and Mountain to discuss the possibility of her coaching me through the preparation.

Kate’s coaching was excellent. She worked out a clear plan for the year based around my personal commitments, races and Spine-specific training. Using the coaching app she met with me regularly and created detailed weekly plans, which included running, cycling and Pilates to maintain my fitness and build strength throughout the year. In the 4 months prior to the race itself, she added in longer sessions or reccies with some or all of the Spine kit.

In addition to the physical coaching, Kate arranged several sessions to go through foot-care, kit requirements and lots of practical, Spine-specific detail around what to do at checkpoints, setting a sleep plan, when and what to eat and much more. All of these were based on her own experience of completing the Winter Spine Race herself and proved invaluable for my race and I feel were instrumental in my successful completion.

I completed the 2026 Winter Spine race in 6.5 days and felt totally prepared both physically and mentally throughout and owe most of that to my training and meetings with Kate. She gave me the confidence to tackle foreseen and unforeseen obstacles that the race might present and I never once felt I was not going to get to the finish line.

I would recommend Kate to anyone looking for advice and assistance with preparation for either for a specific event or on-going endurance training. Her personal experience and ability to pass that on to her athletes is excellent."

It took 50 weeks to get onto paper but I’ve finally written up Spine 2025, just in time to volunteer on Spine 2026!

Spine 2025: A Tale of Pedestrian Pedestrianism and Mild Peril TL:DR: 32 hours of daylight, 15 hours of sleep, 1 stoat, 29 owls, 2 highland cows, a goat, quite a few public toilets, 16 Wispas, 3 tech fails, 21 meals, 200 wonderful volunteers, and absolutely outstanding foot care.I entered the Spine 2023 on a bit of a whim as something I’d always thought of as...

Really proud of Lizzie Palfreman who ran the Howarth Hobble yesterday. Lizzie's longest run to date and a solo journey as her running partner was unable to make it. She managed to miss the cameras so no photo but she looked fresh as a daisy at the finish line 🥳! A great day out with West Yorkshire looking fabulous in sunshine. Big thanks to the organisers of a fantastic local race.

Photo of Calder Valley MRT's lovely search and rescue dog who was on duty 😍(credit Al Pepper)

Huge Good Luck to Abby who is running the Spine Challenger North setting off on Monday! Abby is a member of her local mountain rescue team and is fundraising for them and other charities. Go Abby! You are absolutely ready for this! https://www.justgiving.com/team/uwfraspinenorthchallenge?utm_medium=team&utm_content=team%2Fuwfraspinenorthchallenge&utm_source=FB&utm_campaign=008&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3kxABa4JVcsLPv_WDisn8ajg8YSzWWjDxr-wDh9OeTaAJy8L-rVjqJnn8_aem_IlwD1E31bnJAaPNnEwoOdA

UWFRA Winter Spine MRT Challenge North Help Clare Canty raise money to support Hero Paws

June & July rapid round-up ahoy!

June
Katy ran the Spine Challenger South, a great route finishing in Hardraw. The race started in awful conditions with rain and wind until Hebden Bridge but Katy paced it well and finished looking strong. Tim was also on the Spine route finishing his second full Spine having completed the inter race in 2023. I was in the Spine Safety Team so lucky enough to catch up with Tim at Hut 2 just before the final descent into Kirk Yetholme.

Tanya started the month with Ennerdale fell race. Dave ran the Stanza Stones 50m ultra swiftly followed by the Buttermere Sailbeck race on 15th June. A week later Tanya, Lisa and Pete were in the same valley at the Darren Holloway fell race. Then Tanya was back out at Great Lakes, claiming a 2nd lady position after some fantastic training in the hills.

Alistair completed the Denis Rankin Round completing the 4 ‘Big Rounds’. Pictured here on the apparently endless wall! (photo credit to Tom Lynch)

July
Dave mixed things up and dusted off his road shoes with two half marathons in Ilkley and Alnwick whilst Tanya was back in action in the hills at Borrowdale fell race.

The last weekend in July as always was the Lakeland 100 and 50 races. It was Pete’s second Lakeland 100, surviving the tough conditions on the first night and reaching Coniston in the early hours of Sunday. It was Matthew’s second and Lisa’s first Lakeland 50 and they both raced brilliantly and finished with time for a few celebratory drinks in Coniston. It was also Jessica’s first 50mile race and ran alongside her daughter, finishing in a fantastic 13hrs 28.

August has been a lot quieter whilst everyone recovers (and goes on holiday!) so I’m looking forward to getting on with autumn training.

Absolutely fantastic training, dedication and racing from everyone, it is a privilege to get to work with you all

Today marks the end of national map reading week 🗺😍
Accordingly, I spent an evening with 7 lovely members of Otley Athletic Club teaching navigation on Baildon moor before three long days with students on a Bronze DofE assessment. Absolutely in my element sharing my love of all things mappy. Look! An OS map!

Very late update on recent races of completely different types. Two weeks ago Katy raced her first 50 mile event at the Pennine Barrier with a great finish in under 15 hours. Absolutely brilliant running and race management from Katy – good preparation for the Spine North Challenger race in June.

Meanwhile Tanya won the midweek 3mile Lothersdale fell race before heading out on Pendle Cloughs race 3 days later. Also at Pendle Cloughs was Dave with a fantastic 3hr 15 min finish just 2 weeks after Y3P, whilst Alistair and Alfie were in the Lakes winning their Canicross. Phew, I think that’s everyone!

Congratulations and good luck to everyone racing this weekend!

No race photos so here's a picture of the Dinorwic quarries in Wales for you

I hope everyone has managed to get out into the sunshine. Another very busy weekend of racing with five RM&M athletes out and about running a total of 109 miles. In London Lucy ran a marathon PB of 4hr54 … wearing butterfly wings! I’m assured they were of no help in flying along. Lucy was fundraising for the Sober Butterfly Collective hence the wings! Fundraiser by Lucy Hall :
https://www.gofundme.com/f/sober-butterfly-collective-and-alcohol-change-uk?utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer

Tanya and Alistair were on wildly different terrain at Teenager With Altitude, a 16m race in the Lake District. Both finished with PBs and were out in the sunshine again today. Alistair was 7th in his category (moderately elderly) and Tanya 10th in hers. Tough course with a lot of height gain.

Pete and Lisa were celebrating the Peak District National Park with the Peak Birthday Bash races. It was Lisa’s first race back after injury so a cautious approach taken on the 23mile route and a happy finish! Pete was on the 46mile route with a 11:27 finish time. These are hilly routes so great preparation for Lakeland events in July.

Well done everyone!

Alistair and Tanya photos credit Cumberland Fell Runners.

Busy weekend of racing this weekend. Alistair raced twice in the Lakes and Scotland, once winning with the ever-aloof Alfred at Grizedale Canicross, and then out again at Wamfray Glen on Sunday.

Unexpected team-work from Greg and Tanya on the Wadsworth Trog! Very windy and suitably troggy underfoot leaving some overall slower than usual times across the field. Tanya started the race by falling and injuring her knee before the start line but as usual cracked on and raced hard. An informal pacing pair formed early on with other RMM runner Greg with Tanya flying down the descents and Greg pushing the pace on the ascents. Finished within minutes with Robbie arriving to storm up the final hill at the same time!

Second race in a week for Robbie and Greg who were both out at the Hebden last weekend. Tanya was at Trigger Tor on the 14th January getting a PB with her excellent pacing.

Awesome work.

Pic from the ever-brilliant Woodentops

Grass roots races in the uk are the some of the toughest and friendliest. Big support for these local events.

TRAIL AND ULTRA RUNNERS. OUR SPORT IS AT A CROSS ROADS AND IT’S TIME TO DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT OUR SPORT AND COMMUNITY TO BE LIKE.

You may have seen the announcement today that UTMB (who are partially owned by Ironman) will be hosting a trail race in Whistler next September. Wow, that sounds rather like Whistler Alpine Meadows which a small local company, Coast Mountain Trail Running, founded and worked their tails off to host for many years ... until 2023 when Whistler (owned by Vail Resorts) made the permitting process so impossible that they were forced to permanently cancel WAM. So yah, swoop in with your big bucks and corporate ways to piggy back off the work of a locally independent company. The race director of the 'new' event works for Ironman Canada.

I get it, UTMB in Chamonix looks cool and you need to get ‘stones’ from one of ‘their’ races to enter. But please consider if you really want to run UTMB so much that you condone this sort of behaviour. Go run the TMB route solo or on a guided multi day trip. Heck, go run Ultra Tour M***a Rosa - a non-UTMB race that’s even tougher and even more scenic (RDd by independent company/ Lizzy Hawker) in the Swiss Alps. Or wait for the announcement of a new September Metro Van area race that Gary Robbins and CMTR will be hosting - our trail community will be volunteering there, not at the UTMB event (good luck to them finding volunteers).

YOU SIGN UP FOR RACES, YOU GET TO CHOOSE IN WHAT DIRECTION YOU WANT OUR SPORT TO GO. Let’s not be bullied by UTMB - they are not guiding our ship, WE the runners are. Money talks and I will not be spending a dime or any of my time with UTMB. I encourage you to think about where your money and your time will go.

I chose this pic of my WAM 25k finish. I was broken and should not have been racing. When I got to the finish I was an incoherent, cramping, flustered mess. I was met by an RD who cared. A RD who yes, is running a business (RDs should be able to make a living) but puts his runners, his communities and the trails they operate on front and centre. That’s what I want our sport to stay like.

To read much more from Gary Robbins, CMTR co-RD/ owner (along with Geoff Langford): http://garyrobbinsrun.com/blog/2023/10/what-really-went-down-in-whistler

On the unceded territories of the Squamish, Lil’wat and Coast Salish Nations.

Photo: Pargol Lakhan.

What a beautiful hazy day to be teaching navigation in the Peak District! The other part of my work is as a Duke of Edinburgh award instructor. I’m really enjoying teaching map reading this weekend and watching their confidence grow. 🧭 Using some new skills too today now that I’m an NNAS qualified tutor 😃🗺️