At 7.56am on Monday 2 July 2018, fell and endurance runner Nicky Spinks became the first runner to complete a Double Ramsay Round – running 116 miles and summiting 48 peaks in the Scottish mountains in a time of 55 hours and 56 minutes.
Battling heat exhaustion and sleep deprivation, Spinks had hoped to complete the double within 48 hours, but the high temperatures of the current heat wave made that even more challenging.
The Ramsay Round is a 24-hour challenge, which sees mountain runners attempt a 58-mile circuit over 24 summits, including Scotland's highest mountain – Ben Nevis. The total ascent is 28,500ft, which is nearly as high as Everest. Today, Spinks became the first person ever to run this twice.
Since the race’s inception by Charlie Ramsay in 1978, only 113 sub-24 hour attempts have been recorded, two of those belonging to Nicky, who completed the route in 22 hours 32 minutes in 2008 and 19 hours 39 minutes in 2014.
Related: inov-8 launch the G-Series
A breast cancer survivor, 51-year-old Spinks, an ambassador for inov-8 wrote in a blog before travelling to Scotland: “We have only been gifted with one life and I want to make the most of mine. I also want to help people make the most of theirs.” Spinks set up a Just Giving page before her challenge raising money for the charity Odyssey.
Spinks began running competitively in 2001 in a four-mile fell race. In 2011 she set a new women’s record of 64 for the number of Lakeland peaks climbed in 24 hours. To add to her list of achievements, two years ago Spinks completed a 132-mile fell run across the Lake Districts highest peaks, finishing in less than 48 hours.
What an inspiration. Well done Nicky!
