
Mel, from Holmfirth, finished the race – running 268 miles along the whole of the Pennine Way – last Friday, in just over 132 hours.

Getting to the start line was a major achievement, after she developed a Chiari malformation in 2023. The condition pushes part of the brain out through the bottom of the skull, pressing on the spinal cord and brain stem, causing double vision and balance problems.
Mel was treated in October 2023 by the specialist neurosurgery team at Leeds Teaching Hospitals, under the care of Mr Ian Anderson.
“Getting to the start was a win – and then to finish, I’m absolutely over the moon,” said Mel.
The race started in thick snow in Edale in Derbyshire, the runners facing drifts and ice. “I enjoyed it. I was tough but I knew it was going to be hard work,” said Mel.
“The first two days from Edale to Hawes it was going through deep snow drifts, ploughing through snow halfway up your thighs, it was really tough going. The north section then ended up not being too bad. The bit when I was at Hadrian’s Wall, the sun was out all day, it was lovely.”

There were some tricky times along the way – Mel started to get hypothermic during a storm in the Yorkshire Dales.
“This storm started, all the mist came down. I was trying to follow the path but I got completely lost. It was just horrendous,” she says.
Mel managed to find shelter and warmed up with the support of a safety team, determined not to drop out of the race. She said: “I just wanted to get in the car and get warm but you’re not allowed, I would have been disqualified. One of the safety team members called Ian helped me get into my bivvy bag. I stayed in the toilets for two hours wrapped in my sleeping bag until I’d got warm again. I kept saying ‘Ian, I’m not dropping out!’”

Mel also lost her voice half way through the race, and then cracked her ribs just a mile and a half before the finish.
“I’d done the whole race and fell a few times on the ice but not done much damage,” she said.
“I just got giddy about a mile and a half from the end, I was running down the hill and my foot hit a stone fell forwards and cracked my ribs.
“It was just amazing to reach the finish. There were so many people there as well. It was weird because I thought I’d cry but I was so relieved to finish. I was just chuffed to bits really.”
Since completing the event, Mel has been recovering. “I would imagine I had less than five hours sleep altogether. My ankles are bigger than my waist. I didn’t get one blister but my ankles are really swollen.
“I’ve just been falling asleep all the time. All I’ve done is just sleep and eat.”
After a well-earned rest, she’ll be preparing for the Lakeland 100 in July. But will she run the Spine again? “I think it was just the perfect race. I think if you go and do it again it might ruin the memory of it. But most people say never again and then go back.”
Mr Anderson, Consultant Neurosurgeon at Leeds Teaching Hospitals, said: “Mel is a really inspirational patient and has shown huge determination to recover and return to ultrarunning.
“She had severe symptoms when she came to us and needed surgery urgently. It’s fantastic to see how well she recovered – completing this race is a truly remarkable achievement.”
