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 Montane 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...