• Damian was leading the Spine Race until a groin injury forced him to stop after 52 hours and 35 minutes of racing. Despite the DNF, Damian was happy with the race and said “I’m thrilled with how I ran and how I felt, but obviously not happy with how things ended”
• Before the race, Damian outlined his fueling and hydration strategy which involved consuming around 60g of carbohydrate per hour and to drink water, PH 1000 and tea over the course of the 80-85 hours he predicted he’d be racing for

Hydration

• Over the two days, Damian drank water, PH 1000, chocolate milk, energy drink mix and MANY cups of tea! The estimated total volume of fluid he drank was ~11.5L/390oz which equates to an average of ~219ml/7oz per hour over the race
• During a race of this length, the advice is to primarily drink to thirst. As a very experienced athlete competing in his third Spine Race, Damian did this well by listening to his body and adjusting how much he was drinking depending on the conditions and section of the race. For example, he drank less overnight when the conditions were cooler, and therefore his sweat rate, and overall fluid needs were lower
• Before the race, Damian preloaded with ~300ml/10oz of PH 1000. This is a good strategy to boost his blood plasma volume and make sure he’s starting hydrated, but we would recommend he uses the PH 1500, which contains a stronger relative sodium concentration, as this will help maximise the benefit of this preload
• Damian got sodium on board during the race predominantly from PH 1000 and from some of the food he ate. His average sodium consumption was ~214mg/hr, which in relation to the fluid he drank meant the relative sodium concentration of his intake was ~975mg/L. Being a ‘salty sweater’, with a sweat sodium concentration of 1146mg/L, Damian did well to continue to replace a high proportion of his losses over the race
• Damian did experience some slight twinges of cramp during the first night so decided to take on some electrolyte capsules with the aim to stave them off. Anecdotally, this can be an effective strategy to keep cramping at bay, and it seemed to work well for Damian in these circumstances as he never felt them again
• Damian said his “hydration was always going to be compromised to an extent, especially as the race went on and availability of fluids was scarcer”. But, he stopped where he could for water and tea, was happy with his hydration strategy and didn’t feel it held him back. He also mentioned peeing plenty throughout the race, mainly for the first 24 hours, which suggests he didn’t under hydrate

Fueling

Conclusions

• In his third time competing in the Spine Race, Damian started off brilliantly, following his hydration and fueling strategy closely and mentioned that he was “feeling sensational” during these early stages. Unfortunately, when leading the race with ~24 hours to go, Damian had to stop due to a groin injury he picked up during the first night
• Despite not ending the race how he would’ve liked, Damian was happy with his performance and rated his race satisfaction as 7 out of 10
• For an event of this length, Damian’s executed a strong fueling and hydration strategy, relying on a range of real foods and energy products to fuel him well for over 52 hours; on average falling within the recommended range of carbohydrate
• Not discouraged, Damian will be returning to the Pennine Way and has already signed up for the 2023 Spine Race. We can’t wait to see what the outcome will be when injury doesn’t hinder him!