Two Liss Runners have excelled in the gruelling Montane Winter Spine races held along the Pennine Way.

Sarah Page tackled the Challenger South, 108 miles from Edale in Derbyshire to Hawes in North Yorkshire. The trail race includes moorland and 5,400 metres of ascent including Kinder Plateau and Pen-y-ghent. Competitors have a time limit of 60 hours.

The race took place in harsh conditions, with knee-deep snow, freezing rain and long stretches of sheet ice. A last-minute course change added to the difficulty.

Page ate and drank every 30 minutes to maintain energy. She finished first female, and third overall, in a time of 29 hours and 3 minutes – the quickest ever achieved by a female athlete.

She said: “It was one of the toughest things I’ve done.

“The conditions were relentless, but the support on the course and the spirit of the event kept me moving. I’m proud of what I managed to do.”

Page has enjoyed a number of other impressive ultra performances, including second place at the UTMB Arc of Attrition, third place at the Lakeland 100 and victories at the Centurion South Downs Way 50 and the Maverick Jurassic Coast 50k.

Next up for Page is the UTMB Mozart in Austria, before the UTMB Majors in Chamonix at the end of the summer.

Ben Potts tackled the full Spine challenge, 268 miles from Edale to Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders. The full spine has 10,900 metres of ascent across the Peak District, Yorkshire Dales, Northumberland National Park and the Cheviots. Competitors have a time limit of 168 hours.

Potts, who had previously completed the Challenger North, finished ninth male in a time of 119 hours and 34 minutes.

He said: “The Spine race lived up to everything I hoped for, and more. Conditions were savage – bog, ice, snow, relentless rain and strong winds.”