Nicky Spinks

Nicola "Nicky" Spinks (born 22 April 1967)[1] is a British long-distance runner, specialising in fell running, who set women's records for the major fell-running challenges the Ramsay Round, the Paddy Buckley Round and the Bob Graham Round.

Nicky Spinks
Nicky Spinks at 2015 Langdale Horseshoe
Personal information
NationalityBritish
Born (1967-04-22) 22 April 1967
London, England
OccupationFarmer
Websitewww.runbg.co.uk
Sport
CountryUnited Kingdom
SportRunning
ClubDark Peak Fell Runners
Updated on 27 November 2016.

She held the women's records for all three Rounds simultaneously until 2016, and was the holder of the overall record for the double Bob Graham Round until 2020, and the only person ever to complete doubles of the other two Rounds.

Born in London, she moved to the Peak District while still a child. She is now a farmer in Yorkshire.[2]

Early life

Nicky Spinks was born in London. She moved to Glossop in the Peak District while still a child.[3]

Running career

Early running career

Spinks began running competitively in 2001 in a 4-mile fell race.[3]

UK 24-hour Rounds

Spinks first completed the Bob Graham Round in 2005. She subsequently set a woman's record of 18:12 in 2012 then lowered her own record to 18:06 in 2015. She set the women's record for the Paddy Buckley Round in 2013 at 19:02 and the Ramsay Round in 2014 at 19:39.[4] She thus simultaneously held the women's fastest times for each of the three most famous 24-hour British mountain courses[5] (which has never happened with the men's record) from 2014 until 2016, when Jasmin Paris broke Spinks's records for the individual rounds and set an overall best combined time of 50:10.[6]

She was for some time the only person to have completed each challenge in under 20 hours.[4][5] In 2015, aged 47, Spinks attempted to beat Chris Near's overall record for the combined times in the three challenges, when she attempted the Bob Graham in 2015. She needed to complete the circuit in 17:21 or faster, which she was unable to attain but still managed to set a new women's record of 18:06, despite sickness and injury.[7]

On 15 May 2016, Spinks completed a double Bob Graham Round in 45 hours 30 minutes, one of only four people to do so and only two to do so within 48 hours, beating the previous record set by Roger Baumeister in 1979 by more than an hour.[8]

In 2018 she completed a double Ramsey Round in 55:56[9] and in 2019 a double Paddy Buckley Round in 57:27.[10] Whilst neither of these broke the 48-hour target, she is the only person ever to complete doubles of these Rounds. Thus, having previously simultaneously held the women's record for these three Rounds, she now simultaneously held the absolute records for doubles of the three Rounds.

Other running achievements

Ten years after starting running, in 2011, she set a new women's record of 64 for the number of Lakeland peaks climbed in 24 hours. The old record of 62 peaks was achieved by Anne Johnson in 1994.[11]

In April 2017, she ran the Joss Naylor Lakeland Challenge in 11:02, a new women's record.[12]

Spinks has won the Fellsman four times[13] and in 2013 she won the Borrowdale Fell Race.[14]

Spinks was an entrant in the 2019 and 2023 edition of the Barkley Marathons.[15][16]

She is sponsored by RaceKit and Inov-8.[3][5]

Personal life

In 2005, Spinks was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy in 2012.[5] She is a farmer in Yorkshire.[7]

References
  1. Inov-8 on YouTube: Run Forever: The Film of Nicky Spinks & The Double Bob Graham.
  2. "VIDEO: Lockdown - Free Films from the Hills to Keep You Sane". www.ukclimbing.com. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  3. "Nicky Spinks". shaff.co.uk. Archived from the original on 21 May 2015. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  4. "UKH". ukhillwalking.com. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  5. Allerhand, Rhalou (7 April 2015). "Fell runner Nicky Spinks sets new Bob Graham women's record". Runner's World. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  6. Inov-8: Jasmin Paris Rewrites the Mountain Running Record Books.
  7. "Fell runner Nicky Spinks sets new women's record for 66-mile Bob Graham Round – Women's Running". Women's Running. 13 April 2015. Archived from the original on 25 May 2015. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  8. "Nicky Spinks completes double Bob Graham Round in record time - News - Runner's World". www.runnersworld.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 May 2016.
  9. "Record breaking fell runner Nicky Spinks becomes first person to run a Double Ramsay Round in Scottish Mountains". Runners World. 2 July 2018. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  10. "Nicky Spinks completes historic double Paddy Buckley Round". Runners World. 16 May 2019. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  11. "Updated: Nicky Spinks hits 64 Lakeland peaks". mudsweatandtears.co.uk. Archived from the original on 17 March 2013. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  12. Grough: Runner Nicky Spinks Smashes Joss Naylor Challenge Record on 50th Birthday.
  13. Fellsman: Results.
  14. Lakeland Classics Trophy: Borrowdale 2013 Results.
  15. "Nicky Spinks will try to make history at the Barkley Marathons — Trail Running". Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  16. "Laz has cheekily given @NickySpinks the number 1️⃣ bib for Barkley Marathons 2023".
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