Every new year, top ultra-athletes take on the Montane Winter Spine Race, a brutal midwinter race that stretches 268 miles along the Pennine Way. The battle for the overall win this year featured Anna

The heat is real now. Intense sun from above and the road radiating heat up from below. My tri-suit feels like a microwave bag, stuffy and claustrophobic. I’m a pale, middle-aged, Scotsman. I wonder i

On 25 January, Thomas Coville set a new, non-stop crewed record, lapping the planet on board the 100ft Ultim trimaran Sodebo 3 to claim the Jules Verne Trophy, in 40 days, 10 hours, 45 minutes – surpa

As the sun beat down on the ancient sands of the Namib Desert in south west Africa, former snowboarder Ioana Barbu’s face cracked out a huge smile. And she had every right to be beaming. The 37-year-o

The Spine Race – a 268-mile slog from the Peak District to the Scottish Borders – bills itself as Britain’s most brutal race. Tough as it was this winter, director Phil Hayday-Brown is reducing the time runners have to complete the race by 12 hours, citing safety concerns. But for some, this decision demonstrates lack of respect for back-of-the-pack runners, the majority of whom are women

Anyone who is of a certain age will remember the children’s TV programme Record Breakers which, aside from the encyclopaedic knowledge of earnest right wing libertarian Norris McWhirter, the unlikely