Ep 51 - Winter Spine Race 2026 Kit Check Special

It is three weeks out from the Winter Spine race kit check and Kev runs through all the mandatory kit requirements and the clothing and equipment he is taking with him.  If you are running one of the 2026 races this might be a useful check to run through before you pack. If not it might be a good insight into what you will need if you are thinking of entering a Spine race in the future. Failing that it might be that you just can’t geek out enough on everything Spiney!

 https://www.thespinerace.com/

Aid Station website where you can find the episodes or leave comment https://www.aidstation.co.uk/

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Transcript

Section A

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Hello and welcome to episode fifty-one of Aid Station, which is coming to you from my spare room, which I use as my kit room, because I'm going to talk through a flat lie, or flat lay, however you would say it, of the spine race compulsory mandatory kit. And I've laid it all out in preparation for this, and I'm going to talk everybody through it. So if you're not into long races, long treks, or um the spine race itself, I suggest you move on. If you are interested, I mean we are now, it's the 20th of December. We are three weeks away exactly from Kit Check Day for the spine race, which is on a Saturday. Race starts on Sunday, the 11th of January. And I've been out a couple of times now in my full kit with everything. One 30 mile and 120 mila earlier this week with Benjamin Potts, uh, a friend who had actually only met for the first time, but we know each other from the Dragonsback race WhatsApp group we're in. And we did a 20 mila in some proper spiny weather. Uh admittedly, it wasn't as cold as it will be up there, it was about 10 degrees, but it absolutely threw it down for about five hours of the run, and the winds got up to about 50 miles an hour on the top of the South Downs Way. So I've done about 50 miles with my full kit. So I'm gonna start by running through in order, and I'm sorry, I'm just getting my iPad organized, which is decided that it wants to see my face, unlike most people. Um at least I've got something that wants to see my face. So, spine race kit check. Um, it starts item one backpack, running vest or rucksack. So I'm sorry if the audio is going a bit back and forwards because I'm moving around and I will be throughout this. So I decided, um, or actually I should refer to episode 46 of AidStation back in July that I did with James Elson that I termed as James being my personal shopper. Um, and you should, well, you can listen to that, but if you're leaving it this late to get your kit together, I suggest that you're a little bit too late. But I don't know, maybe you've got a late entry, or you could be considering uh this for one of the summer events, or maybe next winter. So episode 46 was with James, um, and he talked me through a lot of items that I was sure of in my kit, um, and at that time I discussed whether I should go with the uh Montaigne Gecko 20 litre plus backpack and an on chest pack. Um, I haven't fact decided having to try to pack everything that there was no way I was getting it all in there. One of the main reasons for that is the length of time it'll take. Uh, Jack Scott holds the record of about 72 hours or something like that. Um, and I think I will be at least double that. I normally work on being double what the winner's time is or the course record. So I'll be delighted with 140 odd hours, and so that means that I will be out there much longer and need more kit, plus the fact I'm just over six foot tall, um, and all my stuff comes up as large or XL. So uh it takes a bit more packing, really. Um, I did hear on a podcast recently Damon Hall refer to something around five, five and a half kilos for his pack, um, and I've weighed mine fully laden, including water and food, and it's over 10 kilos, getting on for 11 kilos all up. Anyway, back to the actual pack. I chose in the end a 30 litre Osprey pack. Um, there are loads of others, obviously, out there. The ultimate direction, um, montane do their own as well. I mean, there's all sorts, there's loads of options, but um, I did quite a bit of research on it, and I did like the way that the Osprey's back was adjustable because obviously, being a bit taller, I've got a longer back. Uh, so I went with that one. Um, and I'm going to pair that up with an OM chest pack, which obviously isn't part of the compulsory kit, but it adds to the weight. I should say that that all-up weight included the chest pack loaded with um basically I use it as a fodder bag, nose bag. So uh yeah, so that included the chest pack, so it may be around about somewhere around uh nine kilos loaded. Anyway, the offspray pack itself starts out at um a kilo in weight without putting anything in it. Um, and I've then I've got various amount of uh lining bags, dry lining bags, seater summit stuff, various types, the um OEX ones as well. Uh everything from a litre up to uh a 35 litre Cedar Summit, and I use the 35 litre CTA summit as a liner inside the actual the uh Osprey pack. Uh so that's just a bit of an aside, that's not part of the compulsory, but obviously you want to keep everything dry, and then everything it goes into dry bags inside the dry bag, so it's a bit of double protection if you like. But I'm not going to take any chances on this race and having run in torrential rain for five hours the other day. The pack obviously got wet, but the um it that it didn't wet through to this kit that was inside, which was a really good test, and the whole point of going out on that day, no point in going out in nice sunny weather. So that is the pack I have gone with anyway. Um, the next thing you need is a compass, and you need to make sure it's working, and you can demonstrate you can use it. Um, and I've got what is now an old silver uh compass, and it still works okay as far as I'm concerned. Um, you know, there's stories about it all going wrong uh next to mobile phones and things, so just keep it away from your mobile phone. So there's nothing much to report on that. It does come with scales on it. Um, I don't think any of these scales they'd be fine for OS maps. Hopeless with the Harvey's maps, because they are um 40,000 to one. Anyway, that was item three. Item four is a handheld GPS device. Um, now this was one I discussed with James as well, and I have taken his advice because I like cycling, and I bought myself a Garmin Edge uh 540 cycle computer. Um, I'm gonna download Torky Toaster maps on that because you have to have 3D colour mapping. Um, so you can do that on your watch if you've got an expensive watch that does that. I don't have, and I'm not buying another one, and I thought I'd get uh more use uh of a Garmin cycle computer after uh the event. Uh emergency whistle. Um I've always carried a bigger emergency whistle, which is in my OMM chess pack on a lanyard uh on a tiny carabiner inside. Um, but it's a decent sized whistle and gives out a decent signal. There's no point, in my opinion, using those silly little things that they um give you uh as part of a racing pack or bumbag or whatever. You see them attached to all sorts of things now, they're pretty pathetic and not going to attract much attention when you need it uh on a howling gale up on Crossfell. Item six is eye protection. Now, this can be uh clear, has to be clear goggles, sorry, or glasses. Um, James said that on one of his podcasts I believe that glasses are absolutely useless, and I totally agree. I mean, if you're gonna bother having all-round eye protection, get yourself a set of the Bolly ones, or I went even cheaper and got mine from Screwfix, and they're UVEX. Um, but they're perfectly good for the job, they've got a sealing rubber around the outside of the lenses. Um, and I've tried them on with a hat and the uh compulsory neck warmer you have to have, and it really does cover everything up so there's no exposed skin. Um, head torch. Uh James sold me a pretzel uh uh now NRL, is it, or something like that. I'm not very good with all the model numbers. Um, and also good friend of mine, Matt Harper, from the Running Club, um, has exactly the same thing with a spare battery. So I now have two, he's loaned me his, which is really nice. And if you can borrow any kit, um that's really useful. That's the only item that I've got actually that I've borrowed off of somebody else. Um, I do have two other head torches, which I spoke about in episode 46, which were the uh exposure lights, and I may well even put one of those as well uh into my drop bag. So I'm going with those, um, and you have to have a obviously a lamp and a spare battery because there are 16 hours of darkness. Um, so yeah, you really want that and you want a backup. You're not going to go anywhere if your light goes out there up on the moors somewhere or climbing Penny Gent or something. You then have to have a waterproof jacket, and again, I bought that from uh Centurion, and I got a montane again. I don't know what all the names are of these things, but it's um got a 2000 or 20k hydrostatic head. Uh again, I used it in that torrential rain this week, and it didn't wet through, it was very good. I'm not sure at what point it would wet wet through. Um, and Ben, who I ran with, told me that he's ordered a uh mountain hardware which has got a 30k hydrostatic head, so he's probably gonna stay drier than I am. Um, I'm also obviously taking other waterproof jackets in the uh drop bag, but all of those are 10,000 hydrostatic head, um, which won't last so long. I might wear one underneath. I don't know if that works, that probably doesn't equate to uh 30k if you wear a 20k and a 10k hydrostatic head jacket, but um, it would be an extra layer of protection. Waterproof trousers. Now I've got two pair, I've got an OMM pair, OMM Cam Lyker, uh pants, uh waterproof, uh, which is quite a soft material actually, and I've waterproofed them umpteen times in washes, reproof them, and not sure that they're gonna be that good. Um, I've also got a pair of Lasportiva, which are also 10,000k hydrostatic head. I've had a job finding uh trousers that were waterproof trousers that were a higher rating than that, and I think the 20,000 would be better if I could find some, so I might still yet get a more waterproof or more resilient pair um of waterproof trousers, but I have what it takes to pass the compulsory kit check anyway at the moment. Uh, warm insulated hat again. I bought an OMM um one of these Pertex fleecy hats off of James, but I've got a myriad of other warm hats anyway. Um, I've got a sportiva, beanie, and other beanies and warm hats in the drop bag, but this is just about what I need for compulsory kit check. Um, waterproof gloves. I've got the montane waterproof glove, uh, which has got Petri Chore or something technology. I don't know what all these things are, but um they're the ones that pass kit check again. I bought those at Centurion. Um, and uh I have two pairs of those, in fact, because I already had a pair, and I will be taking other gloves, but I'll get on to the drop bag stuff in a minute. Uh, then you need socks now. Then, socks, these don't need under the compulsory kit check to be waterproof socks. Um, and you but you must have spare, so other than the ones that you're going to actually wear when you're racing on the when the gun goes off, uh, you need a spare pair in your pack. And I've gone with the Dexhell, I can't remember what the new model name is. Used to be the tough uh the Deckshell, yeah, Tough Mudder, I think they were called, weren't they? Or something like that. Um, and it's well, it's the one that just about everybody uses from Dexhell, anyway. I've got three pairs of those, and I've got two other pairs of Dexhell socks, so five pairs of waterproof socks in all, um, a neck warmer, uh and it says it must protect from the wind and the cold, and it must cover your whole of your neck and be able to cover the lower face if pulled up. Now, I got some of these produced for uh our club Heart Roadrunners Winter Training Camp back in 2020, and uh I've got one, it's one of these really fleecy, nice um ones. Actually, you can actually um it's got a draw cord, you can use it as a hat as well if you wanted to, but it works and it meets the criteria for the kit check for my neck. Um, so I am using that. Uh, I don't think you can use a buff. Um, you can have a kit balaclava, a balaclava isn't compulsory, but uh you can use that uh as well. That would that would uh more than uh pass the kit check. Um, and salamon also I'd noticed do a really good neck warmer as well. So if you're still looking for that piece of item, they're quite a good place to go as well. You then need a spare base layer top, which has to be long sleeve. Again, all these items got to be carried in addition to what you're wearing when you start. Um, so and and not only when you start, but when you leave each checkpoint, you have to have all these compulsory items with you. So you can't have worn it and then leave the checkpoint because you started having it as a spare, it's got to be a separate item spare in your bag. Uh so the base layer top, um, I've got you can get, I mean, I bought some nice uh weight ones, um, thermal tops from Uniglo, I think it's called, isn't it? So I bought some of those cheap, they're not expensive to get, but I've got some better quality ones. I've got a very good salmon one, and I won't be I certainly won't be skimping on those items anyway in the drop bag. Um, so you need one of those. I've also oh I'll get onto that when I get onto the drop bag. Uh so you need a long sleeve top, then you need spare base layer bottoms. Um now these again need to be carried in addition uh to what you're wearing. Um, I've got a pair of um Ron Hill, like the old, they're actually a newer version of the old tracky bottoms that used to be all the fail runners used to wear. Um, so they'll pass the kit check. And again, I've got spare items of leggings. Uh, another piece of important kit is a spare insulated jacket, um, and this uh again has to be carried in addition, and it's got to be a jacket or a smock with a small uh with a full or half zip, um, and it has to be an insulated item, uh, a very thick pile fleece or down, natural or synthetic better. So I've gone with um I've got a montane again, I don't know the name of it, but I got it for the Dragonsback race, it's a half zip, which I presume you would call a smock. Obviously, it's got long sleeve and it's synthetic insulated. Uh, it comes up at uh just under 200 grams, actually, which is quite a lightweight. Now, I think that'll pass the kit check, I'm pretty sure it will, but I'm also going to take a Rab jacket that I've had for some time that's synthetic, it's a lot heavier, 450 grams, so more than double the weight, and it has got a hood. Um, but I'll be taking that anyway, just for my own personal safety. Um, I'm not good in the cold, so quite happy to carry the extra weight that'll go into a um uh dry sack uh into my bag as well, and I have been carrying that anyway. Uh appropriate footwear, which is quite an interpretation because you can go from anything from um James said I think uh John Kelly ran in a pair of Lasporti, oh Pratigio Pros, um, which is basically uh what I would call a hard um packed trail running shoe. I mean, I have used them, but it would only be in like a 50k race or something, um, and you can go right up through all sorts, um, and I've talked about this before. I've got the La Sportiva um GTX and uh which is a good uh Gore-Tex uh gated with a Boa system shoe. Uh, but you can go right through to boots. I mean, if you're gonna hike it and you're gonna fast hike it, um, then you know why not get into a pair of boots to do it as well? Because the um the GTX are pretty much a boot anyway. Um, and I'm taking two pairs of those in case anything goes wrong. Uh, I must admit, one size fits very nicely, uh, with plenty of room, and one are a bit tight, so I might swap the sock combo if I have to um revert to those, but I'm not intending to, they're very much a spare as a backup. So that's the shoe. I mean, it's clearly you need something with good grip, traction, good lugs on the bottom. Um, and uh, you know, I've heard so many people can't make their minds up whether they're wearing a waterproof sock or they're not wearing a waterproof sock and just letting the water drain out. Um, I don't know which way it'll go. I just feel I've tried them out, I feel better in the waterproof sock. Um, I'm also using an Injinji uh toe sock, the liner ones, very thin liner sock with it as well as a combination. Right, onto the boot, you will need a traction aid, which uh can be a micro spike or the coil type ones, um yak track and that yeah, yak tracks uh but I didn't go with that, I went with the Catula micro spike, um, which is much heavier. Um, and I you just heard that go on. That is my weighing scale. I thought I'd tell you how heavy these are. They're 392 grams in the bag, so that's quite a bit of weight. Um, and not sure whether I'm ever going to use them ever in my life, but those are the ones I went with in the end. I heard a lot of stories about the yak tracks falling apart. Um, I guess it depends how long you're running in them and what you're running on when you're wearing them and whether you. Can be bothered taking them on and off or not. Uh, but James did say that you're more likely if you get to that point on sort of verglass or very icy conditions, somewhere like Penny Gent on rock, you might need spikes rather than the Yak track, even so I decided to go belt and braces on that one. Um, sleeping bag, always loads of talk about the sleeping bag. I just can't be bothered with all the tech around it, to be honest. I'm not saying you know, just throw money at it and buy the lightest weight Japanese sleeping bag, uh, which will probably cost you about seven or eight hundred pounds. Um, but I went with what seems to be a very popular uh thermorest model, the Hyperion, uh, which is good to um minus six Celsius or 20 Fahrenheit, and it's a 900 fill-down sleeping bag. Um, I've no intention of using it on the trail, it's very much there as an emergency thing, but you never just never know in these situations. I've done quite a few, well, four 200s now, um, and never get my sleep strategy right. And I don't I'm going into this without any sleep strategy. It comes when it comes, so it may be a case that I will have to get it out in anger at some point. Uh, but at the moment, my intention is to use the um just meet the compulsory requirement in the lightest weight uh for value or money spent as I could and put another sleeping bag in my drop bag to use in the checkpoints. Uh the sleeping mat, this is all part of the sleeping system, obviously. So you have to have a a mat to sleep on, um, obviously, to separate you from the ground, that's you know, one of the major things if you're going to survive, is to get something between you and the uh cold damp ground. Um, and I've got the XP uh mat uh which is oh it's just an air mat technology um ultra 1R, whatever that means, um, and it's got a size on it, but anyway, that's another item not intending to get out unless I'm in real trouble, and then I also have the bivy bag again, an XP Bivy bag. So that's the three items sleeping bag mat and a bivy bag, and they all go into again a separate dry bag, so I know where they all are when if I need to get them out in an emergency cup now. I um you have to have a cup and it has to hold uh what is it 400 mil as a minimum. Um, and a lot of people have gone where they go metal. I just suppose it depends whether you're heating your cup up as well. But I've decided to just use a lightweight plastic solid one fixed handle. Um, I should just put stuff inside the cup to uh use the volume that's there. Um, on top of that, you need a spork or a fork of some sort, a spoon or fork. Obviously, spork's the best thing. So I've got uh one of those in the kit bag because you have to have it, and I'll have one in the drop bag as well in case I break one or something. Uh item 24, we're up to now, which is a two-litre water carrying capacity. Um, now I've always used soft lasks, and I'm gonna continue doing that for the race, and so I should be carrying four 500ml soft lasks. Uh, these are Montane Via ones that I have, they just came with a uh packs that I've bought at various times. I'll be using the long straw as well, um, just so that it's easy to reach some to drink out of them. And I should carry two of those on the front of the pack, and then I'll have two spares which will give me that uh compulsory carrying capacity. Uh, and one of them will contain a salmon um filter which I got for the dragons back race and have never used. Um well, that isn't completely true, actually. I did use it in a stream um on the Northern Traverse, but very sort of gingerly, it was high up and very fast flowing. Um, I'm always very nervous about ruining my race by drinking some dead sheep's um uh detritus, so I've uh will use that only in absolute emergency. Um now I've um denard about what to do about that because I've seen people carrying the you know the larger bottles and the front that fit in the packs, um, and obviously some just using product like coke or something like that bottles, and I've no doubt as the race goes on I may well change my plans and end up using something that I've bought along the route if if I have to, um, and I mean that by products in a bottle rather than a specific bottle for the job. Um, and I also know I know you can get these um insulated uh straws. Um, I'll probably try and do my own plumber's job and self-insulate it, the ones that I've got myself. Um, but so that's my uh water carrying capacity. Um, I know Ben, who I ran with on Thursday, is using a one and a half litre reservoir, so you know everybody's got their own way of tackling this. Item 25 is food. Now I haven't done anything about that for this or include it in the flat light. Um, obviously, food is a very personal thing, nutrition, everybody should have had that worked out by now on this race. You have to carry 1500 calories from the start and from each and every checkpoint location, and not more than 500 of those calories can be a powdered source, such as tailwind. So, I mean, I would personally I'm just going to be using mainly solid food. I might have the odd one or two gels which would be in there for emergency, but I just cannot do gels. I'm not one of these people who swear by the 900 grams an hour thing. Um, that's for the people at the front of the pack and not me. So I should be on things like pretzels and crisps and um some sort of energy bars, you know, like the naked bars or you know, fruit and nut, raw natural bar type stuffs. Um, but uh yeah, certainly won't be a whole load of shop blocks and gels and things like that. Um, I do carry some sweets, I will have some menthol sweets. I was thinking they wake the mind up a bit, give you a bit of a hit in the head if you need it. Um, and I always carry my standard crystallized ginger for stomach issues to hit them early. So, food is very much a personal thing, but you have to carry 1500 calories straight into your bag so you're not gonna um get penalised on a checkpoint, and there are penalties for every item that you have missing. Um, so it's well worth these are time penalties, so it's well worth making sure, um, especially when you're not compass mentors, after three or four nights of little sleep, uh, that you're ready for it. Item 26 is a mobile phone. Um, obviously, this everybody knows what one of those is and carries one these days. I've bought a waterproof case for mine, you know, a commute completely submersible one, um, and that will go into my OMM chess pod on the front, uh, so it's handy at all times. I've got uh OS maps on there, you don't need to have that, it's not compulsory, but it's yet another map aid that I'm quite happy to have, and I as I subscribe to them, it'll be on there anyway. Um item 27 is a rear red light, and I've actually bought the one that is in the picture on their specification. Um, I know about them because it's a cat-eye uh red rear light. I've had to put up a Heath Robinson thing on the back of the pack, involving a couple of little carabinas and the rubber sort of mounting band that they uh supply with the torch. Um, and these just run on those little flat um batteries C whatever they are, 200 and something batteries. So, and I think one of those will do about 80 hours anyway, so should just about get me up there, hopefully. Um, and I might I might actually get a spare in the uh there's no point in not having a spare in the drop bag. Um 28, the highly hygienic poo kit. Um this is now a compulsory requirement, and I think it has been for the last couple of um iterations of the race. Um, I bought a C to Summit one that has um a handle that's detachable uh from the scoop, and the handle actually fits into the scoop. Um so that makes it more packable uh than some of the others. Not sure how much digging I'm gonna be able to do in the ground with it, it's a hard plastic, but anyway, um I've no doubt it will get used in anger. Um, I do have a bit of a history with this sort of thing, so um quite happy to take one and carry it. Um, you also have to have tissues, uh a couple of packs of uh tissues, obviously, um, and the dispoo disposal bags. So instead of picking up your own dog's mesh, you can pick up your own. Um, actually, you don't have to pick up the mesh, you bury it, but obviously the tissues need dispose in in a uh responsible way. Item 30 is um medical kit, first aid kit, personal kit. Um, but they do have a list of mandatory kit items, which I will read out. Um, you need two antiseptic wipes, um, two hypodermic needles, um, and they actually specify the size, they've got to be 21 grams and 25 mils long, I presume. Um, kinsiology tape, you need two metres of that that's 50 centimeters wide. Um, now with that, you it has to be the continuous two meters, I believe. Um, and I say that because I've bought the boot stuff in the past, and it comes already uh cut into lengths, uh, which are much shorter, much much shorter than two metres, so they they're not continuous strips, so just be careful what you're bringing, because I'm presuming when they say two metres, it needs to be a continuous length, so that they or you can do all sorts of things with it, rather it being a length that isn't going to actually provide you with a longer um length if you should need it for something like a longer muscle uh injury or strain. Um, you need a small pair of safety scissors, um, you need eight times uh 500 microgram uh doses of paracetamol tablets, um, and you need a foil emergency blanket, which surprised me. Um, and I mean I obviously I've got those, they used to come when you bought backpacks, they were as part of the supply. So I've got a couple of those. I should put one, another spare one in my drop bag. Uh, you need two waterproof places, which seems like not many, but this is out of each, out of the start on each checkpoint, and you need one pair of non-sterile Nyroll uh gloves. Um, you need to have that and be able to restock that every time you leave a checkpoint. So if you use your needles for blisters, um you end up chucking them in the bin, you need to put some more needles back in your pack at each checkpoint. So that is um well worth uh remembering. Um, you also need uh rehydration salts, and these uh must be the diarolite type or somebody's own brand rehydration salts, they cannot be a salt tablet or an electrolyte tablet type thing, so you have to use a um prescribed type, and I would suggest just getting the diaralite anyway, those are the ones I'm using. Uh, but again, if you use them, you've got to restock them and make sure you've got some in your bag uh when you um move from out of the checkpoints. Uh now, in terms of the sleep system, I think I can move over now onto that sort of completes the actual um mandatory kit that you would need to get you through a kit check to actually get you onto the race itself. The one thing um I didn't cover off, I think, was the maps. Um, I actually bought the two um Harvey's National Trails, Pennine Way South and Pennine Way North maps. Um, the south goes from Edale to Middleton in Teesdale, and the north goes from Middleton in Teesdale to Kirk Yatholm. Um, the race organisation have since uh worked something out with Harvey maps and have now divided it up into I don't know five or six sections, um, which are available digitally online at the moment uh if you're on the race, uh, but they're going to be supplied at Kit Check to everybody, and they will have a lot of other information to do with the race on them, uh, be a bit more detailed and broken down into a more um, I guess, user-friendly and easier way of reading them. Uh, I'm not really totally au fa with it technically electronically because I'm not very good with that stuff, but so the maps are supplied, you do not have to turn up with come with the maps with your compulsory. I should take mine obviously because I've got them now, and see what we get when we get there. Um, the other thing I haven't mentioned is a watch. Um, and I've mentioned it in terms of the fact that I was using a you've got to have a handheld GPS device, um, but I'm just taking my normal Sunto 9, um, which has about a 28-hour battery life. Um, I'll also be carrying um a uh which one have I got? An anchor uh power bank, which has two USB points um for charging the watch and well the handheld GPS um and my phone. And I shall also have a bigger output power bank in the drop bag, um, and I shall also have got a small pebble sort of um lipstick size power bank as well, which I sometimes use on the watch because they can leave the watch on your wrist while charging, um, and just put the pebble either in the chest pack or in the in a pocket in the jacket while the watch is charging. But that's an aside, that's um not part of the compulsory kit jack. Obviously, you need you have to have a watch with a GPX route on it, uh, but um, and the cables and the ability to charge as well. Um, so I shall move over to the drop bag, which is allowed to be 20 kilos in weight. Um, I've got an old Berghouse 100 litre bag, which I haven't packed up properly and weighed as yet, uh, because obviously they'll get down to a lot of fine detail about what you want to put actually put in your bag right down to the last minute before you leave home and set out on your way. Um, but I'll just talk through some of the stuff uh that I have in this bag. Um, I'll start with whatever comes out first and do it in order. Actually, the underwear is on the top, which I haven't talked about. Um, here are a lot of blokes going on about chafing, um, and I haven't had any chafing since I was a schoolboy running cross country in a cheap old pair of shorts. I don't know why people get themselves into that state with chaping. Um, I use the rundaw uh merino wool, uh pants, wife, whatever you want to call them, they're not boxers, you can get them in the boxer type. Um, obviously, I'm talking about blokey stuff, I have no idea what females do. I presume that runderwear make female stuff as well. Um, I'm not gonna comment any more on that because I don't know anything about it. Um then I've got a pair now leggings, I've got I go everything from lightweight skins, uh, which are very thin and quite compression, up to uh some ice breaker 260, some sort of weave, very warm um leggings as well. They're merino wool as well, so they'll cope with the coldest weather, hopefully. Um, I'm also taking a pair of what would be described as a ski pant by La Sportiva, um, probably not quite as heavy as you would have as a pair of Salapets, um, but uh they're not Gore-Tex waterproof, but they are still a heavy trouser, which I will wear my waterproof trousers over. I will probably have these on, maybe even with a pair of tights underneath. But I think these are gonna get my main use on my legs, will be the Lasportiva pants. Um, I've also got a pair of uh Gore-Tex uh mitts, ski mitts, which are very warm, they are rated right down to I did see it somewhere, a thermal rating of minus 28 uh degrees, so these are gonna be uh pretty warm. Uh I'm just looking because they're uh I just want to make sure that is uh yeah, 28 Celsius, seven Celsius. So um now there's a bit of controversy, obviously. The you have to have fingered gloves. I might not have mentioned that when I mentioned the gloves as part of the compulsory kit about them being waterproof. You can't use mitts anymore. Um, and I do think that um I think mitts might come back. Uh I'll tell you why, because I listened to well, I've listened to all sorts of podcasts, um all on the spine race in the last couple of weeks. Everything I could consume about it, I have. Um, and Sam Skinner uh had an excellent podcast. He's doing a build-up to the spine race, um, which he's been doing for a couple of weeks now. Uh, his podcast is called Home Trails, I think, and he had Lindley Chambers on, who is the Kit Race uh consultant to the race, he is the guru about the race, and you do not get past Lindley um unless you've got the kit. Um, and so he was talking about this. So if you want to know anything more about the reasons behind it or why you have to have this equipment, I highly recommend you listen to that podcast. It also tells you about what goes on with kit check, the traffic light system, about um how much some people get a full kit check, some get um, I don't know, um, half the items, and some people get less. I think uh dozens about the medium amount, uh, the the small sorry, dozens about the uh least amount you get checked on. Um but also there are uh checks that can be full checks out of each checkpoint as well. So don't think that once you've got through the checkpoint, that is uh your kit check before the race, that is it. It can happen at any time during the race as well. Anyway, back to the mitts. I am definitely wearing these. I suffer with a cold, as I've said. Um, and I've also got a pair of Salamon XXL over mitts coming in the post, which will go over the top of these uh to give an extra. Layer of uh windproof protection as well on the top. So if if I get cold in those with that over the top, I am gonna be in trouble. Um, um, on top of that, in terms of rain jackets, I said I'd got the um 20k head montane jacket that I'm taking to through the kit check and I will be wearing most of the time, but I've also got another um 20k um La Sportiva uh jacket, I can't remember what it's called, it's a sort of lighter weight material than the montane, actually. Um, but it's a Gore-Tex um, obviously, so I'm hoping. Well, I'll definitely be using that at some point, and on top of that, I got two lighter weight ones. I've got the Salamon Um Bonatti uh 10,000 head jacket and the month uh old OMM Cam Lyker jacket, and all of these uh have been washed through on a well with waterproofing material. Um can't remember the product now, but a waterproofing product uh beforehand to make sure because I've had some of them a while to make sure they're fully as waterproof as they can be before they go on to the race. Uh, in terms of jackets, I also bought off of James a Lasportiva uh windproof jacket, which I have running, it's really nice, extremely lightweight, um, and useful just as wind protection. Don't know whether it will get used on the race, it's going in the bag anyway, um, and I'll get a load of use out of it anyway, because it's just a great bit of kit to have out running on the trails. Um, I've also got a waterproof cap from Montaine in here as well, in terms of headgear. I've got a couple of extra beanie hats, I've got other just warm gloves. Um, they're not waterproof, but they're just there if we do get um cold, dry weather, may well need them. I've even got a spare whistle in here, I've just seen um poles. I should talk about them. I've just spotted those. Um, I've got a set of black diamond Z Carbon poles, um, which I will be using as my race pole from the start. Um, I also have a set of Mounting King aluminium poles, which are really nice, lightweight, uh, quite a thin pole. Um, and I think these are made in the late district or the companies from the late district. I was quite happy to buy them. Yep, designed and made in Great Britain anyway. So um taking those as spares, and then I do have one Lecky Carbon pole. Um, I got I swore by Leckie Carbon poles, but I also swore at Lecky Carbon poles because I kept falling over and snapping the bloody things. Um, not really Lecky's fault, I guess. Um, sometimes I did get them jammed in a rock and snap them. I've had about three pairs. Uh, you always end up with an odd one. Well, in the Dragonsback Race 2022, I ended up with finishing with like half a one because that's all that was left after the destruction of that event. Um, but I've now got another one that's just a single pole on its own. Contacted Lecky um to see if you could buy singles to make up pairs, and you can't, so they need to up their green game. Um, because either that or somebody needs to start a website uh matching polls up, uh a dating website for polls, a Polish daily, no, not a Polish daily, not a Polish um dating website, a uh website for dating website for polls. Anyway, if anybody has got one a and wants to match up with mine, I have a male, because it's a male size, unless you're a very tall woman, um Carbon Z pole. And I would be happy for it to find a partner or um it to find a partner for mine. That would be great. Uh that's enough of poles. Lecky, sort your bloody lives out. Um cups. I've got a uh collapsible, another collapsible cup in here, um, just because it's spare, and then importantly, I've got a mountain equipment mat that I can inflate. Um, I've heard that some of the checkpoints aren't very warm, um, and I want to get off the ground if there's nothing to actually lay on, and I've got a lightweight OMM sleeping bag to use in the checkpoints as well as a spare. I've also got just a thing I bought from Mountain Warehouse, a cheap micro toweling travel towel. I'm gonna need one of those. I also have here in here um squirrel's nut butter happy toes. Uh, I started using squirrel nut butter only about six weeks ago. Find it really good with the um uh the sock lining socks that I use the injinji toe socks, um, and I used put that on first and the toe sock and then the um waterproof sock. So that's all of it, I think, at the moment. I mean, there'll be other stuff going into this bag, it's just to give you an idea of the extra bits you need. Obviously, you need the extra food. Um, oh, another thing I've got in here is hand warmers. You know, the ones that you sort of break or something, they're in a little packet, sachet, stick them inside your gloves. Don't know whether they work, what they do, how long they last, but somebody gave me a load of them knowing I was doing the race, so I thought I'd give those a try. Um, oh, some other things here. Um, yeah, more base layers. I've got thin base layer from Patagonia, I've got thicker base layers uh from I've got a really nice salmon one. I wish I could still get those. I wish I'd have bought more of it when I had it because you know when you get an item that you really get on with, and then they bloody change, they don't keep manufacturing it. Um, and James sold me an OMM, one of these Pertex things uh that looks like a little woolly bear thing that's actually quite um see-through if you stretch it out, uh, quite breathable. That's gonna get quite a bit of use. Um, I really like that, had it a while, and then I've got a really heavyweight fleece from Montain, um, which I really do like like um some sort of uh bear from um Rainbow, the kids programming. Um, it's orange, uh, but it's really heavy. I mean, actually, it's heavier than the midlayer that I'm taking, the Montain synthetic midlayer, because it this wouldn't pass kit check because it's a fleece, but I think it's it's getting on for 500 grams, so but I'm not fussed, not fussed about the weight at all, um, you know, within reason. Um, I am not gonna be racing to get up there. Uh, first or anywhere near, I'm gonna be mid to back pack. I'd be happy with mid-pack. Um, I'm certainly gonna be, you know, when I do these things, I always think like, uh, what is the course record or who's what's the fastest time likely to be? And um Jack Scott's record is about 72 hours, I think, or something daft, um, or something excellent, I should say. Um, and I'd be very happy with double that. I mean, 144 hours would be brilliant, I'll take that. So um I would expect to travel about twice the weight of him as well, so that's what it would be. I'm I'm gonna be around about 11 kilos, all up in terms of uh pack weight and mandatory kit, I should think. And at times my kit bag um or what I'm wearing is gonna be a lot heavier than that. I mean, I've heard all sorts of people wearing from you know five to seven layers, and so you're gonna have quite a bit of kit weight on you as well as besides what you're carrying in the mandatory kit. Um, yeah, just another thing on the kit bag, the drop bag actually. Um, although I've got a hundred litre bag, uh the 20 kilograms is uh mandatory and it's weighed every time you leave a checkpoint. Um so if you get wet kit, and that's another thing you should have in your bag, is a bin bag or you know, some uh some sort of waterproof bag to throw in your wet kit into. Um that kit bag's gonna get heavier and heavier and heavier with your wet stuff, um, especially if you change your trainers at any point as well. So you don't want to be on that 20k limit when you hand your bag in, I would suggest. Um, you want to have a couple of kilos of spare capacity, I think, um, because they are not taking your bag uh unless it weighs 20 kilos or less. Um, the only other thing that's just prompted me, I've just seen my first aid kit. Um, on a personal level, you have to um have informed them already of any medical conditions or medications that you're on. If you are taking any medications, and I do, um, as part of lifelong prescription, um, they have to be in the uh marked up box. In other words, you can't do the old people thing, and a lot of you who are maybe 40 or under won't you'll have seen your parents with these boxes, pill boxes, um, which I have and go on holiday with. Uh, you can't uh decant your pills into those boxes because they've got to be in the named medication boxes so that they know what you're taking, and if you have an emergency, um, what it is you're on or what it is you need to take. Uh, so that's just uh a personal thing. Everybody's got their own. Well, I hope they haven't all got their own medical issues, but many of us have. So there we are. I think that's just about the full range of um the kit. This was all just about the kit requirement. I haven't even talked about um the course, um, and you know, I've never I've not I've been on Jacob's ladder, and that is about it from E-Dale. I've not tried to wreckie any of the route. I'm treating this very much as an adventure um to take on when I get there. Um, hopefully the weather will be spiny. I don't care. I mean, when I enter these things, that's the whole point, it's the challenge. I don't know why people whinge about having to carry protective uh gear for such an event, um, or why they went whinge about how tough the race was when it says this is Britain's most brutal ultra race, um, and that's very much why I've entered it. Um, and hopefully I'm prepared enough to do as best I can and take it on. Um, so I will come back on in the new year and just before uh travelling up to Edale on um for the kit check on Saturday the 10th of January and talk a bit more probably about the route, not that I know an awful lot about it. I mean, I will have obviously I've studied some of the maps um and listened to loads of people talk about it. Um, you hear all the stuff about, you know, um, well, Jacob's ladder I've mentioned, but you know, uh Malam Cove, Malum Tarn, Penny Gent, uh Cam High Road, Crossfell, um, all these names, the Shill, the the Cheviots. Um I'm not really sure what order any of them appear in, or when they come along, or how much of them you can see. Um, so it will really be an adventure uh for me in terms of just discovery, really. Uh, but that all adds to it for me. So I'm quite excited about that. So uh that just about winds it up. Have a very Merry Christmas and a very happy new year to everybody. Um, and I shall be back on, as I said, and see you all in the new year. So this is Kev saying bye for now.

SPEAKER_01 57:25

To the next bloody agitation.