Nicola "Nicky" Spinks (born 22 April 1967) is a British long-distance runner, specialising in

fell running Fell running, also sometimes known as hill running, is the sport of running and racing, off-road, over upland country where the gradient climbed is a significant component of the difficulty. The name arises from the origins of the English sport o ...

, who set women's records for the major fell-running challenges the

Ramsay Round The Ramsay Round, also known as the Charlie Ramsay Round, is a long distance hill running challenge near Fort William, Scotland. The route is a circuit of 58 miles (93 kilometres), taking in 24 summits with a total climb of around 28,500 feet (8,7 ...

, the

Paddy Buckley Round The Paddy Buckley Round, also known as the Welsh Classical Round, is a long distance fell running challenge in Snowdonia, Wales. The route is a circuit of just over 100 km long taking in some 47 summits. The Round has the reputation of being ...

and the

Bob Graham Round The Bob Graham Round is a fell running challenge in the English Lake District. It is named after Bob Graham (1889–1966), a Keswick guest-house owner, who in June 1932 broke the Lakeland Fell record by traversing 42 fells within a 24-hour perio ...

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

Peak District The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It includes the Dark Peak, where moorl ...

while still a child. She is now a farmer in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

Early life

Nicky Spinks was born in London. She moved to

Glossop Glossop is a market town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is located east of Manchester, north-west of Sheffield and north of the county town, Matlock. Glossop lies near Derbyshire's borders with Cheshire, Greater Manche ...

in the

while still a child.

Running career

Early running career

Spinks began running competitively in 2001 in a 4-mile

fell race Fell running, also sometimes known as hill running, is the sport of running and racing, off-road, over upland country where the gradient climbed is a significant component of the difficulty. The name arises from the origins of the English sport ...

UK 24-hour Rounds

Spinks first completed the

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

in 2013 at 19:02 and the

in 2014 at 19:39. She thus simultaneously held the women's fastest times for each of the three most famous 24-hour British mountain courses (which has never happened with the men's record) from 2014 until 2016, when

Jasmin Paris Jasmin Karina Paris (born November 1983) is a British runner who has been a national fell running champion and who has set records for the Bob Graham Round and the Ramsay Round. She is well known in Great Britain as a fell runner, but became kno ...

broke Spinks's records for the individual rounds and set an overall best combined time of 50:10. She was for some time the only person to have completed each challenge in under 20 hours. 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. 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. In 2018 she completed a double Ramsey Round in 55:56 and in 2019 a double Paddy Buckley Round in 57:27. 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 holds 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. In April 2017, she ran the

Joss Naylor Joss Naylor, MBE (born 10 February 1936 at Wasdale Head) is an English fell runner who set many long-distance records, and a sheep farmer, living in the English Lake District. As his achievements increased he became better known as the King o ...

Lakeland Challenge in 11:02, a new women's record. Spinks has won the Fellsman four times and in 2013 she won the Borrowdale Fell Race. Spinks was an entrant in the 2019 and 2023 edition of the

Barkley Marathons The Barkley Marathons is an ultramarathon trail race held each year in Frozen Head State Park in Morgan County, Tennessee. The course, which varies from year to year, consists of five loops of the 20 miles course for a total of . Some racers h ...

. She is sponsored by RaceKit and Inov-8.

Personal life

In 2005, Spinks was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy in 2012. She is a farmer in

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Spinks, Nicky 1967 births Living people British ultramarathon runners British fell runners English female long-distance runners English farmers British women farmers Athletes from London Sportspeople from Yorkshire Female ultramarathon runners