Breastfeeding mother beats record for 268-mile Montane Spine Race

Jasmin Paris is the first woman to win the race

On Wednesday evening, Jasmin Paris became the first woman to win the gruelling 268-mile Montane Spine Race, which takes place every year along the Pennine Way.

As if that wasn’t impressive enough, the 35-year-old is currently breastfeeding and stopped to express milk along the route, which runs through the mountain tops of northern England and the Scottish borders.

Paris, who works as a vet at the University of Edinburgh, completed the course in a record time of 83 hours, 12 minutes and 23 seconds, beating the previous record by more than 12 hours.

“I’m not really sure how I managed to do it!” Paris told BBC Radio 5 Live after completing the race, revealing she hardly slept over the few days that she was running.

The conditions were less than ideal, with rain and wind almost every day. Paris also said she ran most of the race in the dark, with just a head torch for light.

“I am breastfeeding actually and I did have to express at the checkpoints,” she added, “although I had to express less as the days went on because presumably this is a race that doesn’t go that well with making a lot of milk!”.

Participants have one week to finish the race, though few manage to complete it.

It covers some of the most challenging terrain in the UK, including the Peak District, Yorkshire Dales and Cheviots, and involves climbing 43,000ft in total, which is more than the height of Everest at 29,029ft.

Paris is an established runner, having won a number of ultramarathons (any footrace longer than the conventional marathon length of 26.2 miles) in addition to coming first in the British women’s fell running championships last year.

She continued running while she was pregnant with her daughter, Rowan.

“I ran until the day she was born,” she told the radio station, “and as soon as things tightened up again post-birth, I started running again.”