I walked the Pennine Way at 14, now at 66 I'm running it

2 hours ago

News image — David Griffin began fell running more than 40 years ago

David Griffin David Griffin, a 66-year-old man, is running towards the camera. He is wearing a blue vest which has the number 49 on it and is running between silver metal barriers which suggest the end of a race. In the distance a number of people are watching the runners and applauding. — David Griffin began fell running more than 40 years ago

David Griffin first walked the 268 miles (430km) of the Pennine Way in 1974 when he was 14. Now, more than 50 years later, he is hoping to run it in less than a week.

He is making his third attempt to complete the Montane Summer Spine Race, a single non-stop endurance event along the Way's entire length.

"I was born in Barnsley and I remember the first time I went with the school into the hills and I just absolutely loved it, it was a totally different world," he said.

That first feeling led him to find a fell-running passion which, for more than four decades, has helped him enjoy "isolation, beauty, tranquillity and nature".

David Griffin David Griffin is running wearing a sky blue vest with Helm Hill and the number 44 on the front. He is a man in his 60s with brown hair and a determined expression. Behind him is a canopy of trees and a part of another runner, in yellow and green, is just in shot behind him. — David Griffin says he has taken part in more races than he can remember

The 66-year-old, who lives in Silverdale - "literally 200m from the Lancashire/Cumbria border" - is chair of Helm Hill Runners based in Kendal, Cumbria.

He is one of 150 athletes who will leave Edale in Derbyshire on Sunday at 0800 and has until 20:00 BST on 20 June to reach Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders.

Described by the organisers as "Britain's most brutal" endurance race, it traverses some of the highest points along the backbone of England including County Durham, Cumbria and the Northumberland National Park.

Griffin's first attempt at walking the Pennine Way was with his school in 1973 but he was "a bit young" and had to stop.

He went back the following year and completed it.

Nearly half a century later in 2021, and "the fittest I've ever been", he made his first attempt to complete the Spine Race but was injured in a fall early on.

David Griffin David Griffin is running along a moorland. He is wearing a blue shirt, with a lighter blue vest and gloves. It is very muddy with a grey blue sky. — David Griffin entered the Spine Race in 2021 and 2025 but injury prevented him from finishing

He returned in 2025 and made it to Middleton-in-Teesdale in County Durham when a condition known as shin splints prevented him continuing.

"I was in so much pain, that last mile to the checkpoint took me 55 minutes," he said.

Now he is back again because "it's an itch, it's just something I really want to get done".

David Griffin David Griffin is standing in front of a poster for the Kendal Skyline Ultra and holding a medal. He is wearing a hi-vis vest and blue top and is a man in his 60s with brown hair — David Griffin has only completed a handful of endurance races

While Griffin has spent a lifetime running in the hills, he has only completed a handful of endurance races but says there is "something special" about the Spine Race.

"They talk about the Spine family and you don't really believe it, but then you take part and it really is like a family," he said.

"The organisers want you to finish, the medics want you to finish, all the volunteers want you to finish. There is such a bond between us all.