Dig Deep Trail Ultra 60

Jonathan Palmer was the emphatic winner of the Dig Deep Trail Ultra 60 on Saturday 21^st September - his first race since becoming a first claim member of Grantham Running Club. 

As a second claim member of the club Jonny has tasted considerable success in ultra distance races in 2019 – he won the Chester Ultra 50 Mile in a course record time back in February and was fifth at the prestigious South Downs Way 100 mile race in June.

The Dig Deep Trail Ultra 60 covers around sixty miles on a tour of the beautiful but challenging Peak District, featuring 3222 meters of ascent and utilising some of the best trails to be found in the National Park. 

Starting in darkness at 6am at Whirlow Hall Farm on the Outskirts of Sheffield, Jonny reached the first of six checkpoints at Upper Burbage an hour into the race as one of a group of six. He then took the lead and pulled out a five minute gap by the third checkpoint at Parkin Clough three hours into the race. By the time he had reached Bradwell nearly five hours into the race he had a clear gap in excess of thirty minutes. Jonny continued to pull away from his nearest competition, finishing the race in a course record 9:18:19, some fifty minutes clear of the second placed finisher.

Sif Sumarlidadottir of London Heathside was the first woman to finish in 12:02:55. There were 48 finishers. The Dig Deep Trail event also featured a 12.12 mile race and a 30 mile ultra, which began a couple of hours after the 60 mile race.