Former triathlon star Lucy Gossage heads back to what is billed as ‘Britain’s most brutal’ race this weekend as she looks to build on – and move on – from last year’s incredible debut at the Montane Winter Spine Race.

Gossage finished a remarkable third behind defending champion Claire Bannwarth and previous podium finisher Hannah Rickman as she negotiated 268 challenging miles up the Pennine Way from Edale in the Peak District to Kirk Yetholm on the English-Scottish border.

It was far from the first extreme challenge she had set herself – as well as multiple IRONMAN wins she has also won both Patagonman and Norseman – but it underlined just how well she could translate her talents to ultrarunning.

The NHS oncologist’s heroics at the Spine Race saw her raise well over £30,000 for the MOVE charity, which aims to ‘use physical activity and exercise to improve the lives of people with cancer’.

But rather than a joyous celebration of her achievements afterwards, there was instead a shocking development which she has now spoken about in detail ahead of her return to this year’s event which starts this Sunday (12th January).

Post-race bombshell

As she told us ahead of the race last year, all the training for the Spine had been done with her partner Andrew, who also took part in the race.

But events took a completely unexpected turn during and after the event, with fellow triathlete Nikki Bartlett – who this year finished a brilliant fifth at the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice – first to hear about it as she was looking after Gossage’s social channels.

In a blog post published a week before this year’s start and titled ‘The Spine Take 2. A race for closure’, Gossage explained: “24 hours into last year’s race, my friend Nikki, who had been sharing my and my partner’s progress through the race on socials, capturing the imagination of so many of you through her storytelling, received a message from a woman claiming she had been dating my partner of over 3 years, without knowing about me, for the prior few months.

“Nikki’s first instinct was not to believe it. She, as did many others of our friends, were expecting us to get engaged after the Spine. But after exchanging messages with this brave woman, it became clear this wasn’t some cruel hoax. It was true.”

Gossage writes in detail about the impact of that betrayal – and why she is openly sharing the experience to try and help others who might find themselves in a similar situation – click here for the full post.

‘Success will be drawing a line under the chaos’

But now 12 months on, she returns to the event and it’s clear her hopes and motivations for taking part again are multi-layered.

She will start as one of the favourites. Bannwarth, emphatic winner for the last two years, swerves a hat-trick bid and instead races in the Hong Kong 100 a week later.

But thoughts of winning don’t appear a priority right now for Gossage. She says: “For now, this story is why I find myself on the start line for this bonkers race in just a few days’ time. Last year’s Spine race was about working towards something together with someone I loved. It was about 3 years of adventuring together to finish something utterly crazy. But as it turned out, I had just 5 days to celebrate this joint achievement before my world came crashing down.  This year, I want the time to savour this sense of satisfaction for myself.

“Yesterday a friend asked me what I thought I would view as ‘success’ at this year’s race.

“Yes, I’d like to find the sleep jigsaw piece that I didn’t find last year. Yes, I’d like to put together a more sensible race so that I finish the race moving with purpose across the Cheviots rather than stumbling over them as a blithering, incoherent mess. 

“But more than anything, success will be drawing a line under the chaos of the last year and reclaiming my memories of the Spine for myself.

“Success will be shuffling down the hill to the finish feeling pride that I’ve survived 2024 and have found it within me to tackle the Spine again, for myself.

Success will be celebrating resilience, and the new friends I’ve made along the way. 

“When I think back to my words before the race last year “The journey to the start has been life-changing. I have no doubt the race will be life-changing”, I realize how true they were. Last year’s race changed my life in ways I never expected. I’m sure this year’s race will too. 

“But this time, I hope it will be about finding closure and finding myself again.”

And Gossage isn’t the only triathlon contender at the Spine Race – former IRONMAN athlete John Kelly is favourite for the men’s title and you can follow all the action as it unfolds on our sister site RUN247.