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Winter Trail and Mountain Ultra Running Training Weekend 2025

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Winter Trail & Mountain Ultra Training Skills Weekend | Garrigill Village Hall  | 14 to 16 November 2025 | All about Ultras, Mountains and UK Rounds during the winter months | £450 - instalment options available 

In Association with Montane, Mountain Mastery,  Scarpa UK and Running Poles UK

Guest speakers - Tom Hollins & Louise Goddard

ACCOMMODATION included

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An immersive weekend of ultra mountain training in the middle of The Montane SPINE country, with expert coaches and elite runners.

£450 | Friday/Saturday Evening Meal | Saturday/Sunday Breakfast | Location - Garrigill Village Hall | 14 to 16 November 2025 | Montane Endorsed Course

Instructors/Coaches: Charles Sproson and Chris Wright

Athletes in attendance: Louise Goddard & Tom Hollins - both ultra distance experts

Your winter ultra journey starts here: we’ve teamed up with Chris Wright, Tom Hollins and Louise Goddard to create an immersive weekend of winter running, skills and training that will prepare you to tackle races such as The Montane Spine, The Montane Cheviot Goat, UK Rounds like the Bob Graham, Paddy Buckley or Charlie Ramsay with confidence. Expect two jam packed days of running skills with expert coaches, opportunities to learn from seasoned ultra runners, evenings talking ultras and swapping stories.

Accommodation Included
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Who is it for?
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What's Included?
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Whats not included?
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Training Plans by HP3 Coaching [Not included]
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Projected Course Program
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What to bring - Clothing and Equipment list
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Meet your Instructors/Skills Coaches: 

Charles Sproson is the head of Mountain Run and has a wealth of winter mountain experience under his belt. Whilst he did not complete The Montane Spine in 2014, he did recce the whole route and made it to Houghton in Ribblesdale in the event and suffered a knee injury causing him to stop. Charlie realised The Spine was not his favourite terrain and never made it back. However, Charles is a winter junkie and has spent many many hours in foul winter conditions hanging off belays, racing on skis and training through the winter on the Lakeland Fells for more than 20 years

Read more about Charles here: https://mountainrun.co.uk/abou...

Charles winning the Marmot Dark Mountains back in 2017 with Steve Birkenshaw
Charles winning the Marmot Dark Mountains back in 2017 with Steve Birkenshaw


Chris Wright is a freelance Outdoor Instructor and the founder of Mountain Mastery UK. Chris has a wealth and breadth of leading in the mountains, both UK and further afield. An ex secondary school teacher, Chris has actively used his Summer ML for the past 30 years and Winter ML for 15 years. His leadership role with youth expeditions has taken him as far afield as Svalbard, Kyrgyzstan and Malawi, in addition to many personal trips to Ecuador and Nepal (including the Original Everest Marathon 2019) plus many Alpine Mountaineering adventures. Chris is a qualified Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor and is often seen guiding on Skye's Cuillin Ridge.

With an earlier career as an academic and Science PhD, Chris has a good knowledge base and keen practical interest in human physiology and biochemistry, understanding the theory behind training, nutrition and performance. He switched from pure classroom teaching to the outdoors in 2009 after studying for a PGCE in Outdoor Education at Edinburgh, and becoming an advocate for Kurt Hahn's Experiential Learning, and has never looked back.

Chris started running Mountain Ultramarathons in his 50s and is no stranger to pushing himself to his limits, having passed the notoriously hard Parachute Regiment selection test in his late 30's, serving in the 4th Battalion reservists. Since completing his first Ultra in 2012, the Lakeland 50, Chris has gone on to complete the CCC (2014) and the prestigious UTMB in 2018. More recently, having previously volunteered on the safety team, he was a finisher in the Winter Spine race in 2023, and claimed a top 20 spot in the Winter Challenger North 2024. Chris knows what it takes to 'get it done'. He is currently in training for a Bob Graham attempt.

Chris professes to be 'an ordinary bloke' who is self taught through reading volumes of information, and experimenting with his own training and racing. His mantras include: 'its never too late' and 'you never know what you can or can't do until you try'.

Chris enjoying himself mid-Spine Race
Chris enjoying himself mid-Spine Race

Meet the Guest Speakers/Athletes: 

Louise Goddard is a highly accomplished long distance fell and mountain runner with a long list of accolades, and no stranger to the Spine race. She was 13th overall in Spine Sprint and 7th lady in the 2023 Summer race and 3rd lady (7th overall) in the 2024 Spine Northern Challenger Winter race.

As part of her preparation for the winter event 2024, she was 3rd lady in the Montane Cheviot Goat and is attempting the South and North Sprint in Summer 2025.

Prior to entering the Spine events, she was a volunteer, gaining valuable insights to the race.

Louise represented GB in Duathlon (running and cycling), was 7th in Europe (in Copenhagen) in 2018 and Silver medallist in the World Championship, Long Distance event (Switzerland) in 2019. She is currently an England Masters marathon runner.

More recently, Louise has been a member of the panel at a Montane/Spine workshops online, championing women in long distance events and drawing on her race and training experience to encourage participation in the Spine and other multi-day and winter events.

Louise is still winning races at 58yrs old, and brings a wealth of first-hand experience to this weekend workshop. As well as giving a short talk, she will accompany the runs over the weekend, dispensing invaluable tips and advice.

Louise Goddard
At home on The Spine

Tom Hollins has a wealth of experience with regards to ultra running and is somewhat of an icon at The Montane Spine event. He has podium finishes under his belt on all Winter Spine  distances , including 1st places in the Challenger South [2016] and the Full Spine [2017], 2nd place in the Challenger North [2024] and Sprint South [2025].

Tom's accolades stretch far beyond the Spine series, which include the infamous Barkley Marathons; a double solo Bob Graham round, and most recently, he set an incredible FKT for a supported solo Winter Wainwright round in just over 8 days, which is utterly phenomenal. 

What Tom doesn't know about winter adventures on foot is probably not worth knowing. 

No doubt, Tom will enrich the weekend enormously, dispensing his invaluable practical tips and anecdotes.

Tom Hollins
Just about to start 'one' of The Montane Spine races




Together; Chris, Charles, Louise and Tom bring a wealth of knowledge on how to tackle and complete such races, with all your fingers, toes and other extremities 'intact'!

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