Rescuers with the collapsed runner. Photo: Northumberland NP MRT

A competitor in the Montane Spine Race was stretchered from a remote hill after collapsing.

Northumberland National Park Mountain Rescue Team and colleagues from the North of Tyne team were called out on Saturday at the request of Northumbria Police.

The runner was taking part in the endurance event along the full length of the Pennine Way when he collapsed and injured himself on the Border Ridge at Score Head, north of King’s Seat, which the Northumberland NP team said is one of the most remote parts of its operational area.

A team spokesperson said: “As the teams were mobilised and Border Search and Rescue Unit were put on standby, the Spine Race safety team made their way from the Auchope shelter on the Pennine Way to the competitor’s location.

“The competitor was treated by one of the event’s medics and one of the teams’ doctors before being carried off the hill on a stretcher to the vehicles located in the forest north of Uswayford.

“The stretcher carry was made all the more difficult due to terrain, iced-up flagstones along the Pennine Way and bogs and peat hags on the descent in the dark to the vehicles.

“The competitor was then transported the 8km down the valley to the road head where he was transferred to a North East Ambulance Service-crewed ambulance for onward transport to hospital.”

The rescue ended about 4am on Sunday.

The Northumberland NP team has already been called out eight times this year.

The Spine Race ended at 8am on Sunday, with 63 competitor completing the full 268-mile course from Edale to Kirk Yetholm.