Back in June, Sabrina Verjee came to do a talk at a bookshop in Stockport. She’s an incredible ultra-runner and adventure racer, so I didn’t waste time getting my tickets. The reason for doing the talk was to promote her first book “Where there’s a hill”, published by Vertebrate Publishing. But rather than just reading excerpts, the talk was conducted as an interview where she detailed a lot more about her life and how she got to this point.

The first time I saw Sabrina was on the Winter Spine in 2020. My memory was seeing her descending on the Pennine Way from White Hill on her approach to the M62 crossing; laser focused, leading a small group of male competitors towards the front of the field. She ultimately finished first lady and fifth overall. It’s worth noting that she’s won the summer event outright.

Where there’s a hill

Anyway, the talk provided a great background to the book without removing the need to read it. I came away with a copy although with work and other stuff, I didn’t get to read it immediately. But I can say it was well worth the wait and made for excellent reading.

The book itself details Sabrina’s early life, from being repeatedly ignored for sport at school to representing Cambridge University in the Modern Pentathlon. From this a discovery of adventure racing and ultimately an obsession with wanting to complete a full continuous round of the Wainwrights; 214 peaks in the Lake District – in less than 6 days.

Such grand plans don’t come together easy and Sabrina describes in detail the pitfalls along the way to her fourth attempt and successful round in 2021 which, at the time, broke the overall record in achieving this feat.

I don’t want to say too much more otherwise I’d be denying you the opportunity to enjoy this book as much as I did. It’s well worth your time and money to find out, from Sabrina herself, what makes someone attempt such an incredible feat as well as what it actually takes to pull it off.

Unlike previous books from this publisher, I bought this one myself and the review is entirely mine.

If you want to support the author and the publisher directly, you can purchase the book here.