A CUMBRIAN mountain rescue team came to the aid of a woman taking part in one of the world’s most intense endurance races.

Penrith Mountain Rescue Team was scrambled at 7am on Wednesday, along with Kirkby Stephen Mountain Rescue Team after a woman had become stranded while taking part in the Montane Spine Race.

The mammoth endurance challenge sees competitors racing along the length of the Pennine Way, from the Peak District in Derbyshire to the Scottish Borders.

Part way through the 268-mile trek, one woman, aged 51, had become “disorientated in the dark” near Appleby, according to a spokesman for Penrith’s mountain rescue team.

Discovered on a ledge at High Cup Nick, north east of Appleby, the spokesman added that she was “very cold, tired and wet.”

“Once we had located the casualty, she was made secure, sheltered from the cold and strong winds and re-warmed.

“The casualty was then packaged into a stretcher and lowered off the steep ground.”

The teams then transported the woman back to the Spine race’s rest station at Dufton village hall for rest and recuperation.