We use new high statistics data from CLAS and COMPASS on the nucleon's spin structure function at low Bjorken x and low virtuality, Q 2 < 0.5 GeV 2 , together with earlier measurements from the SLAC E-143, HERMES and GDH experiments to estimate the effective intercept(s) for spin dependent Regge theory. We find αa 1 = 0.31 ± 0.04 for the intercept describing the high-energy behaviour of spin dependent photoabsorption together with a new estimate for the high-energy part of the Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn sum-rule, −15 ± 2µb from photon-proton centre-of-mass energy greater than 2.5 GeV. Our value of αa 1 suggests QCD physics beyond a simple straight-line a1 trajectory.