The Bob Graham Round 25/09/20 – 26/09/20 11pm on a Friday night, and again, I find myself standing below some arbitrary landmark, and hopefully I’ll be back here again in time for last orders tomorrow night I imagine Keswick market square is normally busier on a Friday night, but not these days. Right now, we have two nervous boys, a few support runners and a handful of friends to see us off. The plan for the coming adventure was relatively simple and comprises of two main parts. 1) Run a big circle over some hills in under 24 hours* 2) Try and enjoy myself The second part of this was really important to me this year. Last summer, I tackled the Denis Rankin Round, and although I got around it in one piece and under 24hrs for an official finish, I basically did not enjoy myself very much. A bad day on a bad day. So, when I look back at it, it was mostly bad with some small stages of good. Lessons learned, and hopefully applied. Still, I knew it was likely I was going to feel horrific at some stage during the next 24h hours, and that’s a strange feeling. Sure, it’s not even a real race, but hopefully I’ll enjoy it this time. Anyway, 11:01pm, and can we please start - I really need to pee. So, start the watch, hop down the steps and off to the hills. Full kit from the off. Mike and Jack. Keswick Moot Hall *The Bob Graham Round (the big circle over hills) is a fell running challenge in the English Lake District. The Round takes in 42 Lakeland Fells by running over 66miles and climbing 27,500ft. Contenders aim to complete to loop in under 24hrs for an official finish. The Bob Graham, along with the Denis Rankin Round (N.Ireland), Charlie Ramsay’s Round (Scotland) and Paddy Buckley Round (Wales), make up the 4 classic British Fell Running 24hr challenges. We set off on a schedule of 22hours and 10minutes, which felt realistic. Previously, I’d supported 3 legs of a 21:10 round, so had a good idea of the sort of pace that was needed. I’d managed to get a few more recce weekends since then, and so felt confident that, barring disaster, we could get around in roughly that, with an hour allowed for the longer nights of late September, poorer forecast and high winds. I had only met Mike, who was joining me for the attempt, once before on a BG support last summer, although I definitely know him better now. Two important foot notes about Mike are that 1) he has attempted the BG once before, and 2) due to some last-minute arrangements, he was wearing a pair of borrowed shoes. An important foot note about the shoes are, despite the fact their owner had only worn them once himself, they have now covered a little over 100 mile and 55,000ft of climb (Ramsay + BG). Not bad for two runs. Outdoor gear exchange anyone? Leg 1 (11:00) Moot Hall to Threlkeld Support – Rob Davidson, Tom Callan, Harry Pulham Setting off from Moot Hall brings with it a huge wave of relief. The few weeks leading up to the attempt are some of the worst. Although you are trying not to do too much running, that time is still filled; staring at forecasts, maps and stressing over getting people in and out of Wasdale. However, as soon as you’re on the long climb up Skiddaw, that slips away, and I probably have the most straight forward job from here to the finish. Just keep eating, drinking and running the runnable bits. The first bump in this straightforward road came pretty quickly though, with a huge cattle jam beneath Latrigg. The idea of jogging back down and starting again and midnight was floated, but we instead opted for the scarcely imaginable option of adding an extra 10metres of climbing to go up and around them. Recent Pentlands news at the fore of our minds. The single biggest climb of the day, Skiddaw offers a good chance to settle into the rhythm of the round. I also realised, given the interruptions over the last 6 months, this was the first time I’d catch up with a lot of friends who had volunteered their weekends to support. An abundance of chit chat certainly puts away some of the tougher sections. I allowed myself one single check of the watch all day – at the top of Skiddaw. Just to ensure we hadn’t got overly excited out of the gate, so the only other splits I had were for road crossings. I didn’t want the stress of a few minutes here or there at every summit. Down, up, down and up again, leg one is a lot of work for not many fells ticked off, but the top of Blencathra gives a great view over to leg 2 where they come much easier. First choice date for the attempt was actually the weekend previous, and as I sat in the flat on the most perfect September weekend imaginable, I thought that surely could only mean rain and clag for the following. What’s the chances the weather is good two weekends in a row at this time of year? Luckily, we had our answer, and the view across to the Hellvellyn ridge, despite being in complete darkness, was also basically clear. No rain, no cloud, no clag. Sure, the wind was strong and freezing cold, but we could deal with that. We might actually have gotten away with this. In descending off Blencathra to end Leg 1, there are four viable options which Peter McDonald discusses in A Tribute to the Round. Our route, the parachute route, is saved for the fastest of attempts, as it requires “downhill mastery”. Killian Jornet took Halls Fell ridge. So I’ll leave that there. Leg 2 (02:31) Threlkeld – Dunmail Raise Support – Tom Callan One new lesson learned from the BG experience: Stop planning rounds for a few weeks after Harry attempts one of his own. Last summer, he recovered quickly enough to do the full Rankin with me. This time, he was burst after 3 hours. With a Ramsay still in his legs, he bowed out apologetically, having only planned to support the first 2 legs anyway. Still, I was now going to have to carry my own stuff, and apologies don’t shave weight. Our party of 5 was now a party of 3, which gave things a much more serious feel with 4 hours of darkness still ahead. Two contenders, and our heavily packed mule Tom Callan, we set off across the road and fumbled our way to the top of Clough Head. Can I turn my torch off to save battery? From Clough head, the Dodds come and go pretty quickly, with only a little faff at the top to pick out the true summit in the dark. Moving swiftly onwards, the Helvellyn Ridge really offers some of the best actual running along the entire route, the only disheartening fact being how much warmer it had been when I’d last ran this as a night leg. Nonetheless, it was smooth sailing really as far as Dollywaggon. With a tricky line off to find in the dark, we then shed all non–essential weight and wondered why Bob Graham couldn’t have just settled at 41 fells. Up and down, out and back – Fairfield is a bitch. Even the first breaking of light doesn’t allow us to enjoy it, but it does mean its nearly brew time, and finally dropping down into Dunmail raise was a beautiful scene. Sun rising behind us, 3 support vans marking the road cross point. With a full day ahead and just over a marathon on the watch, we were well and truly in this now. Oh, and Happy New Marathon. Leg 3 (06:49) Dunmail Raise – Wasdale Support: Barney Nikolich, Oisin Brennan, Fraser Mackenzie, Ruaraidh Mackenzie, Ross Coles So, I used to live in hipster Finnieston, and am therefore above instant coffee now. However, if you ever need an instant black coffee to taste like a £4.50 West End flat white, coming out of 7 and a half hours of freezing cold night running for your first coffee in three weeks is a pretty good start. Still feeling chirpy, and being able to ditch my pack again, the steep climb out of Dunmail went pretty easy. Rolling out with a big group also certainly helped, even if everyone was still wiping sleep out of their eyes. They were at least kind enough to move out of earshot of Tom before complaining about their early rise. Two Scots in Shorts Ross, Mike, Oisin, Jack, Fraser, Ruairaidh, Barney Fraser and Ruaraidh’s first time in the lakes meant there was a lot of pointing at things and naming them. I politely refrained from giving my input. Not least as my Lakes knowledge consists entirely of various BG lines and not picking out hills from a distance, but at some stage, my general chirpiness definitely began to fade away anyway. Despite the body still feeling fresh enough, talking did begin to seem like a waste of energy, and so for a while, all I bothered with was “Any Squashies Oisin?”. A brief 20-minute window on the protected climb up Bowfell meant the only time all day where I managed to ditch the jacket, but as soon as we popped out on top, it was right back on.