Chasing the Catalonian
Running a sub 13-hour Bob Graham Round
Published in Fellrunner Magazine #131 (Autumn 2021)
Running on Leg 2 of the BGR (Photo: Jacob Adkin)
The Bob Graham Round is the oldest and best known mountain endurance run in Britain, and a contender for both of those titles globally. Billy Bland’s 1982 record went effectively unchallenged for 36 years until international juggernaut Kilian Jornet took an hour off it in 2018. Since then Keswick’s George Foster has also run under Bland’s old record time.
Following my success on Ramsay’s Round in August 2020 I was hooked on the immersive experience of big rounds and so a logical next step was to attempt the Bob. While my previous rounds have been solo and unsupported, I decided to fully embrace the supported style in the Lakes due to several factors. First, this is in the style and tradition of the Bob Graham - not being a local runner I wanted to fit with the existing ethos which also requires a contender to be accompanied on every summit of the round for verification. Secondly, the record is incredibly strong and to stand any chance of coming close I would need an equally strong support team. Thirdly, the route of the Bob splits nicely into five legs with transitions at road crossings, something which doesn’t exist on the more remote Scottish rounds. Fourthly, a profusion of fast support runners living in the Lakes made it much easier to assemble a suitable team at short notice and without particularly complicated logistics. Finally, I was interested to experience a fully supported effort and all its advantages, and try to use that support to push myself harder than ever before.
I trained on the route, getting to know each leg and practicing some fast efforts over the ground. Runners were generous with their time and information and I almost attempted in May before postponing the attempt due to suboptimal weather. I realised that I just had to wait for great weather as I needed as many factors as possible to be in my favour. In an unexpected turn of events I fell off a skateboard and broke my wrist in early June, so was out of action for a while. I kept training while I recovered and after completing the Rigby Round in the Cairngorms in record time I felt ready to head for the Lakes.
A good spell of weather arrived at the end of August and I was able to put together a strong support team in less than a week. Martin Stone was very generous with his time and logistical expertise, as were all my support runners. In fact there wasn’t really much stress for me in terms of organising the team as it all came together pretty seamlessly, at least from my perspective.
I got up at 3am to eat some breakfast, then didn’t sleep much due to excitement. It had been a cool clear night and conditions looked great. Soon we were at the Moot Hall and I was joined by George Foster and Steve Hebblethwaite who would support me on Leg 1. At 6am we set off, finding a rhythm on the long ascent of Skiddaw. It was actually slightly chilly to start with and I wore a windproof for the first few summits - later I knew it would get up to around 20 degrees in the valleys. I remember thinking about how the pace felt fast but okay at this point, but having some fear about what I would feel like in 2, 5, 10 hours’ time. I planned to be around 3 minutes slower than Kilian on this leg as I knew he had set off pretty hard. I had an enjoyable strong descent of Hall’s Fell and arrived at Threlkeld basically as planned.
My strategy was to run straight through all the leg transitions with no rests, therefore gaining perhaps 8 minutes that Kilian had rested for. Running into Leg 2 I was joined by Jacob Adkin and Ricky Lightfoot. I mentioned to Ricky on the way up Clough Head that I was fine, but maybe not feeling quite as ‘good’ as I had hoped I would at this point in the round. He reminded me that, trying to run at record pace, I really wasn’t going to feel good from this point on - I found that strangely reassuring and put my head down. Once upon the Dodds the running is fast and undulating, with short split times between each of the summits. Fairfield is a bigger descent and climb, and I chose to go straight up on a steep direct line. Reaching Dunmail Raise at the end of Leg 2 I felt things were going well. It didn’t feel like I had already run 41km.
Descending Fairfield (Photo: Jacob Adkin)
For Leg 3 I had support from Sasha Chepelin, Matthew Atkinson and Eóin Lennon. It was a great feeling to just run straight through and be met by yet more brilliant runners. I found the first half of Leg 3 a bit harder than I had hoped, particularly the grassy runnable trods initially. I made a fairly minor error going up Harrison Stickle which was entirely due to me not taking Matthew’s better line. This was the only real route choice error of the whole round though, and being very minor (maybe 30 seconds at most) I’m fairly pleased. As the ground got rougher up onto Bowfell I enjoyed trying to match each record split time - I was a bit behind but not too much. Broad Stand was nice and dry, and Matthew had run ahead to check the way was clear. From Scafell we dropped down scree lines into Wasdale, with a glorious stop for me to lie fully immersed in a river for a few seconds.
Climbing Yewbarrow I was into Leg 4. My support runners were the trio of Carl Bell, Scoffer and Andy Fallas. Matthew Atkinson also ran some water up to us at Beck Head, and before Green Gable. I was prepared for Yewbarrow to be a hard, hot slog and so it ended up not being too bad. The next climb to Red Pike I found harder and I lost a few minutes on the splits here. The rest of the Leg is terrain I really enjoy, but was the hardest section for me. I had hoped there might be some time to make on these hills, but I was feeling nauseous and finding it hard to eat anything other than gels. Water and gels would get me through from here, but I knew I needed to keep getting them down as a top priority. I had drunk a lot of water and electrolyte as it was fairly hot by now, although some high clouds came and went. I think the relentless pace and many ups and downs was making it harder to digest and my stomach felt full and bloated. My legs felt rubbish descending Great Gable, as Carl tried to show me the short cuts. By Grey Knotts my mental preparation kicked in as I knew there was time I could make up on this short descent. I gained 8.5 minutes here, and 3 minutes by not taking a rest at Honister.
We were onto Leg 5, the final section. Dougie Harvey, Jon Morgan and Jacob Adkin were my support runners - Dougie and Jon having also taken water to Sticks Pass on Leg 2. I told the guys that I was feeling sick and couldn’t go any faster, but would do what I could. By this point mentally I was just focussing on running - I couldn’t really think about split times or have any spare capacity to worry about how far off the record I was. It almost seemed irrelevant in a weird way - I was doing all I could and had this incredible support to help me achieve it. A caffeine gel got me up Robinson and I think I even enjoyed the scree short cut further down. Now it was just the road. Starting off downhill on tarmac it was actually a relief to have some faster terrain.
At Little Town we met Martin Stone along with many of the runners from the previous legs. I had decided to change my shoes to trail shoes as I had sore feet and rubbing on my ankles. It was a really fast pit stop, and in a video I am just standing there a bit punch-drunk. With some flat coke, different shoes, and this massive crew of runners leading me back into Keswick I found something extra and pushed along hard. As we approached Keswick I realised that, although outside Kilian’s 12h 52m record, a sub 13h run was - just about - possible. For the last 20 minutes I knew the others were thinking it too and, although it wasn't mentioned aloud, I felt they were willing me on. The only thing to do was run as hard as I could on tired legs, running the final split from Robinson in 53min. Reaching the busy roundabout in Keswick others ran ahead to ensure I could pass straight through. Touching the Moot Hall I stopped my watch at 12h 59m 16s.
I sat at the top of the Moot Hall steps exhausted and elated, legs aching in all the usual places and some new ones too. I fought off the nausea to take a few sips of my Bob Graham beer and enjoyed the moment, shaking hands with my fantastic support runners who had made it possible for me to put in my hardest effort so far.
Moot Hall in Keswick after finishing (Photo: Jacob Adkin)
