A grand day out

Here is the account of my attempt at the Bob Graham Round, which I ran on 30 / 31 August.

A small group gathered at the Moot Hall just before 8pm on Friday comprising me, leg 1 support runners Dave Deason, Andrew Smillie, Paul Modley and Rob Bartlett, roadies Tim Smith, Joel Knight, Lauren Evans and Edwin Tate (also a later runner), together with Stu (leg 4 man) and Adele Hurst, Simon Noble, Martin Pryce, Dave Barnes and perhaps one or two others I've forgotten in the blur these things become (in which case apologies). Minutes ticked by, Dave scoffed an ice cream, watches were synced, the last two minutes crawled, and then we were off.

The weather had not been as rainy as predicted in Keswick that afternoon but there'd obviously been a fair bit higher up together with cloud cover as the leg was quite wet all round. Half way up Skidaw we were clagged in to about 200 metres, with the wind up and the rain moderate. We expected this and nothing worse happened weather wise for the whole Round in spite of a few showers on legs 3 and 4. I've never done leg 1 in the dark but it passed without incident and within schedule until a slippery descent off Halls Fell Ridge from Blencathra. We'd had a great line (thanks Andrew) off Great Calva, missing the heather which is so high at this time of year and an easy though deep crossing of the River Caldew. We got into Threlkeld in reasonable time and I felt fresh. I took 10 minutes for the stop, clawing back a bit of time to allow for a steady climb up Clough Head. The stars were out in force and it looked like a great night to be out.

This first hill on leg 2 has floored me before on tired legs but having taken leg 1 quite easy I had no issues this time and was moving well by the top. Rob Hampshire and Rae Dalziel were supporting on this leg and they kept me fed and watered well, encouraged and cajoled, and on we went. Rob was lagging a bit (unknown to him he had sciatica coming on which was diagnosed 2 days later) so at the top of Clough Head I walked off briskly while Rae waited and they jogged back to me by the time we were veering left to Great Dodd. Rob dodged the tops of the Dodds and took the main path and the visibility was good enough to stay in touch over several hundred metres so there was no problems with this.

Then we hit a major problem. Rae and I dropped slightly too far left off Stybarrow, realised our mistake, went right, missed the path we needed, got disorientated and lost major time finding the way to Raise. We lost confidence because of that and faffed around getting to White Side, losing more time. We then dropped a few minutes on other peaks of the leg although it went without incident otherwise. My knee had developed a bad pain making steep descent difficult. Meanwhile, we'd parted company with Rob when he skirted round Stybarrow Dodd. After attempts to find us, phone us, and contact the roadies, he headed for Dunmail Raise as of course he had to do. Rae and I got into Dunmail 1:10 down on the 23:30 schedule I'd set for those two legs.

These things are part of the variables of such a challenge but it meant a great deal of work to be done now. Again I took just 10 minutes rest before heading out again. On the positive side, I was hugely grateful to the support so far, still felt strong, I was pampered well with noodles and new socks, and then cast into the arms of the next team for leg 3. Also a couple of pain killers put paid to my knee problem which then didn't return all day thankfully.

Steve Jeffs, John Leech, Adrian Leigh and Damian Murphy stepped it out up Steel Fell, which although very steep is also fairly short and certainly the easiest post-road-stop climb on the Round. We hit the ridge well and got going, running as often as possible, keeping the pace up. The boys were excellent with encouragement and light hearted bullying to keep me going, though I was feeling fine I was beginning to need a bit of pushing and they were up for that! Calf Crag was bagged, no issues finding Sergeant Man, High Raise and the Langdale Pikes came and went fine.

Somewhere around the approach to Rosset Pike is the approximate half way point of the Round in terms of miles and time, thus to be there within 12 hours is highly desirable! I was at Pike o' Stickle at 08:10 and Rosset Pike at 08:53: slower than 12 hours. Time had to be made up somewhere. Everyone says legs 4 and 5 have slack and time can be recovered there but that depends on your legs being good enough and you won't know that until you're there. So we cracked on, keeping the speed as good as possible.

Bowfell is a big scalp but was bagged without much trouble. The boulder strewn route from there to Scafell Pike was also ok, although the rocks were more slippery than I'd have wanted in order to make up some time skipping not stepping over them. I was starting to do maths here and there from this point. To leave Wasdale by 12 would be great, giving me 5 hours for leg 4 and 3 hours for leg 5. Later than that would give progressively more likelihood of slipping beyond recovery outside the 24 hours. We topped out on Scafell Pike at 11:21. I had Scafell to do and then the decent to Wasdale. I knew the decent was half an hour and even without looking at my schedule I knew getting to Scafell would be around 30-40 minutes. Time was slipping away.

We took the Lords Rake and West Wall Traverse route to Scafell and that went well: I prefer this to the other alternatives (we were not doing Broad Stand) as once you pop up out of the traverse you're almost at the summit, which we reached at 12:00 exactly. I would rather have been in Wasdale at this point! We flew off down the zig zag rocky path, over the grassy section, skiied the scree slope, and while others picked stones from their shoes I hot stepped it down the steep grass and bracken slope and along the final path into Wasdale car park at 12:30.

Five minutes later I left with clean socks, noodles inside me, and a fresh team. The leg 3 boys had done well and leg 4 were just as good: Stuart Hurst, Simon Douglas and Mike McKenna. The encouragement was now becoming more urgent, some of it polite, some of it not so much (match the style to the runner....) but all of it well meaning and with the sole focus of getting me round in time. Food and drink were forced down, big hills slowly tamed, runnable tracks welcomed. I moved as best I could.

Yewbarrow was bagged ahead of schedule. On Red Pike I had one of my stumbling and falling asleep on my feet moments and lost a bit of that time again. Then the second navigational issue occurred: we contoured across towards Steeple and hit the broken wall well enough, but the clag was down and we wandered about, quickly, finding the right line across the short open section to the out-and-back to Steeple. Like the leg 2 issue, this all sounds so flabby after the event. I've run leg 2 lots of times in 4 and a bit hours. I've been across to Steeple before and not had the misfortune for the cloud to be down and a moment's hesitation to creep in. Ho hum. Stu soon found it ok but we had lost maybe 4 or 5 minutes.

The cloud lifted. Pillar and Kirk Fell came and went without incident, the trods between them and again on to Great Gable providing a welcome opportunity for good running and we belted over these as well as my tired self could manage, which was actually very well. Great Gable is always a beast with tired legs and so it proved. I actually stopped for a rest on the boulder climb, but only for 6 seconds (I counted them) before succumbing to Stuart's eloquent urging of "come ON Chris, get on with it!!!" from above. I bagged it, rock hopped to Green Gable, and ran as fast as I thought I could to Honister with just the last two peaks of the leg on the way. We got into the car park at 17:31. Leg 5 team Phil Wood and Edwin Tate were pawing at the ground. Stuart and Mike also went on with me. I grabbed a banana from Joel and kept going without a break.

People are fond of saying Great Gable is the last big climb on the Round, but Dale Head is the one for me, on it goes with very tired legs doing their best to keep climbing speed up. I paced with a regular tempo as I'd done on Yewbarrow, but whereas I'd gained on that climb I lost 7 minutes on this one. I didn't have 7 minutes to chuck away. I touched the stone pillar and ran straight on over the ridge and across to Hindscarth, only walking on significant uphills, running the rest. By the time I was at the top of Hindscarth I should have been at the top of Robinson.

We still had a race on and it was still just possible to do. Unbeknown to me everyone following the Round with the tracker I was carrying was also rooting for me, and also had faith it was still possible, though difficult. We blasted down the track to the col at the foot of Robinson and I strided as quickly as I could up Robinson, the last peak on the Round. I climbed that well. I was doing maths again: I needed to be on the road section with 50 minutes to go to be in with a chance of getting back in time. That left 22 minutes to get off Robinson and down the farm track. We were running really quickly at this point, Edwin picking the line with confidence and me quite happy with the fast decent. I kept up a good pace along the farm track and then we hit the road. It was possibly still on but there could be no slacking.

I quickly changed from fell to road shoes, calculating the 30 seconds (quick-draw laces!) was worth it for the ability to run better. I asked Phil to keep us at a steady pace which I hoped would get us in on time. I had to walk a couple of brief sections but I absolutely could not run these. Otherwise I ran hard. Eventually Portinscale appeared and we ran hard, all the way along the interminable path to Keswick. We reached the road in Keswick, rounded the corner and after about 30 metres 8 o'clock appeared on my watch. I could see the Moot Hall ahead. Another couple of minutes was all I needed but it wasn't mine. Given the 24 hours was up, I treated myself to a walk for the short distance to the roundabout before running the last 100 metres up to the Moot Hall to the welcome awaiting me. Leg 5 had taken 2:33, pretty quick against my 2:56 scheduled time. I touched the Moot Hall door 24:04 after leaving it. Done. Infuriatingly just outside the 24 hour target, but done. A quick call to my wife Vicki (absent with a twisted neck with daughter Faith to keep her company) and then I was virtully asleep!

Obviously getting inside the 24 hour time target was the plan and would have been far better, but I have not felt disappointed. That would take away from the enjoyment of the day, the superb support I had and the achievement of completing the Round. Actually, it isn't strictly a Bob Graham Round completion without being sub-24 hours, but a completion of the route anyhow.

There are a dozen points on the Round where the crucial 4 minutes might have been saved, including the one or two navigational errors, every peak where I dropped minutes, and falling asleep on my feet once or twice. Also in the cool light of day I can question if the schedule was perhaps a bit tight: though of course many complete on a 23-something schedule it doesn't work so well if you have a problem. A 23:59 completion is within the target, but I really should have gone round in 22 - 23 hours; then all the points of the Round where 4 minutes might have been gained would have been irrelevant. I took 24:04 and that's all there is to it!

I do feel very good about my Round though. I had a great day out, my body only suffered in that the inevitable overall tiredness meant big ascents became more difficult (up to and including Yewbarrow fine; Great Gable and Dale Head were hard), I had awesome support partly from my home club Wootton in Northampton and mostly from my adopted Cumbrian club Dallam, and I can honestly say I feel very complete. That will sound odd to many after setting out on a 24 hr challenge and coming in outside the target time and to have done so by just a few minutes, but a Round's a Round even if with my finish time it isn't a Bob Graham Round in the true sense and doesn't qualify me for Bob Graham Club membership. I can live with that.

For now I fancy other challenges but who knows if I'll be back for this one again, it is after all a great route and a great challenge....

Completion?

Completed the Round in 24:04. Happy with that. Obviously 4 minutes under rather than 4 minutes over would have been a tad better, but I had a grand day with fantastic support and feel very good about getting round in 'about' 24 hours.
Full write up to follow.

Road crew change

Please note Vicki and Faith wont be with us so road side phone contact will be Joel, Tim and Edwin

Follow me from your armchair

I will have a tracker for my Round so you can follow my progress. Click this link http://maps.opentracking.co.uk/bg2013.cfm?n=18  and then zoom in as far as it'll go. To update, just refresh the page. The road crossing times should be updated on the link soon.

Tweaks

Slight tweaks have been made to the schedule, team list, etc; nothing major, mostly just ready times, exact change over points and so on. Van is also now booked: a humdrum point but I'd left it late so its reassuring that's sorted. I am also now back up to a full complement of supporters for each leg which is great.

Last few days prep

The last week of proper running was spent on Welsh coast paths and hills; none very impressive by BGR standards but great routes for sure, with spectacular cliffs, undulating rugged and varied paths and even one or two must-walk climbs. The longest run was only about 16 miles but it was all good. I got out nearly every day, in all weathers (ok, all of it good!) and even had a bit of compass work on one claggy day. 

Now, with about 10 days to go I'm taking it easier on a narrow boat holiday, just a few flat towpath runs and some last minute planning.

Speaking of which, there are some team changes. Sadly Dave Deason and Mark Fowler, huge helps with previous training and my first attempt, have had to pull out, but in come Adrian Leigh and John Leech - I'm so grateful for folks stepping in to help; running and especially BG folk are fantastic eh?

Right. Just a bit of food shopping, book the van, and one last look at the maps, and we'll be ready for the off ....

Detailed plans and times for the Round

I have now decided on an 8pm start on Friday 30 August, so as to do legs 1 and 2 in dark and the rest in daylight. The downside is Barney is unable to join us with this timing but I think it's most important to get the dark sections sorted so this will have to be how it is. If anyone wants to double up and do leg 1 with me and Andrew, that would be very welcome. The schedule is a 23.5 hours pace for legs 1 and 2 and then a 23 hour pace for legs 3, 4 and 5, with a view to taking it steady at first.