Bob Graham Round

Posted on 1st December 2016

It’s all your fault Jon
Bob Graham Round: Midnight Friday 27th – 21.33 Saturday 28th May

It’s all your fault Jon, I said to Jon Hobbs as we was sat around our group of 7 tents at Burns campsite. I had affectionately called it our camping village, and we even had our own little green in the middle. Jon had mentioned the Bob Graham Round to me about 2-3 years ago. Around 5 years ago I discovered the Lake District as a place to walk and immediately fell in love with the place. After a few visits to the lakes I had started to run in the fells and after a few fell chats with Jon he brought up the idea of the Bob Graham Round so I researched it. I was scared of heights and this looked pretty scary for someone scared of heights. I plucked up the courage about 2 years ago to go and recce leg 1 on my own. I came up on a Sunday morning and set off up Skiddaw. I got all the way to Blencathra before Halls Fell stopped me. I actually couldn’t quite believe that you could go down there so I thought that I must not be at Blencathra. I was wrong, it was and I was meant to. Problem. I was never going to go down that! A few weeks later I recced leg 2 on my own. Again things went well till I got to the foot of Fairfield and I refused to go up! Things were not looking good. A few weeks after I had a go at leg 3 and I refused Pike O Stickle and came down into the Langdales.

Things had to change. I decided to bring a friend to help with encouragement and confidence. My friend Paul Samways was game and we set off on leg 3 one weekend. I managed to conquer Pike O Stickle but had major problems when we got to Bowfell. The line we took wasn’t the typical BG line and I was glad to come out alive. I remember praying to a God that I don’t believe in. We made it to the top and we took a photo. I was so proud of accomplishing this feat that it became my Facebook profile picture. We soldiered on to Scafell Pike but I couldn’t get [was terrified of trying] to Scafell so headed straight down to Wasdale. On Leg 4 Paul had a stone landslide down Yewbarrow, a sight I will never forget and for some reason always makes me laugh from my belly. We were climbing/racing to the top of Yewbarrow and I heard a tumbling of rocks and said “Paul, it’s a landslide” as I turned to look Paul was in a seated position looking down the mountain whilst sliding down the mountain. Paul looked completely focused and terrifyed. Paul was completely focused and terrified. We carried on and got to Kirk Fell after accidentally revisiting Red Pike for a second time from Steeple [Paul was not happy], and thought sod that with seeing Great Gable in the background and headed on moses trod to Honister to catch the bus. They really do look quite intimidating and well hard to climb! I realised at this point that I needed experienced BG runners with me to guide me on the tricky parts as I felt an incorrect line up a mountain could very easily lead to death, and nervous shaking and praying at best.

My confidence was hit and I didn’t really have anyone to go recce any legs with so the following year I only did leg 2 with my girlfriend and we came down at Helvellyn. I had decided to have a go at some fell races, to improve my fell confidence, that were not too high or long. I ran Loughrigg and Fairfield fell races which went well and I was pretty pleased with them so I decided that year to do the Montane Lakeland 50. This went awful. The height issue was not a problem but I got my pacing and nutrition wrong. Completely wrong. I was also injured with a sore knee so was not able to train much. Yet I kept coming to the lakes to run the fells and I loved it. Then about 6 months ago I decided that I was definitely going to do the Bob Graham Round as I didn’t get into the Lakeland 50. I decided that was going to make a determined effort to face my demons and overcome the scary fells. I spoke to Jon and some other fell running friends from Lincoln and I set a date. Midnight Friday 27th May 2016. I love the Lake District and this would be a huge achievement for me to conquer not only my fear of heights, but also accomplish a great endurance feat that has a magical feel to it.

The subsequent recces went really well. The first was in the snow doing leg 1 with Marcus Saunders, Simon Blackman and Russell Cottam. This went well and I managed to come down Halls Fell in the snow. Russ refused to go down so Simon, very quickly to assist Russ I must admit, went down an alternative easier route. Hilariously, Marcus got stuck up to his waist in the snow coming down Halls fell. He wasn’t impressed and slightly feared for his life. I must of been mellowing with the heights issue as I remember chuckling inside at the time whilst helping him out. This felt like a major breakthrough in my fear of heights!

I had somehow managed to then pin Jon Hobbs down to recce leg 4. I picked Jon up from his home [I struggled to find his house at which his wife teresa commented that a mountain range might be a challenge if a house with directions is difficult to navigate too] and drove to Burns campsite late Saturday evening. We pitched up our tents in the cold and headed to the pub in Threlkeld. The following day we had a fantastic recce running from Honister to wasdale [the longest warm up of my life!] Then we did leg 4 much more successfully than my last attempt. There was still a lot of snow around and Jon even fell in a hole and his shoe fell off. Again this was quite funny, though Jon was not seeing the funny side and I took some great photos to remember this occasion. Kirk Fell and Great Gable was done and having my confidence in Jon was helping immensely. Jon had been quite tired as he had completed a Marathon a week or 2 prior. The next recce we did as a 2 day doing 2 legs and we camped at Burns farm campsite. Myself, Chris Rainbow and Simon Blackman set off on Leg 1 on the first day. We made great time and apart from some indecision at the river, it was a huge success. The following day Chris went home but Marcus Saunders joined us and the below picture of him in his sleeping bag as it snowed in the night shows how comfortable my 5 star tent was. We set off up Clough Head to do leg 2 and it had snowed through the night so was pretty icy. We made great progress and myself and Simon did Fairfield for the first time and we did brilliant. Simon was great on this section as he flies down Dollywagon and up and down Fairfield. We made some navigational errors coming off Seat sandal so this was something to revisit on another recce. The run back to the car was not fun though. The temperature had risen and I was probably dehydrated and with the A251 being closed made this tricky. The next 2 recce was very fast. I did leg 2 with Simon in around 3 hours 8 minutes. The run went great and Seat Sandal was done much better.

The following week I did Leg 5 with Marcus Saunders. The weather was horrendous, around 40 mph winds and driving rain.  Regardless Marcus navigated us great and we did the leg well under target in 2 hours 25 minutes. The following day I did a brisk up and down Skiddaw. This always hurts the quads with doms and this was no exception. I had intended on doing leg 1 but the wind was unbelievable and did not want to be blown off Blencathra. The next day was a big day. Myselff and Chris Rainbow set out to do leg 3, the long leg. I was pretty sore to start from the 2 days of fells, but thought that this would be great training. We set off up Steel Fell and I felt good. We jog along to Calf Crag and felt tired, but gaining strength. The next few fells got done and I was pleased with the line to Harrison Stickle. I had previously looked at that line when with Paul a couple of years previous and rejected it on grounds of too steep a drop. No problem with Chris. Chris took a fantastic line to Rossett Pike and Bowfell and across the next bunch of tops to Scafell Pike. I really enjoy this leg. Scafell Pike to Scafell was tricky. We did the climbers traverse and I was slow. Very slow. We made a decision that on the day it may be wise to go a bit lower to miss this bit. We moved nicely down Scafell until we hit some scree. Chris was in front of me and I said “wow, I’m not going down there Chris!” to which he replied “why not?” I somehow thought it was Lord’s Rake and had heard not to do this. I explained this which Chris confirmed that it wasn’t Lord’s Rake and it was fine. I believed him and we had an exhilarating run down the scree. I had a huge smile running down, awesome. We came into Wasdale and I felt good, misson accomplished. I had now ran the whole of the route go the Bob Graham.

The following week I was doing 2 legs back to back with the help of Simon and Penny. I headed alone on leg 1 and ran a 3 hours 15 min to the car park feeling comfortable. I had found the best way to cross the river so was pleased with that. Good leg. I met Simon and Penny Blackman in the car park and I had some rice pudding and water then myself and Simon set off up Clough Head. I was starting to get really tight hamstrings and was struggling a lot. Simon I think was slightly concerned. I don’t think he could believe how contorted my face and body was running that leg. I decided that at Helvellyn I would stop and l lay down for 10 minutes. The weather was beautiful and I downed 500ml of drink. After 10 min Simon prompted me to get up and off we went. I felt immediatey better and finished the leg feeling ok. So that was it, recce all done. The height issues was overcome. I had gained a lot of confidence and felt good and so we was ready to go on 27th May 2016.

I decided to start my BGR at Midnight as this is the time that Bob Graham himself went off at when he did the first round. Myself, my Girlfriend Simone Rouse, my pacer Chris Rainbow, and a group of friends Marcus and Jess Saunders, Penny Blackman and Jon Hobbs got to Moot Hall early around 23.20. We had an interesting conversation with a stag do who couldn’t believe what I was doing and I was described as being as fit as a fell frog! We let the stag party go on their way and we had a lovely relaxing chat. The weather was perfect, still and only a very slight chill in the air.

Myself and Chris set off and headed out of keswick, head torches on beaming with energy and floated by the side of Fitz Park then made a slight error in turning right instead of left and got 50 meters down the road and had to turn back to get on the right road. We headed up spooney green lane and I felt great. It felt easy and strong going up Skiddaw, Jenkins Hill felt fine and looking across at Keswick all light up was an awesome sight!

We got to the top of Skiddaw in 73 minutes and there wasn’t any wind so perfect. We headed off down Skiddaw and I felt great running to the bottom of Great Calva. I kept thinking I was Kilian Jornet on the decent and on the climb to Great Calva. I’m not and I wasn’t that fast, but climbing Great Calva felt magical in the dark and we made great time making 10 minutes up on the predicted time. We shot down the steep Great Calva to the river and across and the long slog up to Blencathra. This is one of the only parts of the round that I am not so keen on. Anyway we made it to Blencathra fine and headed down Halls Fell. Somehow we ended up going too far right and missed Halls Fell so had to traverse back onto it. This was pretty damn scary for me, but looking back makes me feel like I accomplished my fear of heights pretty well! After this we had a beautiful run down Halls Fell. I did manage to fall over and cut my hand and jolt my knee, but got up and carried on. We arrived in the car park in 3 hours 35 min which was 20 minutes ahead of my schedule for 23 hours 15 minutes.

Coming to the changeover I could see Penny flashing a light and we headed for refreshments. I had some rice pudding and jam and The support crew of Simone Rouse, Penny Blackman and Marcus Saunders did a great job sorting out my drinks.

After a quick break me and Simon Blackman then headed up to Clough Head. We jogged slowly on the road then walked the road hill bit. When we got to the coach road we climbed really well. I must of felt good as I was right behind Simon who is strong on this climb. He actually asked if I wanted to take the lead, I declined. We got to Clough head 5 min under schedule for the climb so was pleased and we jogged down and made our way to Great Dodd. The sun was starting to appear and it was getting light and this was great. The only problem was that my hamstrings was tight, but physically I felt strong apart from this. We started passing the fell tops, Watson’s Dodd, Stybarrow Dodd, Raise, Whiteside, Helvellyn Lower Man, Helvellyn, Nethermost Pike, Dollywagon Pike. All the time my hamstrings were very tight, but all else was ok so feeling confident. I kept drinking and eating shot blocs that Simon kindly carried for me. Simon is really strong at running down Dollywagon to Grisedale tarn so I decided to play a game. I thought that I would not let him get more than 5 meters ahead of me and I would try to keep up with him. I have never been able to do this before on our recce, so it was a nice challenge. To his, and my, surprise I managed to keep up with him and when we got to the bottom he was shocked to see me right behind. Simon In fact had thought he would have time for a quick wee at the bottom, so I guess he had to hold it in. We then headed up Fairfield which isn’t fun as it has very slippy, loose stones. We got to Fairfield in great time and shot straight back down to climb one of my favourites, Seat Sandal. We did good on this climb and headed down to Dunmail Raise with great navigation from Simon. At the end of the leg I was 58 minutes up on my 23.15 schedule so had gained 38 minutes.

I must of looked bad at Dunmail as people looked concerned for me. I guess my tight hamstrings made me wince a lot when sitting down and moving and it was getting hot so I would of been sweating [I always sweat a lot]. Anyway I felt ok, though was getting concerned over my hamstrings and my knee was getting more sore from the fall on Halls Fell. At this checkpoint was Simone Rouse, Marcus Saunders, Penny Blackman, Russell Cottam, Chris Rainbow, Dave and Debbie. I was well looked after once again by the support crew with a cup of tea and some soup.

I set off with Chris again and his friend Dave and off we shot up Steel Fell. We went well and was pleased with the climb. Every footstep I was right behind Chris and I felt ok.  When we got to the top though the run to Calf Crag was poor. My hamstrings and knee was hurting quite a lot now and I could sense that Chris wanted to move to pace along, encouraging the pace in a quiet way. I liked this as I sensed what he was doing and it really helped me to concentrate as much as I could. Dave was being great, always staying behind me and kept the conversation flowing. I kept going hoping that at some point the pain in my hamstring and knee might subside or go away. Dave and Chris did a great job of talking to me about ultras and races they have done which really helped. I guess this helped as it made me realise that what I was doing was achievable. I know that this might should silly, but it somehow helped me. We clipped off a bunch of fells High Raise, Sergeant Man, Thunacar Knott, Harrison Stickle in pain until we got to Pike O Stickle when my pain started to

subside. I started to feel much better and I had only lost 4 minutes from my 23.15 schedule at this point so optimistic. We made some great time up with Chris’s excellent navigation to Rosset Pike and Bowfell. I was feeling rejuvenated!! The next bouldery fells passed by nicely Esk Pike, Great End, Ill Crag, Broad Crag all the way to Scafell Pike. At one point though I saw part of a sheep that looked to me like a small bear with the dark wool. I said this to Chris and Dave and they immediately gave me lots of chocolate. Result! I was absolutely fine, but they didn’t want to take any chances. At many points sheep looked like small bears in certain angles, and dark rocks looked like sheep out of the corner of my eye. I kept this information to myself from then on though! This felt great and my spirits was high. Scafell from Scafell Pike is a challenge for me as my heights issue is tricky in this section. We headed down to foxes tarn and made the hardest climb of the day up to Scafell. We then headed down to wasdale. The scree section was amazing and I was flying down. We then ran down and I went flying as I fell over, tumbled and cut my hand. Though luck was on my side as I got straight up and kept going. I did risk it a little as I shot across the river and fell in, then ran fast to the car park and was sliding on the slabs more than was safe to do so. I am sure I could hear Chris and Dave say something as I was slipping about. Anyway I felt really good running to see everyone in the Wasdale car park. Things was looking great and I gained 1 min overall so was now 59 minutes ahead of 23.15 pace.

With the problems on the first half of leg 3 and the lost time from Scafell Pike to Scafell I was pleased. At this checkpoint was Simone Rouse, Tammy Rainbow, Archie Rainbow, Ellie Rainbow, Debbie and my pacer Jon Hobbs. In the car park I had a lovely cheese roll from Jan’s sandwich shop from Keswick that Simone had bought me. I had a vegetable curry, banana cake from Tammy and some drink. Tammy was brilliant and took my shoes and socks off, dried my feet and put fresh socks on and shoes back on. The sign for ice cream as we had entered the car park was tempting! I started off on Leg 4 with Jon Hobbs in great spirits.

Jon and I shot up Yewbarrow quickly passing a Bob Graham Round hopeful who had set off an hour prior to us, we wished him luck and he did likewise to me. He did make it in the end by around 30 minutes. Jon set a fast pace and I was struggling to keep up, but when we got to the top we was 10 minutes faster than I had planned so was a great start! My shin was starting to hurt now so I was hobbling a little while making our way to Red Pike. We did really well on time to Red Pike, Steeple and Pillar. This was great, but my left shin was really hurting now. Jon told me that I was 20 minutes up on my schedule so I knew I had time in the bank. Jon was great as he wasn’t being soft and kept telling me to pick up. This helped me lots as it is easy to go slow. I really needed him in front of me at this point driving me forward. The big challenge lay ahead in Kirk Fell, I am not good with heights and this t

ested me. I knew that I lost a bit of time climbing Kirk Fell so I was pleased to know that I only lost 5 minutes. I hobbled to Great Gable and hobbled down. The decent down Great Gable was painfully slow with the shin and the tricky terrain. I shuffled to Brandreth very awkwardly and Grey Knotts and was feeling confident now about finishing even with a limp. As we decended into honister car park I heard Ollie Saunders [Marcus’s son] shout Dad, dad which made me smile. He had seen us and was excited. Jon said I bet you run faster to get your kiss. As I entered every check point and left every check point my

girlfriend Simone gave me a kiss. I replied to jon that if I run fast does he mean a kiss from him or Simone? A cheeky grin came on his face. We was met part way down the last drop by Ellie Rainbow and she ran down to the car park with us. Ellie made it look very easy, bouncing and leaping down. I tried to copy but I couldn’t keep up. I finished the leg 69 minutes ahead of schedule so had gained 10 minutes. This was pleasing with having the shin injury.

It was great coming into Honister, there was a great crowd for me and it make’s you well up a little bit. I felt uplifted by seeing people there, so I chatted with a few people briefly, had some food and drink then headed up Dale Head with Marcus Saunders, Dan Stewart and Jon Hobbs. I had forgotten my whisper chocolate bar so Ellie Rainbow ran to us to give it to us, of which Jon quickly popped down to get. I think he must of liked it because soon after Jon started dropping off a bit and I didn’t see him again till the end! When we saw him at the end he suspiciously

had chocolate around his mouth. The weather was perfect and Marcus was taking lots of photos and leading the way. Dan was keeping me hydrated and fed. We did all 3 of the leg 5 fells under schedule and came down Robinson where we was met by Russell Cottam and Archie Rainbow who ran back with us. At this point my shin was still painful, but was hoping that it would ease off on the road section. The initial pace felt very fast, but I felt amazing and just went with it around 8 min mile pace. I felt like we was going great and hit the road feeling confident and I had the added bonus that my shin pain had eased. We ran up the road hills and ran th

e last few miles a little slower round 9 min mile pace all the way to Keswick.

21.33 was the time as I touched Moot Hall. Mission Accomplished.

I was 102 minutes up overall on my 23.15 target, so gained 33 minutes on the last leg. When I finished my head kind of hit the moot hall wooden doors and I stood still for about 3-4 seconds, I turned around and hugged Simone for quite a while. I am not quite sure why but I kind of started shaking a little. I said thank you to everyone for all of their help and they all got a hug, and Jon gave me a kiss.

I must admit at no point did I feel that I wasn’t going to make it. Leg 2 and the first part of leg 3 was particularly tough as my hamstring was painful and my medial knee was getting sore. Leg 4 was tough due to my shin, but I never felt overly concerned. I reckon my support crew was concerned at Dunmail Raise and at other points, but sometimes you look worse than you are. Maybe also, sometimes you look back and things don’t seem quite as hard as they actually was at the time! Leg 1, the second half of leg 3 and leg 5 felt fantastic! In fact they were magical!

I was very fortunate to has a fantastic crew of supporters and pacers, they was amazing and I will never forget the day and the whole weekend. Special memories. I was also very fortunate to have the most perfect weather conditions. Warm, not too hot, with no wind.

A huge thanks has to go to my girlfriend Simone for encouraging the training and her continued support throughout and Jon, whose fault it was, thank you Jon!

The following day I could hardly walk due to my shin and I had to use sticks to help me! I was also presented with a map of the BGR with a message from all that helped me, a thing I will treasure forever!

Now that the Bob Graham Round has been completed I have had time to reflect on the whole thing and this is my thoughts. The initial reason’s for having a go was to overcome my fear of heights and achieve a fell endurance feat that seems to have a magical element to it. After the event I can add more to it. It was all of the above, but also much more. It was the commitment and time spent doing recces and camping in the cold with friends from Lincoln. It was the whole 3 day adventure at the campsite and the bonding and love shown from amazing people. These friends did not want paying, wouldn’t accept money for camping, they did it for the whole great friendship that the Bob Graham helps to create. We all left enriched and glowed. I believe that running can be a solo pursuit where you can feel so free. I also think that running can be a magnificent community of friendship and support. The Bob Graham Round brought a bunch of people together, some experienced Bob Graham guys and some Bob Graham novices, and we achieved our goal and more and now we have others wanting to do the same from experiencing the event. I love what the Bob Graham Round has done…it is about being together, being a community, support and help one another. What a great way to live…what a great thing the BGR is in creating this.

A bunch of friends from Lincolnshire came to the Lake District and we did The Bob Graham Round!

Amazing!

Simon Blackman…now over to you!!