Ritchie’s version
The Bob Graham Round is an iconic fell running route through the Lake District, taking in 42 of the highest peaks, 27,000ft of climb and covering 66 miles, starting and finishing at the Moot Hall in Keswick. To join the Bob Graham 24 hour club you need to successfully complete the round in 24 hrs as the name suggests.
According to the BGR website, each summer around 100 people attempt the round with one in three completing within the 24-hr time. The round is divided into 5 legs with each leg starting and finishing at a road crossing which allows for changeover of support runners and to refresh supplies (2 support runners are suggested for each leg).
Attempting the BGR has long been on the radar and I had my first exposure to the round in July 2022 when Andrew Merrick allowed me to tag along with him and his support runner (Ben Sheppard) on Legs 1 and 2 of his successful attempt. This was an eye opener and a very quick lesson that general fitness was not the same as hill strength. The following year I recced all five legs with fellow harriers with the intention of having a go myself in 2023. The logistics of arranging support runners in advance, more recce’s, and an overall lack of hill strength meant that I could not fit in an attempt in 2023 but was able to support fellow Harrier Peter Shelley on his successful 2023 round (Michael Odell was also a support runner for Peter’s round). Race commitments in 2024 left little room for a BG attempt and so I made do with supporting 2 other runners on their attempts (one successful and one not successful). Roll on 2025 and my race calendar already had large events booked for April and September, leaving little room for a BG attempt. That is, until I received a message from Michael Odell, on Monday morning. Morning, do you have any appetite or availability for a BG attempt this weekend? I confirmed that I had both and enquired if he had a plan. No, not much of a plan was the answer. As we know from Mike Tyson, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. Michael was clearly mitigating against any potential punch. This came as somewhat of a relief as previous races planned by Michael had involved dressing as a horse. After a brief discussion on Wednesday morning, we decided we would attempt a self-supported round, starting at 03:00 am on Saturday morning.
We based our schedule on a 23 hr round, and would need to carry all our fuel, hydration and kit as there were no options on route for us to purchase additional supplies and water on route would be limited as it had been very dry. We dropped a resupply bag with water and additional food/gels at Dunmail (end of Leg 2) on our drive through to Keswick.
At 02:40 am on Saturday we left our overnight accommodation and made the short walk to the Moot Hall in Keswick to start the round at exactly 03:00 am. Leg 1 Keswick to Threlkeld takes you out of Keswick and straight up Skiddaw, followed by descents and climbs to Great Calva and Blencathra. The weather was perfect and we were treated to a wonderful sunrise as we came up Mungrisdale Common just prior to summiting Blencathra. Taking the Hall’s fell path off Blencathra we arrived at Threlkeld at 06:42 am, 14 minutes ahead of our 23 hr schedule. Leg two Threlkeld to Dunmail takes in an additional 12 peaks and starts things off with a rather steep pull up to Clough Head, once up on the ridge its good running terrain and easy paths to follow all the way along to Helvellyn and Dollywaggon Pike, a steep grassy descent off Dollywagon brings you to Grisdale Tarn. It’s then an out and back climb to Fairfield before climbing Seat Sandal and descending to Dunmail arriving about 50 mins ahead of our schedule. We refilled out water from our drop bag. We were moving well, but it was already apparent what an effort this would be, we had covered 27 miles in with 3 more legs to go. Leg 3 Dunmail to Wasdale is a beast and the leg I was least looking forward to, taking in a further 15 peaks including Scafell Pike. The leg starts with another steep climb out of Dunmail up to Steal Fell, from there it’s good paths to the next tops, some boggy sections but overall easy to navigate and pick off some of the Langdale Pikes through to Rossett Pike. After Rossett Pike, there is a small descent and the climbing begins again with a tough pull up to Bowfell. Once up Bowfell it’s a case of picking off more of the tops, Esk pike, Great End, Ill Crag, and Broad Crag, always with Scafell Pike in view and seemingly towering above you. This is by far my least favourite section of the round, the terrain is difficult to move quickly across (at least for me), rocky boulder fields and endless coming off paths to summit rocky outcrops. In my head Scafell Pike is Mount Doom and I usually have a sense of impending dread when I get to this section, think Bilbo Goggins, with me making up the Bilbo part of our challenge. This section proved no such challenge for Michael as he moved well and kept the pace. Once we topped Scafell Pike, we descended to Mickledore and took the hands on climb up Lords Rake to get to Scafell. This was followed by a long scree covered descent to Wasdale Head. We arrived in Wasdale 20 minutes behind schedule. We topped up our water from Lingmell Gill and headed straight into Leg 4 Wasdale to Honister. Leg 4 takes in 9 peaks starting with what can only be described as a horrendous climb up Yewbarrow, this went on for ever and we had made up some time on the climb and much like the elevation our mood also lifted. More than any other leg, this feels to have more dramatic descents and climbs, large parts runnable with a few rocky sections (mostly on the climbs), after summiting Red Pike, Steeple, Pillar, and Kirk Fell we made our ascent on Great Gable as the sun set and darkness descended. This was an effort of a climb, over large rocks which again seemed to be endless. Once we summited Great Gable there was a sense that the hard work has been done. A short scramble off Great Gable and three tops in succession took us down to Honister, the paths were tricky in the dark and slowed progress, but we arrived at Honister and the start of Leg 5 after 20hrs and 45 min. We were 1hr 5 mins behind our 23 hr schedule, putting us 5 minutes over the 24 hr mark.
This gave us 3hrs and 15 mins to cover leg 5 (Honister to Keswick), the remaining 3 peaks (Dale Head, Hindscarth and Robinson) and 11 miles. At times during the round, we felt that we would make it in under 24hrs, at other times it seemed unlikely, this was one of those times as we took a few minutes longer than scheduled to peak Dale Head. Michael was setting a good pace, but my legs (and mind) were moving slow. I took on some remaining fuel and fluids on the climb and by the time we had arrived at Dale Head the fuel was beginning to have an effect, we ticked off the remaining 2 peaks in scheduled time. We topped the final peak at 01:18 am, giving us 1hr and 42 min to complete the last 7 miles. Belief was returning and after a few miles of rocky descent we hit the path that took us to the final road section into Keswick. We had an hour to cover 5.5 miles. It was time to strip off some of the layers, take a final gel, finish what remaining fluids I was carrying and stash my packed under a bench in order to run for the finish line.
Michael true to form kept his pack on and we set what seemed a tough 6min/km pace back to Keswick. We covered the last section in under 50 minutes and arrived back at the Moot Hall after 23hrs and 48 mins. As a challenge, it is up there with the best, there were highs and there were lows, but it definitely ranks up there with one of the hardest.
Michael’s version
As a relative newcomer to Fell Running, the Bob Graham Round hasn’t been a lifelong holy grail of mine. In fact, I recall moving to Ilkley and thinking for several months that Bob was a chap that I should meet in Ilkley that maybe I could become friend with!
I only started to appreciate what this 105km / 8500m vertical / 24hr Lakeland challenge was really all about when I joined Peter Shelley’s round summer in 2023. I supported Peter on his Leg 3, camping at Dunmail Raise with, then total stranger, Martin Hartley. We started the leg a little before dawn and enjoyed a beautiful run over to Wasdale. I was hooked and I knew that one day wanted to give BG a go.
I did a little research and discovered that Bob Graham had included 42 peaks into the Round was reflective of the fact that he was 42 years old. It seemed somewhat like fate that I would turn 42 in June 2024. My aim became to complete my Round during my 42nd year. Unfortunately, house renovations prevented sufficient preparation, recces or an attempt in 2024 and so I pinned my hopes on 2025. My first step was to get fit, which I achieved by entering and completing the Fellsman in late April. Unfortunately that was a serious undertaking in its own right which didn’t leave any time for BG recces beforehand or much motivation afterwards.
I was impressed by the organization and camaraderie of traditional BG attempts but equally by others who have completed the challenge with less or no support. I felt at ease with the prospect of completing the Round solo and without witnesses and therefore not being able to claim an official Round. I tentatively noticed that we had a family camping trip in the Lake District starting on Sunday 3rd August. The Saturday was free.
Work was busy and with Ilkley Half Marathon commitments on top it meant I had no brain capacity to think further about BG. The week before I thought about it again. The weather was forecast good for the Saturday although mixed either side. If I was to give it a go then first I’d need to lift to the Lakes. I wondered if anyone might actually be up for a giving it a crack as well?
On Monday 28th (5 days out), I text Ritchie Williamson:
“Morning, do you have any appetite or availability to give BG a try with me this weekend?”
He replied:
“Afternoon, currently I have both. Are you planning for sub-24?”
Unbelievable and amazing. A loose plan quickly unfolded. We would drive up Friday evening, leaving a bag of spare water and food at Dunmail Raise. We booked accommodation in Keswick to allow a few hours sleep on the Friday night and somewhere to return to after our attempt. We agreed to start at 3AM which seemed the only way to fit it in properly. We registered a 23-hour schedule with BG club without much thought about what was realistic.
I managed a few hours sleep on Friday night in Keswick. Ritchie wished he hadn’t taken caffeine-based flu relief before bedtime which meant he rested but slept little. Nonetheless, we stood alone in the quiet darkness outside Moot Hall as planned at 3AM. Before setting off we discovered 2 things: firstly, that Ritchie’s fully charged main head torch wasn’t working and secondly that I’d left my charging cable in the hostel. With 3 remaining headtorches between us and our electronics on low power modes we decided that we could start. So we did.
It was great to be underway. Skiddaw was shrouded in mist but the path was clear and I was soon down to T-shirt and shorts. We’d agreed to take it easy on the ascents and both knew the importance of not going too quickly too soon. It was going to be a very long day. We felt comfortable though and we started to make small advantages into our scheduled peak times with each peak that we passed. Darkness faded quickly and the sun rose as we stood on Blencathra with the Lake District and our long adventure ahead unfolded beneath us. Ritchie knew the full route well but much of it was unknown to me – Hall’s Fell Ridge in the early morning light was an awesome surprise; I loved it.
Through leg 1 and with no customary refuel or transition at Threlkeld, we felt strong and in good spirits heading up Clough Head and onto the wonderful Leg 2 ridge which took us directly south. One of the advantages of a 3AM start and an anticlockwise route was that we would never face directly into the sun during our Round. By the end of the ridge at Dollywaggon Pike we were almost 50 minutes inside our 23hr plan.
We were relying on gels for nutrition and Ritchie set an alarm forcing us to eat one per hour which we complimented with a little other food, but not much: cereal bars, nuts, sweets, and a sandwich. Overall, this worked well but we both had low points. Mine came towards the end of leg 2 and into leg 3. The out and back of Fairfield was demoralizing, the decent down into Dunmail Rise tough and with a full stomach full of food the ascent of Steel Feel was slow and tiring. At this point our advantage over our schedule started to reduce and that continued over the tricky ground of leg 3 including the ascent of Sca Fell via Lord’s Rake and the steep decent into Wasdale thereafter.
We refilled water as we approached Wasdale and looked longingly through the window of the National Trust office at their coffee machine. But it was approaching 6PM and no one was going to make us coffee. By now we had lost the time advantage that we had at the beginning of leg 3. This was demoralizing but there wasn’t much we could do about it except to continue to eat and continue to move forward. The kilometers passed but excruciatingly slowly.
The BG map describes this part of the route, the start of leg 4, very accurately: “there is no easy way out of Wasdale”. The ascent of Yewbarrow was relentless, and the view over the leg 4 peaks, including the massive Kirk Fell and Great Gable behind, was very daunting. The sun was getting lower in the sky, the light more golden and even in our ambivalent states we both appreciated the beauty all around us.
The accents of Kirk Fell and Great Gable were tricky and slow and by the time we reached Kirk Fell summit it was dark, foggy and windy. Navigation became tricky and in a couple of places we opted to stick by fences versus following GPX traces over featureless ground which were hard to stick to. By this point I’d stopped checking the summit times versus the schedule, we were already loosing time, our bodies were only getting more tired and now in the darkness I had little hope of returning to Keswick within 24 hours. But with no support, we had no option but to continue and for several hours I played through in my mind that completing the Round in more than 24 hours would be a sufficient personal accomplishment and I would NEVER attempt BG again. My body was getting broken.
Ritchie’s low point was the descent off Great Gable and then up Dalehead. We were moving slowly. But despite many hours in our legs and the darkness, the route between the Dalehead, Hindscarth and Robinson was relatively simple and at Robinson, the 42nd and final peak, we checked our watches. We had 1hour 42 mins to get to Keswick which was about 13km away including a long final road section. Normally that seems very achievable, but we’d averaged ~14min kms during the preceding hours of the Round until now. Success certainly wasn’t guaranteed but we were both determined to give it a shot.
We descended the Robinson carefully and found ourselves on the level track which becomes the road just before 2AM. We had 1 hour to cover just under 10 km. The road seemed to be filled only with up-hills but we ran side by side filling with confidence that our very loose plan was increasingly likely to be accomplished. Keswick was dark and empty, just as we had left it as we touched the Moot Hall steps at 14:48.
We completed the Round in 23hr 48mins, self-supported and with 5 days preparation. This was one of the hardest challenges that I’ve attempted and I’m proud that we pulled it off.
Thank you for saying yes Ritchie. We did it!
Stats
Distance 66.56 miles
Elevation 27,677 Ft
Time 23:48:52