Running in the Hills with Friends

The Bob Graham Round (BGR) is a running challenge in The Lake District traversing 42 summits over 66 miles with 8000m of ascent; a successful completion must be completed in under 24 hours and only 1 in 3 attempts are successful. I walked the route over 6 days in 2012 and loved it, I joked that I would run it one day even though I didn’t run back then. Eventually I did start running progressing on to fell running; after many years of talk and procrastination Laura eventually grabbed the bull by the horns on my behalf, a date was set and a support team was gathered.

I upped my training to get back in to long runs and fell runs including some hideous back to back efforts that spawned the verb “To Garratt” from Lizzie Combes; unfortunately “Garratting” may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back ankle. After a particularly tough run supporting Carol Morgan’s Wainwright’s Round I developed a niggle in my ankle that developed in to a very acute pain that made it difficult to walk. I had to drop out of the 25k Trail race at Keswick Mountain Festival, then a week later I was due to be supporting Leg 2 of another BGR. By this point I was managing to run 5 or so km relatively easily albeit with a slightly changed gait, knowing that the running would be sporadic and very much interspersed with long stretches of steep hill walking I decided to go ahead with the BGR support. Thankfully it went without a hitch and I knew that I should be fine for the BGR regardless of my ankle issues. This was confirmed by another successful Leg 2 support, some running through a few Munros in Scotland and supporting Steve’s Ramsay attempt, all without any further issue.

There is a hell of a lot to organise for an attempt at the BGR, fortunately this can be halved if you have a fantastic wife such as Laura who left me to organise all things running but took over the logistical side of ensuring that all the runners and support were in the correct place at the correct time. This made sense since Laura would be the point of contact for everyone on the day and left me to just concentrate on running. As the day neared advice started to flow in from experienced BG veteran Martyn Price, the main points being don’t set off too fast while the legs and enthusiasm are fresh and get most of the calories down your throat during Leg 1 & 2 while your digestive system still functions properly. Eventually, after what had seemed an eternity I found myself standing outside The Moot Hall in Keswick, full of pizza, pasta, sandwich and Pepsi, ready for the off. I didn’t feel particularly nervous, I knew from past runs that I had the pace and the worst that could happen (alright, not the absolute worst) was that I’d have a great day running in the hills with some fantastic friends. 

Leg1

Run Support – Toby Adkins, Jack Rose, Ben Douglas

At 7.30pm I set off from The Moot Hall to raucous cheers from the gathered support  with Toby, Ben and Jack. Conditions were near perfect with very little wind and some high cloud cover to keep off the heat of the sun that had been present throughout the day; it looked like we had hit a perfect weather window. Conscious to keep things slow as instructed, I rejected Toby’s suggestion that we should do 3:15 for the first kilometre and maintained a sedate pace taking in the beautiful views down to Derwent water; at this point virtually the entire Bob Graham route was visible spread out before me in to the distance. As we approached the summit of Skiddaw I was a little concerned that we may have been too sedate but then Toby announced that it had only taken 1:14, 4 minutes up on schedule and about 10 up on the recommended slow schedule for Leg 1. Oops, I thought, Martyn will be disappointed!

As a result I took things really easy on the way down from Skiddaw and up Great Calva; we arrived another 5 minutes up on schedule! Those that know me and have had the joy of being on a club run when I lead will know that I am pretty appalling at slowing the pace down, why did I think this would be any different? Jack took the opportunity to fill up his water bladder while we continued up the steep pull on to Mungrisedale Common and the back of Blencathra. Prior to setting off I had instructed my pacers to make me run anything runnable, we temporarily paused this rule while we waited for Jack to catch up, but despite walking to the summit of Blencathra, he never did. By now it was dark and given the relative inexperience of my support runners at running down rocky descents in the dark I decided that the safest option would be to go down Doddick Fell. Normally I am quite good at descending quickly down rock, with hindsight it was definitely a good choice to take the more forgiving Doddick route over Hall’s Fell. I had been concerned for the safety of my support but it turns out that I was the higher risk, about half way down the ridge I stumbled on a rock and lurched face first towards the ground. You know it must be your day when instead of landing on your face, you forward roll in to some heather that springs you back on to your feet in one fluid motion that allows you to continue running without breaking stride! I got in to the changeover at Threlkeld Cricket Club 3 minutes up on schedule which wasn’t bad considering the longer than planned route taken off Blencathra; I had only planned a 5 minute stop but this was extended a little while waiting for support to catch up. The longer stop did not concern me at all, I had run Leg 1 well within myself and knew that I could make the time back.

Leg2

Run Support – Jess Richardson, Paul Ramsden, Paul Milligan

Road Support – Julie Towse, Steven Littlewood, Sarah Underwood, Cara Leigh, Naomi Adkins, Heather Cara, Amy Ramsden-Young

Leg 2 was paced and navigated excellently by Jess Richardson (whom I had met while supporting Carol Morgan’s round of all the Wainwrights) with a brilliance of Pauls (Ramsden and Milligan – their self-created collective noun) as mules. The weather was clear so it was easy to find the summits unlike the last two times I had done this leg as support, we even had views down to the twinkling lights of Kewick and Penrith. Around Dollywagon Pike the clag rolled in, then on the way up Fairfield the clag became thick, wet and succumbed to gravity, stinging our faces as it fell. Overall the leg was very uneventful, the only thing of note that I barely considered at the time was a slight niggling pain in my right hip.The jog down to the second changeover at Dunmail Raise felt very sedate but was bang on schedule getting us in to Dunmail still only 3 minutes behind. As they had at Threlkeld, Julie and Steven had done a grand job of sorting everything that I would need for the next leg. They stuffed a load of porridge and coffee down my throat then it was off in to the rain and clag of Leg 3.

Leg3

Run Support – Steve Rhodes, Adam Lomas, Danny Clayton

Road Support – Julie Towse, Steven Littlewood, Emma Brown

Leg 3 is the longest and rockiest section of the round with the two highest peaks. This leg was supported by Steve Rhodes and Adam Lomas (the two friends I have done most of my fell running with), and Danny Clayton who was doing his first stint of support on a big round and was possibly the most enthusiastic support anyone could wish for. Steve has been one of my biggest influences in fell running and has been encouraging me to give the BG a go for years. Along with Adam I have supported him on his last two attempts at the Ramsay Round in Scotland, but as Steve remarked on the slog from Steel Fell to Calf Crag, this time the (fell)shoe was on the other foot! Despite the rain we were in good spirits, it was forecast to end at around 6am, but it didn’t, it continued on until about 3pm. It would appear that the aforementioned weather window was a window of crap weather! It was a massive relief when dawn finally broke and some semblance of visibility was restored, now the clag was grey rather than black.

The rain showed no sign of abating so just after Calf Crag I gave in and stopped to put more layers on. My hip was also showing no sign of easing off, I had thought the grassy terrain would be a relief but it was increasingly painful when running, so much so that I looked forward to rocky, unrunnable terrain from Rossett Pike onwards. We got our first glimpse in to a valley at Martcrag Moor where I could see streams very much in spate and started mentally going through which stream crossings this could be a problem for further along. Although there were now streams and rivers where there usually are none, the going was incident free if a bit wet and very slippery all the way to Sca Fell Pike. One place that hadn’t come up in my mental assessment of flood risk was the scree gully of Lords Rake which in the conditions appeared to be trying to create Lords Lake. I had been up here and up the West Wall Traverse with no issues whatsoever three weeks previously in the blistering heat with the brilliance of Pauls, it was somewhat a different proposition with water cascading down the slippery rocks. Never the less, we finally topped out on Sca Fell and just had the 900m descent back down in to Wasdale before a cup of coffee and something to eat at the next changeover. The descent was an effort in the slippery conditions and I’ll be the first to admit that I may have left my sense of humour somewhere on the summit of Sca Fell. We eventually arrived in to Wasdale 50 minutes behind schedule, still well within the 24 hour time frame, but now I was worried that if I dropped anywhere near that much time on the next two legs then things were going to get very tight. Laura had taken over as the main road support now and stuffed me with whatever food and drink I could manage.

Leg4

Leg 4

Run Support – Martyn Price, Helen Price

Road Support – Laura Garratt, Tilly Rhodes, Jo Rhodes

Martyn and Helen Price took over the run support for Leg 4, at this point with so much time dropped on Leg 3 the plan was to try to stick to my schedule but above all else just get to Honister with a fighting chance of finishing under 24 hours. A plan that looked in jeopardy when Martyn turned his ankle on the way out of the car park!

I had been dreading the climb out of Wasdale, a 600m slog up the sheer side of Yewbarrow. Helen led and I just concentrated on sticking as close to her as I could, at points I wanted to ask her to slow down but knew that I had to keep going as long as I was able. This plan paid off, after 40 minutes we topped out on the summit of Yewbarrow, 10 minutes quicker than scheduled and clawing back some much needed time. A flood of relief washed over me as I now knew that the weather had been the problem on Leg 3 and I wasn’t tiring too much. As each summit was ticked off more time was regained all the way to Kirk Fell, in no small part due to the expert navigation from Martyn and Helen who knew all the short cuts.

Great Gable was another slog, by now I was struggling to lift my knees over the boulders however by the time we reached the summit I had 5¹/₂ hours to reach Keswick, popular wisdom says that if you get to Gable with 4 hours to spare you will finish in under 24 hours, cue a big sigh of relief! Coming down off Grey Knotts in to Honister I had my first view since Mungrisedale Common some 17 hours earlier, obviously I took a couple of photos! It also meant my support waiting at Honister Slate Mine could see us and I could hear them all the way down the slope!

There were so many people at the changeover, it was difficult to take it all in. I had another swift change of clothes and socks (thanks Tilly), a couple of bananas, as that was all I could face, and ditched my rucksack, nearly forgetting my tracker in the process, then it was off up Dale Head, clawing another few minutes back by setting off early.

Leg5

Run Support – Amy Ramsden-Young, Emma Brown, Helen Price, Steve Rhodes, Toby Adkins

Road Support – Loads! I’m sorry but I struggled to make out everyone that was there! 

On Leg 5 I was accompanied by Amy, Emma, Helen (who had continued on from Leg 4) and Steve who I had wanted to finish the job with me. We set off at 3:12pm, I was now feeling pretty relaxed as I knew I could walk the leg in the time I had. It wasn’t long before we were back in the clag still going at a decent pace; Emma had been a bit worried about joining as run support in case she couldn’t keep up, it was quite the opposite, I struggled to keep up as Amy and Emma flew up Dale Head! We hit the summit right on schedule, it was the same on Hindscarth and Robinson where we posed for photos on the final summit.

It wasn’t long before we hit the tarmac of Newlands Valley where we were met by Naomi and Toby (and yet another cheer squad) with my road shoes for the 7km road run back to Keswick. With her navigation duties complete Helen dropped out and Toby dropped in so he could be in both the start and end photos and pretend he did it all with me. The road section seemed to go on forever, there were gradients that I should have run (I hesitate to call them a hill) but I just didn’t want to. I knew I had time, my hip was absolutely killing me and I just wanted to enjoy the final run in as much as I could. As we walked ran past the Swinside Inn it was very tempting to stop for a celebratory pint but I put all my willpower to the test to keep going, as somebody pointed out Laura would have killed me!

As we neared Keswick Market Place I could hear the whoops and cheers well before I could see anybody. Naomi was there to guide me through a guard of honour to the Moot Hall and up the steps (as many people have questioned, are they really necessary?).

The last two legs had been completed pretty much on schedule (stupid weather window) and I finished in a time of 22:35:31. I was feeling pretty emotional but just about held it together made even more tricky when I got a massive hug from Laura followed by several friends who knew what it meant to me. I was saved from this uncharacteristic outpouring of emotion when a pint of beer was thrust in to my hand, after all it’s pretty difficult to blub while throwing a beer down your neck! The celebrations rehydration continued throughout the night and continued during the glorious sunshine of the following day. Bloody weather window!

There is no way I would have been able to complete the Bob Graham without such a fabtastic* (*initially a spelling mistake but I like it so it’s staying) support team, whether they were running, standing by the roadside in the pouring rain or changing my socks. I had so many messages of support and congratulations and I just want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart. One of the things that helped to keep me moving was knowing that everyone was willing me to do it and I did not want to let anyone down. Particular thanks to Laura for sorting the logistics and being so supportive with my running and to Steve for being a constant source of encouragement and inspiration! Now if you have got this far, go and read up on The Ramsay Round.