The Bob Graham Round is a
fell running
Fell running, also sometimes known as hill running, is the sport of running and racing, off-road, over upland country where the gradient climbed is a significant component of the difficulty. The name arises from the origins of the English sport o ...
challenge in the English
Lake District
The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...
. It is named after Bob Graham (1889–1966), a
Keswick guest-house owner, who in June 1932 broke the Lakeland Fell record by traversing 42
fell
A fell (from Old Norse ''fell'', ''fjall'', "mountain"Falk and Torp (2006:161).) is a high and barren landscape feature, such as a mountain or Moorland, moor-covered hill. The term is most often employed in Fennoscandia, Iceland, the Isle o ...
s within a 24-hour period. Traversing the 42 fells, starting and finishing at
Keswick Moot Hall, involves 66 miles (106 km) with 26,900 feet (8,200 m) of ascent.
The Round was first repeated, in a better time, in 1960 by Alan Heaton. Since then over 2500 individuals have completed the Round with the fastest time being 12hr 23m set by Jack Kuenzle in 2022, surpassing
Kílian Jornet's record by almost 30 minutes. The women's record is 14hr 34m set by Beth Pascall in 2020. The Lakeland 24 Hour record has also been improved with the current holder, Kim Collison, successfully reaching 78 summits in the allotted time.
Along with the
Paddy Buckley Round and the
Ramsay Round, the Bob Graham Round is one of the classic big three mountain challenges in the UK. Some fifty six individuals have completed all three.
History of the round
Early developments
The development of progressively lengthier and more competitive rounds of the Lakeland fells is chronicled in the Bob Graham Club's ''Story of the Bob Graham Round'',
and in the fell-walking section of
M. J. B. Baddeley's Lakeland guidebook:, and most recently in Chapter 15 of Steve Chilton's ''It's a hill, get over it: fell running's history and characters''
Some of the more notable rounds:
* 1864: the Reverend J.M. Elliott of Cambridge traversed the summits around the head of Wasdale in 8.5 hours
* 1870: Thomas Watson of Darlington covered with over of ascent in 20 hours
* 1902: S.B. Johnson of Carlisle completed a , round in 22.5 hours
* 1905: Dr Wakefield of Keswick completed the same round in 22h7m (recorded in The Sedberghian)
* 1920: Eustace Thomas, at age 54, covered the same round in 21h25m
It was Dr Wakefield who codified the essentials of the challenge: "''To traverse on foot as many tops over 2000ft and return to the starting point within 24 hours''". Wakefield was Keswick-based so specified the start/finish point as that town's Moot Hall.
Bob Graham's initial Round
On 12–13 June 1932 Bob Graham extended the 24-hour
Lakeland peak bagging
Peak bagging or hill bagging is an activity in which hikers, climbers, and mountaineers attempt to reach a collection of summits, published in the form of a list. This activity has been popularized around the world, with lists such as 100 Peaks ...
record to a total of 42 peaks in a time of 23 hours 39 minutes. Even though this was recognised as the new record, several of the tops claimed did not reach in altitude. The approximate distance of the new record (determined using current technology) was with of ascent. At the time the distance was claimed (not by Graham) to be in excess of though the given amount of ascent was reasonably close to the currently accepted figure. Several 20th Century sources (including the ''42 Peaks'' booklet
) erroneously state the distance to be .
It has long been thought that Bob Graham chose 42 peaks to match his age at the time of the attempt but his birth certificate shows that he was born on 1 March 1889 and therefore 43 at the time of his Round. It's possible that this was the original reasoning for his attempt the previous year.
The date of the successful round is sometimes given as 13–14 June 1932. However this date would be Monday-Tuesday which is unlikely given that both he and his pacers would have had to take the Monday off work.
The record came under immediate scrutiny, possibly because Graham wasn't from the higher social classes who up until that time had been the only ones with the free time to spend long periods on the fells but more likely due to the large reported distance.
The first repeat
The first attempt at beating the record came from
Freddie Spencer Chapman
Frederick Spencer Chapman, (10 May 1907 – 8 August 1971) was a British Army officer and World War II veteran, most famous for his exploits behind enemy lines in Japanese occupied Malaya. His medals include the following: the Distinguished ...
who managed the round in 25 hours. As far as is known, this was the only attempt until after the Second World War. The next attempts were not until the 1950s with some coming close to success.
In the early 1960s, at a time when the veteran walker
Dr Barbara Moore was gaining publicity for doing the
John o'Groats to Land's End walk, the Lakeland writer
Harry Griffin noted that "''You didn't need fitness for such walks, you could get fit whilst undertaking the challenge. The Lakeland 24 hour record on the other hand.''" This piqued the interest of several runners: Maurice Collett and Paul Stewart made an attempt starting from Langdale but experiencing rough weather they completed the round in 27 hours 20 minutes. Also interested were the Heaton brothers from Lancashire who systematically set about attempting the record.
After several attempts Alan Heaton finally broke the record in 1960, completing the circuit in 22 hours 18 minutes.
Bob Graham's original round included four tops that are not in what is now called the Bob Graham Round. These were:
* High White Stones (an area just to the north of
High Raise)
* Hanging Knotts (a subsidiary summit of
Bowfell
Bowfell (named ''Bow Fell'' on Ordnance Survey maps) is a pyramid-shaped mountain lying at the heart of the English Lake District, in the Southern Fells area. It is the sixth-highest mountain in the Lake District and one of the most popular ...
)
* Looking Stead (a prominence on the ridge between
Pillar
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...
and
Black Sail Pass)
* High Snab Bank (a minor prominence on the ridge to the north of
Robinson Robinson may refer to:
People and names
* Robinson (name)
Fictional characters
* Robinson Crusoe, the main character, and title of a novel by Daniel Defoe, published in 1719
Geography
* Robinson projection, a map projection used since the 1960 ...
)
Alan Heaton replaced these with:
*
White Side
*
Helvellyn Lower Man
Helvellyn (; possible meaning: ''pale yellow moorland'') is a mountain in the English Lake District, the highest point of the Helvellyn range, a north–south line of mountains to the north of Ambleside, between the lakes of Thirlmere and Ull ...
*
Ill Crag
Ill Crag is a fell in the English Lake District. At , it is the fourth-highest Hewitt and Nutalls anGoogle Search "Highest Mountains In England" peak in England, after Scafell Pike, Sca Fell, and Helvellyn. Ill Crag overlooks Eskdale and has sp ...
*
Broad Crag
Broad Crag is a fell in the English Lake District. It is the fifth-highest peak in England at a height of . The mountain was gifted to the National Trust in 1923 by the Fell and Rock Climbing Club.
The peak forms part of the Scafell chain, an ...
Graham must have passed over the first two as they lie on the main path along the Helvellyn ridge.
It is these along with the other 38 tops that is now called the "Bob Graham Round" and are listed below.
Subsequent developments
Heaton's new record began a flurry of activity to add extra tops with the intent of extending the 24-hour record. It was soon discovered that the route of Bob Graham's round was not optimal for attempts on the absolute fell record so the two began to be regarded as separate challenges and have slightly different rules. The 24-hour record has now been extended to 78 tops. Bob Graham's round was left as a challenge in its own right.
The Bob Graham Round is now a standard fell-runner's test-piece having been successfully completed by 2610 people up to the end of 2021. Solo rounds have been accomplished but most contenders are accompanied by at least one runner in support, a requirement for acceptance of membership of the Bob Graham Club. The vast majority of attempts are undertaken close to mid summer to make use of maximum daylight. Nonetheless, as of January 2020, forty six individuals have successfully completed a winter round of the standard circuit.
The route
The round may be attempted either clockwise or anti-clockwise, provided that the start and finish is at the
Moot Hall, Keswick. Predicted times for each stage of the round can be determined using an adaptation of
Naismith's rule.
Record circuits
![BGR record time 2020](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/BGR_record_time_2020.png)
The succession of fastest rounds by men for the standard 42 tops is:
* 1960: Alan Heaton – 22:18
* 1971: Peter Walkington – 20:43
* 1973:
Bill Smith & Boyd Millen – 20:38
* 1976: John North – 19:48
* 1976:
Billy Bland
Billy Bland (April 5, 1932 – March 22, 2017) was an American R&B singer and songwriter.
Life and career
Bland, the youngest of 19 children, first sang professionally in 1947 in New York City, and sang with a group called The Bees in the 1950 ...
– 18:50
* 1977: Mike Nicholson – 17:45
* 1982: Billy Bland – 13:53
* 2018:
Kílian Jornet - 12:52
* 2022: Jack Kuenzle - 12:23
The progression of fastest ladies' rounds is:
* 1977: Jean Dawes - 23:27
* 1978: Anne-Marie Grindley - 21:05
* 1979:
Ros Coats - 20:31
* 1988:
Helene Diamantides
Helene Diamantides is a fell runner.
Early life
Helene Diamantides was born in 1964 in North Yorkshire, but she spent most of her childhood outside England. She lived in Ghana and later in Greece where as a teenager she competed internationally ...
- 20:17
* 1989: Helene Diamantides - 19:11
* 1991: Anne Stentiford - 18:49
* 2012:
Nicky Spinks
Nicola "Nicky" Spinks (born 22 April 1967) is a British long-distance runner, specialising in fell running, who set women's records for the major fell-running challenges the Ramsay Round, the Paddy Buckley Round and the Bob Graham Round.
She he ...
- 18:12
* 2015: Nicky Spinks – 18:06
* 2016:
Jasmin Paris
Jasmin Karina Paris (born November 1983) is a British runner who has been a national fell running champion and who has set records for the Bob Graham Round and the Ramsay Round.
She is well known in Great Britain as a fell runner, but became ...
- 15:24
* 2020: Beth Pascall - 14:34
The progression of these record times is shown in the graph.
![24hour peaks record 2020(2)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/24hour_peaks_record_2020%282%29.png)
Building on the basic Bob Graham Round, later runners raised the number of peaks traversed within 24 hours still further:
* 1962: Alan Heaton – 54 peaks in 23:48
* 1963: Eric Beard – 56 peaks, involving with of ascent in 23:35
* 1964: Alan Heaton – 60 peaks in 23:34
* 1971:
Joss Naylor
Joss Naylor, MBE (born 10 February 1936 at Wasdale Head) is an English fell runner who set many long-distance records, and a sheep farmer, living in the English Lake District. As his achievements increased he became better known as the King of t ...
– 61 peaks in 23:37
* 1972: Joss Naylor – 63 peaks in 23:35
* 1975: Joss Naylor – 72 peaks involving over and of ascent in 23:20
* 1988: Mark McDermott – 76 peaks in 23:26
* 1997: Mark Hartell – 77 peaks in 23:47
* 2020: Kim Collison – 78 peaks in 23:45
The sequence of ladies 24-hour records (for the number of peaks traversed within 24 hours or for the same number of peaks in a faster time) is:
*1977: Jean Dawes – 42 peaks in 23:37
*1978: Anne-Marie Grindley – 42 peaks in 21:05
*1979: Ros Coats – 42 peaks in 20:31
*1979: Anne-Marie Grindley – 58 peaks in 23:20
*1994: Ann Stentiford – 62 peaks in 23:17
*2011: Nicky Spinks – 64 peaks in 23:15
*2020:
Carol Morgan - 65 peaks in 23:57
*2021: Nicky Spinks - 65 peaks in 23:45
*2022: Fiona Pascall - 68 peaks in 23:26
The progression of the record for the number of peaks is shown in the graph.
Several later runners have successfully attempted 50 peaks at 50, and 55 peaks at 55. Notable achievements are:
* 1997: Joss Naylor attempted 60 peaks at age 60 over 36 hours (first to last peak) to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis research
* 2005:
Yiannis Tridimas
Yiannis Tridimas (born 22 February 1945, in Andros, Greece) is a long-distance fell runner, noted as being the only 60-year-old to have completed an extended version of the Bob Graham Round, covering 60 peaks in under 24 hours. He completed the c ...
completed 60 peaks at age 60, in 23:52
* 2006: Joss Naylor completed 70 peaks at age 70, covering more than 50 miles and ascending more than 25,000 feet, in under 21 hours
Double Rounds
A double round is two rounds (132 miles and 54,000 feet of climbing) on consecutive days. This has been achieved eight times, three times within 48 hours, with the record held by Dougie Zinis.
* 1977: Boyd Millen - 52:30
* 1979: Roger Baumeister - 46:34
* 1995: Eric Draper - 50:35
* 2016 May 14/15: Nicky Spinks - 45:30
* 2018: Tom Hollins - 52:30
* 2019 August 24/26: Stuart Walker - 51:18
* 2020 August 1/3 Gwynne Stokes - 54:30
* 2021 September 10/11: Dougie Zinis - 45:03
Baumeister and Spinks both started at Keswick, ran clockwise to Yewbarrow (peak 31 on a clockwise Round), reversed and ran back to Keswick, then continued anticlockwise to Yewbarrow (now peak 12 on an anticlockwise Round), before reversing again and completing the double traverse of all 42 peaks, once clockwise and once anticlockwise, at Keswick.
The Bob Graham Club 24 Hour Club
The Bob Graham Club was proposed in 1971 by Fred Rogerson. It exists to record attempts at long distance challenges over the Lakeland fells. The majority of the club's activity is related to the Bob Graham Round itself. While there is no requirement to apply for membership most attempting the round do so. The Club does not organise attempts on the Round, this is left to each individual.
The rules for gaining club membership are simple:
* Starting at the Moot Hall in Keswick, traverse the 42 summits of the Round (or more) on foot and return to the starting point within 24 hours of the starting time.
* The visit to each summit must be witnessed by a companion and the time of that visit recorded.
* The times at each summit and names of companions are entered in the membership application form.
The second requirement effectively prevents solo rounds counting for club membership though several runners, both club members and non-members, have made solo rounds.
The club have decided that from 1 January 2020, they will no longer accept rounds that use paid-for or commercial guiding services, in keeping with the ethos of the club of voluntary and mutual support.
See also
*
South Wales Traverse
*
Paddy Buckley Round A similar round in the mountains of
Snowdonia
Snowdonia or Eryri (), is a mountainous region in northwestern Wales and a national park of in area. It was the first to be designated of the three national parks in Wales, in 1951.
Name and extent
It was a commonly held belief that the nam ...
.
*
Ramsay Round The Scottish equivalent of the Bob Graham taking in 24
Munros
A Munro () is defined as a mountain in Scotland with a height over , and which is on the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) official list of Munros; there is no explicit topographical prominence requirement. The best known Munro is Ben Nevis ...
on the ridges of The Grey Corries and the Mamores.
*
Wicklow Round
The Wicklow Round is a long-distance hill running challenge in the Wicklow Mountains in Ireland. The route follows a proscribed 100-kilometre circuit of 26 mountains, which must be completed in a fixed order, that total over of elevation; the ...
The eastern Irish equivalent, taking in 26 mountains in the
Wicklow Mountains
The Wicklow Mountains (, archaic: ''Cualu'') form the largest continuous upland area in the Republic of Ireland. They occupy the whole centre of County Wicklow and stretch outside its borders into the counties of Dublin, Wexford and Carlow. Wh ...
.
*
Denis Rankin Round
The Denis Rankin Round is a long distance fell running, hill running challenge around the Mourne Mountains in County Down, Northern Ireland. The route is a circuit of over 90 kilometres, with a total climb of over 6,500 metres. The Round must b ...
The Northern Irish equivalent, taking in the
Mourne Mountains
The Mourne Mountains ( ; ga, Beanna Boirche), also called the Mournes or Mountains of Mourne, are a granite mountain range in County Down in the south-east of Northern Ireland. They include the highest mountains in Northern Ireland, the high ...
.
*
The Lakes Classic Rock Round - A round that includes 1300 m of rock climbing.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Bob Graham 24 Hour ClubOfficial site of the Bob Graham Round club
Bob Graham RoundBob Wightman's Bob Graham Round webpages
The Bob Graham RoundAnother site for enthusiasts including further statistics (now part of the Bob Graham 24 Hour Club's website)
Fell & Rock Climbing Club of the English Lake District FRCC site, giving long walks and runs in the English Lakes
The Fell Runners Associationorganizers in the
UK with links to regions, events and clubs
The Bob Graham Round Photo Blog , Calum LewisA Photographic Journal of the Bob Graham Round 2016
Fell running challenges
Sport in Cumbria