The making of the Round

A few extra folk were at Dunmail - Haz had joined the party  to take folk back to their cars after  running leg 2. Plucky and Gill had made a very early start to their Saturday morning to say hiya and see me on my way before heading back to their Keswick Hotel for breakfast, (they were hotel guests eating breakfast, not hotel owners preparing breakfast) and Paul Tierney has came along too, although I didn't actually spot him until I had climbed over the ladder-style, walked a few metres swigging my tea, and then looked back for a glimpse of what everyone was doing before I got  far up the climb.

Dunmail Raise melee 

Sopa de tomate - one of my faves

As I sat briefly in the camping chair Phil always had ready for me, slurping down tomato soup like it was an eating competition, changing footwear and clothing, Plucky asked if I was 'tired yet'? I had covered well over 20 miles and goodness knows how many thousand feet of ascent, taking just inside 7 hours to do so, but I realised that, actually, no, I wasn't tired at all. In fact I scarcely felt I had done anything tiring yet and was positively relishing the forthcoming section. 

Once we were off and making our way up the hill I was fully able to take stock of who was here now, accompanying me on what I knew would be the crucial part of the day. That may sound odd - I knew who was there because they were the people I had requested be there, but when you're at the changeover there is such a mass of bodies all around, some finishing, some new faces, some carrying on, some getting food, some keeping out the way until I'm sorted and off, that it's not at all obvious which of those figures massing around nearby are the ones whose company you will be left with once you leave the camp.

Making our way up the hill

Soon we were off again and it was Steve Murdoch, Andy Slattery and Ian Davies taking care of me now.  And what a crew these lads were! Everyone, all day was great but this leg and these fellas will stick in my mind for a long time. 

Murdo

Steve I will always remember for his meticulous attention to detail over the route. As a BGR man of much experience he had initially offered to navigate me saying he knew it 'like the back of his hand'. This I can well believe anyway, but during the course of conversation over the next few hours I discovered that he had made a dozen or more trips over various parts of the leg to familiarise himself again, refresh his memory, seek out any tiny nuance of a better line. And all in a bid to maximise MY chances of getting to Wasdale in the best possible shape and with the least possible effort.

As someone I've known since I began running a dozen or so years ago, Steve was someone I considered an acquaintance, a chap who I would probably see once or twice per year, usually at a race, and have a general craic with. But now I regard him as a good friend, as someone who can be trusted and relied upon. Someone with a wealth of experience and knowledge who delights in passing on that knowledge to those who share a similar interest, passion, mindset as his own. Top man!

Ian Davies - packhorse and waiter

Ian Davies had my food in his pack. I know I was strong on this leg and was often jogging along at a decent la'al clip even when the terrain  or incline might suggest a walk be more suited to Bob Graham length days. This meant that whenever I asked Ian for something in particular to eat he had to stop, take off his pack, delve into it and find whatever I had asked for, close up and put the pack back on, then make his way after me, obviously at faster pace than whatever I was managing at that time or risk taking an age to catch up. As the longest leg and with me eating quite well now I'd discovered what I could eat and still feel good, this all happened to poor Ian QUITE A LOT. He never once failed though. Every single time he turned up soon after, with whatever I and asked for. Nothing was ever too much trouble. Even when I jokingly suggested I had changed my mind and fancied something different, Ian just said again that it was my day and he was there to help me.  Ian Davies epitomised everything needed in a BGR hill  support man. 

Yer man Slats

Slats (Andy) was always somewhere close on leg 3. I remember chatting to him now and then but certainly not as much as Ian or Steve. But once we were at Wasdale and personnel changed again, Slats didn't stop. Then once we got to Honister and were on the final victory leg to Keswick, Slats was STILL THERE, running leg 5 too. He ran over 35 miles of the Bob Graham Round  with me , (and remember this was a sub 20 hour round - so not exactly hanging around). By the time we were running through those final few fields after Littlewtown it felt like he had been there with me all day long. 

Once I had finished and had spent a few minutes shaking hands and speaking to the folk who had turned up to see me succeed, I spotted Andy sitting quietly alone on the steps up the the Moot Hall.  To me he had seemed to be a powerhouse all day long. Always dancing away just ahead of me, apparently effortlessly as he was forced to go no faster than my pace. But now we were both shattered. I must surely have looked so, and to my eye Andy was now finally showing the signs of a man who had ran around most of Cumbria for over half a day. I went over to him and we shared a few words - can't remember exactly what was said, but I think we were both of the same mind......

"what a bloody fantastic day this has been, thanks for sharing it with me"   

Stustod got a photo of just the moment.... 

.....that is one of my favourite photos of the whole day, because in a hundredth of one second it sums up every emotion I felt throughout the previous 19 hours and 43 minutes.

Oh, leg 3  featured a few hills worth mentioning too. The first half dozen were ticked off without paying much attention - too busy chatting away. Then we got into the Langdales and Rosset Pike and the big fellas were looming ahead. We climbed Bowfell on a superb line, popping out really close to the summit. Thereafter we could not only see exactly where we were going next, but I knew these summits quite well myself from so many trips up here recently I was still climbing really well at this stage too. I felt I was and Steve kept telling me I was too. Up to this point I had kept on saying how anything up to the 10 hour point was still early days and lots could still go wrong.  But once were were onto the Scafells I was beginning to feel really confident - nothing was going wrong, my legs felt great, I was eating well and in good spirits. Even the weather was perfect, never too hot and only when the sun went behind a cloud was it cool enough to need my gloves on. 

As we descended from the Mickledore stretcher box I knowI was having a bit of a moan. The reason ? I could see Broad Stand climb  just there above us. We were jogging down a rubble strewn hillside when we could have been climbing up the rock face. We dropped for what seemed an age before reaching the exit of the Foxs Tarn gulley. But once we were into it and climbing using hands as well as feet I was once again enjoying myself. The final stoney section to the plateau was a  bit of a pain but I remember Steve and Ian being real close by me here and I just kept on attacking it again and again, refusing to be beat or annoyed by the loose rocks underfoot, seeking out the biggest rocks that might offer a sturdier foothold or hand grip.

When we were jogging across to toward the final rock clambering section to Scafell summit I noted it was a couple of minutes to eleven o'clock in the morning. As I had set off at eleven oclock in the evening, this was significant!

I did it. I summited Scafell before 12 hours (and therefore potentially half the allotted time) was up. The final summit on the longest section was over and done with, and now all I had to do was drop down into Wasdale and then complete another 8 hours of easier running than I'd just done - but I had 12 hours in which to do it! And I still didnt feel particularly tired!!

Get the kettle on Phil - hungry runners coming down to Wasdale

Last bit of descent from Scafell

Yes, leg 4 may have been when I realised a special time of sub 20 was on the cards. But it was during leg 3 that I allowed the most special feeling of all to creep into my head... I allowed the thoughts of 'this could still go wrong, theres a long way to go' to be replaced with "this is not going to go wrong - I am definitely going to complete the Bob Graham Round". And  once that thought was firmly planted in my mind it just grew and grew, and with it my confidence, my enjoyment, my mood, my banter. 

Beforehand, I had written about this day. How it would be my day, my hills, my Cumbria. I'd hoped it would be a day to be remembered forever, the best legs, the best head, the best views, the gathering of friends. 

Now I was living it for real, playing it out with my friends alongside me for company. It was everything I had hoped for and then ten times more. It was indeed my day. The hills were all mine for the taking - I hammered most of them into submission whilst enjoying every moment of all they had to offer.  I took in the views and looked back often at where I had been. From the Scafells the view all the way North to Derwentwater, Keswick and Skiddaw seemed so distant that I could scarcely believe not only had I already been there, the long way round, but I was going all the way back there again, another very long way round. It didn't phase me at all. I even remember making a joke along the lines of "bloody hell imagine if we had to go all the way over there"

Leg 3 is usually the crucial part of a Bob Graham Round. Mine was no different. Leg 3 saw me shed the concerns and simply get on with and enjoy the day. My day in my Cumbrian hills.