BG 2012

The BG. The Bob Graham. The first and best known of the classic rounds - a circular route through varying mountain terrain, taking the challenger on a roller coaster of emotion, to the edges of pain, suffering and stretching their capacity for endurance to breaking point. It only takes one day to make or break even the greatest mountain athletes. In that time, the challenger must battle the elements, the terrain and self-doubt to haul themselves round no less than forty two Lakeland peaks, covering sixty eight miles and climbing and descending roughly the height of Everest. One second over that twenty four hour marker and the challenger is deemed to have a failed. On 12th May 2012, team TyneandWeary took on the challenge for a second time...

Adam: The lead up to this, my second attempt at the BG, was certainly not the preparation I had anticipated at the start of the year. I'd had a few months out with injuries, only been out for a handful of real hill days and confidence was low following a string of mediocre results.

After a solid week's training pre-Highlander and the Highlander itself, I could see a glimmer of hope that my mountain fitness was returning and the injuries were becoming 'manageable'. A fortnight later and things improved again with a successful run at the Fellsman. It was my best performance of the year to date and knowing that I could manage 13hrs out on tough terrain was a welcome boost.

However, the Fellsman was also a major contributor to a nervous lead up. With only two weeks recovery before the planned assault on the BG, would there be enough time to recover? Were the rolling dales of Yorkshire enough of a test to have confidence in climbing 28000ft? I asked numerous other questions of myself  - had I done enough recce's? Was my approach too relaxed? What if I fail again?

Back in January, going for an early May attempt was seen as a safe option. The weather is usually better in May than later on in the summer; there's enough daylight to limit the darkness to a single section and there's always the backup of a free weekend later in the summer to have another crack! Having had the wettest spring in living memory, eyes were firmly fixed on the MWIS forecast in the days running up to d-day. It seemed that it had been raining for weeks, even snowing, and this was due to continue. In some remarkable turn, a short window of dry and relatively still weather appeared right when we needed it. From early evening Friday the skies were due to clear, followed by high cloud cover and sunny patches through Saturday.

Having suffered from an evening start last year, the decision was made to start at one in the morning. The first leg would be done in the dark but then we'd hope to have daylight from then on in a race against the sunset late Saturday evening. There's no way you can really condition yourself to such an early start so getting as many minutes of shut eye as possible is all you can hope for. Easier said than done!

I think my night went a little like this:

21:17 - finish kit faff, bit later than planned

21:19 - running kit on and head down

21:34 - check watch, still not asleep, "This is not good!"

22:52 - "Have I missed it?", "No, phew", at least another hour to get some sleep

23:05 - awake again or did I just not fall asleep?

23:47 - only a few minutes to midnight now, not much point in trying to sleep again

23:58 - waiting for the alarm

00:00 - it's time!

It wasn't long before we stood on the steps at the Moot Hall, waiting for the clock to strike one.

Andy: To see a group of runners charging excitedly out from the market place at Keswick at 1 am on a Saturday morning might be a strange sight, but ask any fell runner what this group were up to and they would know. Compared to last year my excitement at the start was curbed somewhat. Maybe it was the recognition that a significant injury in March had really set back my training  - I felt unprepared and knew my ankle could flare up at any point and ruin my attempt. Maybe it was the drained feeling in my body from a week of battling off a cold? Maybe it was simply from having a better appreciation of the gravity of the task ahead... Either way, I had set off now, the clock was ticking, 23hrs59mins to go!

Leg 1 – Keswick to Threlkeld

The first leg was uneventful  – Adam, Duncan  and I, along with  our support runner Viv  were  chatting away as we steadily climbed Skiddaw by headtorch, trying to convince our legs that 1 am in the morning was a sensible time to start a 24 hour run. 1 hr 18 m in and we were jogging off the top of a frozen Skiddaw heading ‘off road’ to Blencathra via the outlying hill of Great Calva. We met our splits comfortably and had navigated the rough terrain in the dark and waded across the icy River Caldew without any major glitches. We chose to avoid the frozen rocky ridge of Halls Fell and descended into Threlkeld off Blencathra in

26 minutes via the path down Doddick instead.

So far so good, 3hr33m, 13 miles and the first three hills down 5 minutes ahead of my 22hour schedule. 

On the downhill my ankle had hurt a lot, increasingly so as it began to thaw out. I was not surprised and not concerned, providing the damaged ligaments didn’t go completely my recent training runs had taught me I could continue to run with this level of pain, especially as it was only on the downhills.

Leg 2 – Threlkeld to Dunmail

After a 7 minute refuel with our road support teams, Adam, Duncan and I set off onto Leg 2 with a fresh team of support runners. On the harsh grassy climb up Clough Head the morning frost crunched underfoot and glistened as the sun crept up over horizon - I felt fresh and alert - privileged to be fit enough to be out running on what promised to be a glorious day.

Running steadily over the Dodds towards Helvellyn in the morning clag our navigation was put to the test. Duncan and his team pushed on into the cloud and Michael, my support runner for Leg 2 looked after us brilliantly. This allowed me to switch off and concentrate on relaxing and eating and drinking regularly over the five hills to Helvellyn.

After the tough descent off Dollywaggon, the sun had burned off the cloud and Adam and I began the long climb up Fairfield. I was surprised that at this point I felt ok, the climb was taken steady, my legs were beginning to shout but we were still 8 minutes ahead of the schedule.

My ambitious target to reach the end of Leg 2 on a 22hour schedule and feeling fresh was achieved after we flew off the last hill, Seat Sandal, in just 14minutes.

Now 17 minutes up on schedule, 7hr 42mins, 15 hills down and over 26miles miles 

under the belt – time to dig in: still 27 hills and nearly 40 miles to go.

Adam: Descending down from Seat Sandal at a fair rate of knotts was a great feeling, in stark contrast to blindly hacking our way through a bracken covered boulder field as had been the case 10 months ago. I was looking forward to arriving into Dunmail. It would be the first time on the round that I'd meet my parents who were supporting and also I'd have the opportunity to shed my kit as I would now have my own support runner until the end.

Over legs 1 and 2, I piggy-backed on Duncan's and Andy's support runners and whilst I carried my own kit, I very much relied on their pacing and navigation. Rob Sanderson would be my support over leg 3 which filled me with confidence as I knew Rob would keep us on the right track and be wary of any potential sugar crashes! It also meant that Andy and I could go at our own pace without slowing the other down. 

Duncan was long gone!

Adam climbing out of Dunmail

Leg 3 - Dunmail to Wasdale

Just before 9am we headed off onto leg 3 as a group of four. A fellow NFR team mate of Andy's, Scott, would be supporting Andy. The guys were energetic and enthusiastic and this rubbed off on Andy and I as we made our way up Steel Fell. The day was only just starting and the mood was positive.

We hit the summit of Steel Fell together but then Andy started to pull away on the gentle climb to Calf Crag. I just didn't have another gear to go to whilst climbing and so decided to stick to my own pace and let Andy go. I expected to see Andy and Scott gradually disappear into the distance and that I'd eventually see them when it was all over, back in Keswick, fingers crossed.

The gap grew to a couple of minutes at High Raise but a couple of steep descents around the Langdale Pikes meant that I caught back up whilst coming off Pike O' Stickle. We made steady progress together over Martcrag Moor and Andy picked an excellent line up to Rossett Pike.

Running over Martcrag Moor

Andy: Rosset Pike, hill No. 23,  marked the point where last year I had had to abandon my attempt. This year that thought hadn’t even crossed my mind. I felt strong and confident, pushing on to gain time on both of the big climbs up Bowfell and Esk Pike, even the rocky ground of the Scafells ahead couldn’t stop us making good progress and meeting the splits. The cool weather but clear skies provided ideal conditions and the scenery was incredible.

Scafell Pike was busy with walkers, one of which joked that this was probably my second hill of the day  – I didn’t correct him (No. 29!) and just grinned in response. Mickledore saw Adam and I part ways – his preferred route up Scafell was via Lords Rake, whereas I headed to Broad Stand, a moderate but exposed rock climb. I was relieved to find Ian was still there manning a safety rope. This took the pressure off by reducing the risk of a potentially fatal cramp induced fall. The rock was fairly dry and I climbed up the awkward layback without any issues. The remaining scramble up after Broad Stand proved to be easier than I remembered.

With all the major mental obstacles out of the way Scott and I ran down the quad burning 800 metre descent to Wasdale, once again desperately trying to ignore the pain in my ankle and making good use of the scree slopes before being cheered in by our road support.

Now 33 minutes up on schedule, 13hr 19mins, 30 hills down and over 45miles done - I felt great. I was trying not to get ahead of myself but it was difficult, I just could not imagine not getting round now. Even with another 7hours to go thoughts were starting to turn to how fast I could finish, how strong I could be and how determined I was to maintain the pace.

Adam: I'd decided before setting off that I'd be using Lord's Rake to get between Scafell Pike and Scafell in the most efficient and risk averse way. I'm not a climber and the additional worry of scaling Broad Stand was not something I wished to entertain for the first 12 hrs of the round. At Mickledore, Rob and I headed right and under the cliffs towards Lord's Rake.

I was quite surprised to see so many walkers in the rock strewn gully. Whilst safety was of paramount importance, I was keen to not get stuck behind anyone 'mincing'. I took a brash approach and scuttled up and round several walkers on my ascent. At one point, the shouts of "below, below!" had me thinking I'd dislodged some huge rocks but Rob assured me that it was a young lad venturing up a thin and precarious parallel gully.

We made quick progress, quicker than I'd done on my recce a few weeks earlier and made our way round to Scafell summit. I knew Andy's route was a lot quicker and didn't expect to see him, although with such a quick ascent of Lord's Rake I hoped that I might catch a glimpse.Unfortunately it wasn't to be, at least not on the climb to the top.

On the descent, however, I could clearly see Andy and Scott only a few minutes ahead. I knew I had an advantage over Andy on the downs, especially such a runnable one, and so up'd the pace in an effort to reduce the deficit. If I could, I wanted to head onto Leg 4 with Andy.

Leg 4 – Wasdale to Honister

Andy: The climb up Yewbarrow is notorious. A steep grassy climb that can break even the most prepared runners. It is not its size, more its position in the round. A steep 600m grassy climb hurts, more so after 45miles.

I surprised myself. I felt like I was gliding up the climb, chatting away to Paul Hainsworth and James Charlton, both fresh and determined to support me and help me round. Without meaning to I had dropped Adam on this climb and was 5 minutes inside the target time for this hill alone. He was not finished though and was no more than 10 minutes behind me at any point for the rest of the leg.

Adam: On the climb out of Wasdale and up Yewbarrow, I had to let Andy go for the second time. Now supported by Jonny, I was again struggling on the climbs. This was a long one and simply a matter of head down and get on with it.

Andy: The peaks of Red Pike, Steeple and Pillar flew by and I continued to feel strong on the climbs. On the long rough run down to the bottom of Kirk Fell I began to struggle to block out the pain in my ankle and I think I let this get to me. My legs felt weak for the first time on the climb up Kirk Fell and I was sure I had dropped some time. James confirmed that I was still well up on schedule and a sub 21 hour round was now on the cards.

Andy on Steeple

A gel helped me push hard up Great Gable,  in my mind the final big hurdle,  and I had taken another 5 minutes out of the schedule by the top. “It is all downhill from Gable” – a complete lie, but relatively speaking the last three hills of leg 4 involve very little climb and the flat terrain was run comfortably.

Adam: After Yewbarrow, I made steady progress on the way to Great Gable. The weather was still fantastic, with views right out over to the Scafell Pikes in one direction, the remaining Leg 4 peaks in the foreground, and then the final 3 peaks of Leg 5 in the other direction. With a combination of steep and rocky ascents and descents, Andy and I yo-yo-ed as we progressed. At times we'd be close enough to shout words of encouragement to each other but minutes later we'd be seemingly miles apart.

Great Gable was very much a focal point for me during the early parts of Leg 4. Once there, it's pretty much one direction back to Keswick and it's the last of the 'big' peaks so to speak. I'd also failed miserably to climb Great Gable simply from Wasdale on one of our early recces and didn't want to be defeated again.

I felt strong on the flats and the downhills especially but the climbs were still a struggle. There was nothing I could do but plod and plod I did. I knew completing the round was definitely on, barring any major incident, and knew that we'd been up on schedule throughout Leg 3. But I had no idea what sort of time I could manage at this stage.

With the final really rough descent out of the way having come off Great Gable, we made good progress on the soft and surprisingly dry tops between Green Gable, Brandreth and Grey Knotts. I approached Honister with a huge amount of optimism as the legs were feeling good. Despite being out for nearly 18 hours, the cool evening air, clear tops and thoughts of finishing were hugely motivational.

Leg 5 – Honister to Keswick

Andy: Honister was a buzz. My road support could sense it was in the bag and I was eager to get going. Mums homemade flapjack went down a treat, I was feeling hungry and for the first time all day I felt tired. A procession of us  set off onto the last leg. Despite running Leg 2 Michael was joining me along with, Dad,

James and my best friend Richard. It meant so much to have such close friends with me and I was determined not to let them down, especially Richard. Not a natural runner, he had trained incredibly hard to join me on this leg and reaching the end with me would be a huge achievement for him.

I felt strong again on the climb up Dale Head and could sense that my support team were being stretched. I wanted to enjoy the last leg with them but at the same time didn’t want to lose any time. I needn’t have worried - Richard made it to the top inside a 22hour schedule just two minutes behind me and soon caught me on the ridge to Hindscarth before heading to Robinson with Michael to wait for me there.

I  resisted the temptation to attempt the ‘test of man’ to run up the gradual climb up to the top of Hindscarth but was another 4 minutes up on schedule despite walking some of it.

James was keen to continue to push the pace and I was happy to be pulled along, running the diagonal path to the 42nd and final hill of the day. I continued to push out the climb but my legs finally started to desert me and it was a welcome relief to see Michael and Richard waiting at the final summit.

From here Michael and Richard kicked for home and I got swept along in a wave of emotions. I felt relaxed and at ease, despite being very aware that I had a tough road section ahead I seemed to be striding out  comfortably. Seeing Richard and Michael thoroughly enjoying themselves on the fast grassy descents just ahead of me, and having James by my side encouraging me on was a wonderful combination. After dodging a crazy horse guarding a gate, the hardest part of the day began - the 5 miles on the road.

Adam: Feeling good, we kept the refueling down to a minimum and set off on Leg 5 within 4 minutes of reaching the car park at Honister. Andy had left just before I'd arrived and I wondered if it would be possible to catch him on this leg. It certainly wouldn't happen on the final slog of the day up to Dale Head, but I had so much running in my legs, I thought the flat sections might just be enough.

It was also clear now that a 21 hr round was a likely outcome and just how quick I could do Leg 5, which was very much a mystery, would decide my final time. Rob joined Jonny and I on this final leg and it was great to get going with both my support runners. They made the climb up Dale Head entertaining with general banter and it went by in a flash.

Next up was the 'test of manliness', a run from Dale Head all the way to Hindscarth without a pause to walk. One of the few peak to peak legs where this is a possibility, but so late in the round, it would be a big ask. Setting off, I wanted to remain comfortable for as long as possible, I knew it would be doable if I didn't go too fast. Once on the gentle climb along the Hindscarth ridge, I could feel it was in the bag and so kicked on. I never thought I'd be running so strongly at this point in the round. At just under 13 minutes for the run, I'd knocked nearly 8 minutes off the scheduled time. This felt great on such a short leg.

I pressed on, running down to the col before the final true climb of the day to Robinson. Jonny pushed hard up the hill and made sure we were headed in the right direction. Once at the summit, I resisted the opportunity to celebrate. My finish line was still 10KM away!

At just gone 8 in the evening I was on my way down the familiar slopes. A time well inside 21hrs was now possible and every minute counted. I was finally able to throw caution to the wind on the descent and spotted Andy and his support runners only a few hundred yards down the valley.

I'd pulled a bit of a gap on Jonny and Rob and didn't know whether to keep pushing the pace or slow down a bit and let them catch me. I was desperate for my road shoes! Fortunately, as I slowed a bit for the random horse, they caught me and this meant I could change immediately into my road shoes when we reached the first tarmac.

A formula one pit stop-esq shoe change occured and I was off again; leaving a trail of fell shoes and extra clothing ditched for Rob and Jonny to collect. I pulled another sizeable gap and caught up with Andy as he was changing shoes. I didn't know whether to stop or carry on, I was flying. In the end I think my legs made the decision for me and I decided to continue on.

I now had a new goal, making it from the top of Robinson to the Moot Hall in under an hour. I was on my own through the woods and still felt amazing. I couldn't hear, nor see, either Jonny or Rob and started to wonder if when I reached the Moot Hall if anyone would be able to confirm my time.

On the approach to Portinscale I began to flag a bit, my earlier exuberance started to fade and I began to realise that an hour was probably going to be too much. On the approach to the bridge, Jonny caught me, something I had half-hoped wouldn't happen. 

I took the opportunity to take stock. I was about to complete the Bob Graham Round; a challenge that I'd failed before and had so much respect for. The hour challenge hadn't come to fruition and I'd been caught but this didn't matter. I was about to complete in a little over 20 hours, a time I wouldn't have contemplated, even in my wildest dreams. More to the point, I'd managed to share the experience with family and a select group of mates. Two of whom were to join me in completing on this day.

I stuffed a couple of jaffa cakes down to keep off the impending sugar crash. After a couple of short walks and some steady jogging across the fields heading into Keswick, I was on the road heading up to the finish. It was great to see my parents and Andy's supporters as I used my last reserves of energy to scale the steps of the Moot Hall and stop my watch. Relief! Relief and then amazement - 20:07:51 - not a bad time I thought. The final leg had taken just under 2 hrs 10 minutes and the final Robinson-Keswick split was 1:03:48, over half an hour quicker than the schedule.

A couple of minutes later and I was able to cheer Andy in. Duncan, having successfully complete in an amazing 19:32 came out to greet us and we took the customery 'after shot'.

Andy: Crossing the market place in Keswick everything was a blur  – I noticed Rosie and Riley and heard a lot of applause and cheering. It was only when I bounded up the steps at Moot Hall and stopped my watch that I looked round and was able to take a breath and absorb the moment with a select group of friends and

family below me.

I cannot describe the feeling at the finish. Whilst trying to reflect on what I had just achieved I felt surprisingly calm, a strange sense of relief at completing the challenge yet a reluctance to accept that this amazing day was over. A wave of gratitude overwhelmed me, and I hobbled down to give all my supporters and family well deserved hugs.

For so long completing the Bob Graham had been a dream. Now it is a surreal reality for which I owe so many people. One thing is for sure - the highs and lows of 20hrs12minutes spent on those Lakeland fells will be etched in my memory forever.

Of course, without the following people, our rounds would not have been possible and a huge thank you goes out to them:

Hill Support - Duncan (BGR - 19:32!!), Viv, Michael, Scott, Rob, Jonny, Ian, Paul, James, Richard, Mick

Road Support - Rosie (& Riley), Karen, Mick (Andy's parents), Dave, Alison (Adam's parents)

And thanks to Duncan's supporters too for helping to make the weekend!

Adam - Duncan - Andy

The BG - a preface

The BG. The Bob Graham. The first and best known of the classic rounds - a circular route through varying mountain terrain, taking the challenger on a roller coaster of emotion, to the edges of pain, suffering and stretching their capacity for endurance to breaking point. It only takes one day to make or break even the greatest mountain athletes. In that time, the challenger must battle the elements, the terrain and self-doubt to haul themselves round no less than forty two Lakeland peaks, covering sixty odd miles and climbing and descending roughly the height of Everest. One second over that twenty four hour marker and the challenger is deemed to have a failed. Of course, there's a fair old chance of an early failure through injury, fatigue, lack of belief, weather, slow progress....the list goes on.

Cast your minds back to summer 2011 and let's throw the dice!

At the start of last year all of the members of ‘Team Skids’ (Konrad Rawlik, Duncan Steen, Robin Sanderson, Adam Stirk and Andrew Higgins) were planning to take out the BG that summer. Training had been good on the whole for all of us; lots of big hill miles through training, competitions and BG recces and after successful Fellsmans a date was set.

Konrad’s inspirational solo round (of 21hr05 in fine conditions) two weeks prior to our joint attempt gave the rest of the team confidence. When it came to our attempt I felt like I had never been fitter and leaving Keswick's Moot Hall at 7pm on the 15^th July I was confident that in less than 24hours I’d be back on those steps for my hero’s welcome. How hard could it be?

Leg 1 was uneventful; all of Team Skids running happily together with Konrad carrying our kit as support runner for the four of us, we flew round to Threlkeld ahead of schedule and just as darkness fell.

It was from here that things started to go wrong. We let ourselves down by disorganised road support, but mainly though insufficient hill support, kit and contingencies required in anticipation of the atrocious overnight conditions, which had been exactly as forecast. A bitter and fierce headwind with heavy driving rain and very limited visibility.

Konrad and Robin had become separated from us in the thick cloud off Clough Head, meaning that the three remaining BGers arrived in Dunmail in bits and over an hour down on schedule. We were demoralised from the unplanned split and drained from difficult navigation, the odd mistake, not taking on board enough food/drink and being chilled to the bone.

Duncan and I continued but the damage had been done, despite picking up the pace and catching up on the schedule we both struggled to keep energised, our determination wavered and as the atrocious conditions failed to improve our attempts were abandoned after around 12 hours, just over half way to Wasdale.

To say we were disappointed does not do it justice. I for one was consumed with a sense of failure and self pity for weeks afterwards, feeling that Mother Nature and the Bob Graham Round had combined forces to humiliate four very experienced and determined hill runners. In a sense, they had, but they did it for our benefit. The Bob Graham deserved more respect, especially in those conditions – it is so much more than a physical challenge. But we will be back, lessons learnt, even more determined and equipped to succeed.

Andy 

The time to be back is now.

Andy's last BG recce - touch wood.

Some two hours after Adam will have started the Fellsman I found myself imagining myself charging off Ingleborough, hunting down the leading three runners as I was this time last year. After a difficult decision to pull out of the Fellsman, I was surprised that I was no longer frustrated at missing out. I was content: Running comfortably along the road from Seatoller to Seathwaite I was surrounded by the familiar Lakeland fells.

So the first part of the plan had worked: Like the company of an old friend, being in the Lakes had immediately made me content and eased my mind. As good as this Lakeland medicine is, it couldn’t take away the fact that my ankle was still not right. The rest of the plan, a leisurely 8-10 hour day - Legs 4 and 5 of the BG route and at sub BG pace- really would put it to the test and let me determine if I can be confident in my attempt in two weeks time.

Deliberately wanting to be tired at the start of Yewbarrow I ran fairly hard to Wasdale, in 1hr05, but found it very difficult to run comfortably on the rocky downhill sections of path. This was to be the story of the day – on the ups I was very strong and had no pain from my ankle. On the downs I struggled to jog without any discomfort and relaxing and striding out was impossibly painful.

My splits for the run reflect this, I smashed the splits for a 22hour schedule on Leg 4, especially on the significant climbs, but lost over 5 minutes time on the short grassy drop into Honister. The weather had been relatively kind, clouds above the tops and dry but with a constant and biting cold 20-30mph northerly wind to contend with. This allowed me to discover some new trods, particularly a very efficient line to pillar which I hope to find on the day.

Having polished off leg 4 in just under 4hours I sat for 10 mins at Honister to take on some food and cooled off very quickly in the wind. The painful descent to Honister had left me in two minds as to whether I should get the bus or continue and run back to Keswick. I was feeling very down and the prospect of not being able to attempt the BG seemed very real. A chat about my BG attempt with another runner encouraged me to continue, the logic being that if I couldn’t push on now, then I’ve no chance in two weeks, and if my ankle didn’t hold out over the next 3 hours or so then I’d have no choice but to put off the attempt.

The company, and consequential steady pace, of a hill walker meant that the climb up Dale Head was enjoyable, matching a 22 hour BG pace before a steady jog round to Hindscarth, back inside the splits. The flat ground was causing no pain in my ankle so I continued to jog – I managed to ‘Test of Man’ the gradual climb across to Hindscarth into a fierce headwind but marched the grassy slog up the last of the BG peaks, Robinson.

The return to Keswick was new ground for me - I thoroughly enjoyed it. I chose to take the steep grassy drop off the start of High Snab bank, which led to a very comfortable grassy track to the start of the road section which was jogged all the way back to moot hall, finding all the short cuts easily on the way. Just imagining how I will feel running in with Richard and seeing Rosie and all my support at Moot Hall made me quite emotional – I’d better hold it together on the attempt!

Upon arrival in Keswick it was amazing how my mindset had changed, I was now feeling very positive. In the grand scheme of things I hadn’t lost much time on the steep descents, and otherwise I was feeling very strong, especially on the climbs. I was reassured that the 28 miles hadn't seemed at all hard and I was feeling good at the end of it. Mentally I am prepared; The pain in my ankle had been intermittent and manageable, even without any Vitamin I. I know the routes well and have run every line that I want to take at least once, some as many as five times. I know there will be times where I feel like I cannot go on, like last year, but this year I know I will push through them.

The BG is most certainly on!

Andy's 2011 Review

2011 was a year of two halves for me, starting with some great achievements following some casual and predominantly hill focused training, but suffering from the end of August onwards after tearing my ankle ligaments badly.

2011’s recipe for success: Train regularly but not religiously and when I do train – train for, or in, the hills.

With this approach in mind I deliberately didn’t complete a running log for 2011, so stats are few and far between, however even as soon as mid January it was evident my 2011 approach seemed to be working:

At a fast paced and very enjoyable race at the Kielder off road duathlon my feet were the first to break tread into the 2” of fresh snow in the finishing field below Kielder Castle, however I narrowly missed out on my first ever career victory to come 2nd by 2 seconds.

When dropping down to the C class at the Highlander MM due to Adam’s knee injury we were jokingly warned not to win by the organizers and were, in some part, relieved to come 2nd having taken it easy both days. The speed boat back to the mainland capped off an awesome weekend.

Taking out a few Munro’s after the HMM, including Uncle Dave’s last, put some strength in my legs and a PB at the Yorkshire 3 Peaks of 3h33m showed that my approach to training was working. I continued to focus on longer off road runs and getting into the hills at weekends to recce the Bob Graham.

Despite being nothing short of boring, my 9 mile pavement pounding commutes to and from work proved the ideal distance to keep the legs ticking over in between longer weekend runs in the hills.

2011 running highlight:

My previous long term goal of a top 10 Elite MM finish would suggest that coming 7th in the LAMM Elite ought to be the winner; but the 61 mile Fellsman was definitely my running highlight of the year. It was a brilliant race covering new and unfamiliar territory for me – The route took in many first time hills, typically full of Yorkshire Dales's rugged beauty. I also found a new level of determination and strength; not just to continue moving for long days in the hills as I always have, but to continue pushing 100% and running strongly and quickly. I surpassed all my expectations finishing 7th in 12hrs 18minutes.

The summer after the BG attempt was my most enjoyable ever, and I didn’t run once! After an awesome stag do I married Rosie on the happiest and most perfect day of my life. We spent an equally enjoyable 10days in the Italian lakes on honeymoon, both deciding that we could happily live there…

2011 running lows:

I was confident that all the great preparation and new found ability to ‘MTFU’ would lead to a successful BG attempt in July, despite the ‘unhelpful’ weather conditions. It wasn’t to be – I am still gutted to this day but will be back in 2012, lessons learnt.

On my second run back after the honeymoon I badly tore the ligaments in my ankle, giving me no choice but to rest completely until the end of September. I hobbled off the hill back to Rosie, fueled by pain and the anticipation of the inevitable injury induced frustration, which I knew would plague me for the rest of the year.

With the strength and fitness drained from my legs a couple of tentative fell races in September suggested my ankle would hold out on the OMM Elite at the end of October. It didn’t. My fitness and ankle survived the first 3 hours before both failing me seemingly in the same stride. The rest of the weekend was tough for me, but my determination and Adam’s support, patience and accurate navigation got us through in 16th, my 100% mountain marathon success rate intact.

Despite this, attempting the OMM was a mistake; as of January my ankle is only just fully recovered, but my 2012 training can now begin.

Reflecting on 2011

So I've not had a great start to 2012. My training through December yo-yo-ed between low and high mileage weeks and between short and long runs. I raced 3 out of a planned 5 but should've probably not raced at all. A chesty cold in late November/early December was ultimately my downfall and it seems to have cost me the start to the year I very much desired.

The final straw was the annual Guisborough Woods race on December 27th. I knew that I should be on good form with recent rep times and race results pointing towards a strong run. The lack of snow also meant that the course would probably be the quickest in recent years. I therefore set off hard and maintained a strong pace through the race to finish in 8th place in a course PB of 41.02, over a minute up on my 2007 performance (the last time I raced the course in more favourable conditions). All good on the surface but all bad below. I'd pushed too hard for my fragile post-cold body and had a tight chest. Breathing deeply was painful and I knew I'd have to take it easy for a few days. I ran and cycled a couple of times before the new year but even relatively gentle exercise wasn't helping.

I've not run since except a short semi-risky venture out yesterday to test the state of my recovery, only to discover a new dodgy ankle pain. Even more rest required. Still, it forces me to take a few more days and really build up the strength to get back into training properly, albeit a good few weeks behind 'the plan'.

On a positive note, I've had time to look back over 2011 in more detail than I usually would. I've logged all my races, tot'ed up my weekly mileage and come out with some interesting stats and thoughts on the year just passed.

First to the stats - 1878 miles run, 846 miles cycled, 33 races including 3 wins, 5 podiums and 18 top tens. Of course that doesn't really mean much without the detail of which races that was, how many ran, who ran, how far etc. etc. but it is quite a nice overview. For me, the most amazing stat of all though is that those 33 races took 4 days, 10 hours, 3 minutes and 33 seconds to complete. That's A LOT. Maybe I should've been quicker? If I'd won every race (in the sense of matching the winner, which might not be so accurate a reflection of performance - in the score based RAB MM for instance) then I'd have still been racing for 3 days 15 hours, 40 minutes and 55 seconds!! So overall, I dropped just over 18 hours on the winner across the year (or 17%). That list of winners does include some well know names such as Haile Gebreselassie
(Birmingham Half), Jez Bragg (Fellsman), Steve Vernon (National XC) as well as lesser known but equally impressive athletes such as Mark Palmer (Brecon 40 - who went on to run a sub 15hr Bob Graham), Tom Brunt (LDMT - beating a quality field) and Duncan Archer (LAMM and OMM). I think I'm pretty happy with those stats and doubt there's many people out there who've spent more time against the clock.

Second to the thoughts....

Rather than go through the year on a month by month basis, I thought it best to focus on a couple of positives and negatives for the year in summary. Purely from a running point of view of course!

Positives - Winning and being competitive
Winning is an amazing feeling and I was fortunate that nobody quicker than me turned up to 3 of my races last year! The races that I managed to win were quite broad ranging in terms of quality, distance and the number of entrants but the one thing that ties them together is that they were all off-road, over rough but ultimately quick terrain. The number of bogs to skip across also seemed to be quite high.


The major one on this list has to be the Grizzly - branded as "Twentyish muddy, hilly, boggy, beachy miles of the multiest-terrain running experience you will find this side of the end of time", it's a very popular race with in the region of 2000+ entries. Hitting the shingle beach in the lead, just ahead of team-mate Graham Robinson meant that I ran scared up the cliffs and along the tops but running into Seaton with nobody in sight was just unbelievable. To be subsequently named in the World's Ultimate Running Races was a nice surprise and I'll forever have that book on my coffee table [Note to self - buy house, buy coffee table].

Coupled with these top results I've found myself in a much more competitive position in many of my races, at least those where I've been fit and healthy. I've found it helps to not be hanging from the night before too. This is more difficult in Mountain Marathons, where both parties need to be on form. As Andy said in his biog, the ambition is to 'compete' and not just 'complete' and this has become much more of a reality in 2011. A chasing start and final 7th place on the LAMM Elite whilst Andy and I were both just off top form is testament to this.

Positives - Man-ing Up (or MTFU)
Very much a mantra of our 2011 Bob Graham round attempt (thanks to Rob for the initialism), this, to me, is stepping up to take on the biggest challenges, running when the body screams 'walk' and generally not mincing around when things get a little difficult. I've noticed a big step up here, at least on paper if not in practice!!

Of all the Mountain Marathons entered last year, only one ended up being one of the children's courses [Highlander C course] and that was mid-injury. All the others were run at Elite or equivalent. Running the Fellsman, post-injury and off a max 9 mile training run, was tough but I got through it. Completing the Brecon 40 the following weekend meant 100+ miles of racing and amassing the points to qualify for the UTMB in a little over a week.

I've noticed this amongst my peers too. Notably an injured Rob on our BG and Andy on the OMM - jumping straight into Elite level competition having had a couple of months off with a wrecked ankle. Oh, and how can I forget my friend Lucy completing the last half of the Everest Marathon with a broken arm!!

Negatives - Injuries
I had one major injury last year and a scattering of other 'weeks off' with illness, tight quads and tight hamstrings to name a few. I lost about 8 weeks training and missed a couple of races with the main injury, some sort of inflammation around the top of the patella. Funnily enough, the injury occupies the period between two of the most positive events of last year - winning the Grizzly and man-ing up to get round the Fellsman. I actually had the injury on the start line at the Grizzly and it's likely this race was the tipping point into the world of non-running misery. Not getting it seen to straight away is certainly a lesson learned and I won't be making the same mistake again. I've also been stretching a lot more since and need to keep on top of it to ward off any future injuries.

Negatives - Failure at the BG
The biggest disappointment for the year was our failed attempt at the Bob Graham round - a 60-odd mile traverse around the lake district featuring 42 peaks and somewhere in the region of 27000ft of climb, all to be tackled in less than 24 hours. I ran this with Andy and two others, Rob and Duncan. After a dreamy first leg, the weather came in, we got split up, we were cold and had dropped off schedule by the time we were hacking through the bracken into Dunmail and I decided to call it a day. Andy and Duncan started the third leg but eventually retired mid way through on the way to Wasdale.

On a positive note, I think we all learnt a lot during the attempt and on the recces earlier in the year. I've visited each peak at least once and the hill experience has been invaluable for a future attempt, not to mention all the other races run last year and those coming up in 2012. I'm sure we'll all be back for another attempt in the not too distant future.

Summary
On reflection 2011 was a good year. No, scrap that, it was a great year, my best yet. It was frustrating at times but I'm pleased with my results and progress. Most importantly, it was a thoroughly enjoyable year and thanks must go to all those I run with and have supported us over the year.

All the indicators point towards an equally fruitful and exciting 2012. Now I just need it to start proper.