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.

50th Fellsman

The 50th Fellsman - a post nearly as long as the race itself....

With roughly 61 miles of trail, moor, fell and mountain, the Fellsman is one of the toughest races in the UK ultra running calendar. The race weaves from Ingleton, over many peaks including Ingleborough, Whernside, Great Knoutberry, Dodd Fell, Buckden Pike and Great Whernside on it's way to Threshfield. The event started 50 years ago in 1962 with only 76 entries and 15 finishers. Full details of the route and history are available on the Fellsman website - www.fellsman.org.uk. In it's 50th birthday year, the event was to be bigger than ever with 500+ entries received and as close to 500 taking part as possible.

Unfortunately, Andy was one of those who would have to 'DNS' and following his amazing run in 2011, it was left to the rest of our team, the Iced Spiced Collective, to put in some good performances and win the team title we'd missed out on last year. The team was largely the same as last year, with Jonny Muir added earlier and Ondrej Mandula taking Andy's team spot. Konrad, Duncan, Rob and myself were all ex-'Team Skids' from the year before.

In the lead up to the race I was feeling quite excited and the absolute fear of the event from last year had been replaced by an anxiety to put in a much improved performance. I knew that getting round was not going to be an issue - I'd done that off very little training, albeit at a slow pace. However, this time I'd been able to train (sporadically) and despite a few niggles, was in much better shape. I think knowing the route and what to expect when the night drew in meant that I was in a much better position mentally as well.

A relatively good nights sleep and a later wake up call than the usual 5am certainly helped us all feel that little bit more rested before the start. The weather looked good and we were told that the chance of rain was 0%, at least until the early hours of Sunday morning. I certainly didn't plan to be out until the small hours this time round.

Whilst we congregated near the start, it was clear that there was a pretty strong wind blowing throughout the Dales and although the sun shone, it was cooler than you'd expect for a late April day. I was very tempted to keep my waterproof on to keep the chill off on the ascent of the first peak, Ingleborough, but the Iced Spiced peer pressure worked and I went for the usual single Helly. At just gone nine the madness ensued and we were off, dashing across the cricket pitch and out onto the road.

I decided to start with the lead pack, knowing that I'd drop off eventually but hopefully with enough space to run and pick my way cleanly up the rocky path to the first summit. I attached myself to the back of the pack and maintained a steady pace as we climbed. Glancing back, the pack had pulled out a considerable lead on the rest of the field, strung out all the way to Ingleton. I reached the trig point and marshalls only a few minutes behind the leaders and headed north west off towards Whernside, 3 miles in but with many many miles still to go.

There's a choice in descent from Ingleborough - the straight 'Mark Hartell' line or the regular walkers zig-zags. I'd only ever taken the regular path previously but decided to experiment with the alternative. Most of the quick guys were headed that way anyway. The descent suited me. I gained numerous positions and probably found myself in the highest position I would all race, maybe just inside the top 10. I knew it wouldn't last for too long but it was nice to be racing in an ultra rather than just getting round.

I slipped back a few positions on the ascent up Whernside but felt good coming off and into Kingsdale. A steady climb up Gragareth and I was ready to tackle my first 2011-demon. I'd really struggled in the run to Great Coum last year, at only 13 or 14 miles in, this was the pinnacle of my fitness 12 months ago. My intention was to run the majority of this section and despite a constant wind blowing south west and slowing progress, I did manage it.

At this stage of the race it was great to run with and chat to the legendary Mark Hartell, running his 18th Fellsman. Mark has won the event 11 times and although thoughts of a 12th victory has been scuppered by an injury, he was still able to motor.

A few miles later and we dropped into the picturesque village of Dent. Another plan of mine was to feel 'good' at Dent and I'd mentally prepared to start the race at this point. I felt great coming into the checkpoint and was efficient in my fueling, taking on some juice, biscuits and a few handfuls of raisins. However, it didn't take long for the first feeling of weariness to come over me on the road out towards Blea Moor. Maybe I just hadn't eaten enough on the earlier sections?

It's a bit of a drag up to Blea Moor and I was overtaken by a group who gradually pulled away from me. I started to struggle and wondered if I had set off too fast. I continued to be caught on the way down to Stonehouses but when back on the road, with only a couple of K to the checkpoint, I perked up a bit and ran well towards the first real food stop of the day. The sun was out and the beck running through the rugged moorland made a fantastic Dales scene.

Just short of the checkpoint I caught a glimpse of Jonny heading under the viaduct and up towards Great Knoutberry. I'd last seen him on the steep climb up to Gragareth following a minor navigational blip and the rest of the team on the out and back of Whernside. This was motivating as I knew I'd not dropped off too much.

I took a bit of time to refuel at Stonehouses - cake, juice and the rather basic pasta/tomato combination - and then started the next slog back into the fells, aiming for Great Knoutberry. The wind had really picked up and whilst the first part of the track was protected, as it climbed, the wind became more of an issue. It was certainly a great deal more effort than a still day. Great Knoutberry is also an out and back and my earlier sighting of Jonny was confirmed as he and Duncan headed back down as I climbed. Just approaching half way I was chuffed to only be about 15 mins behind these guys. Konrad and Ondrej had pushed on and were no where to be seen.

From the top of Great Knoutberry I headed south to Redshaw, half way, and then onto Snaizeholme and Dodd Fell. The wind was still strong and the rough descent off Dodd Fell was tough. Next was another 2011-demon - Fleet Moss to Hell Gap. Under prepared and running with another novice competitor, I'd taken the road option last year and whilst this made the going easy and the navigation simple, the long hard descent and steep climb took it's toll. I was nervous about the navigation across the peat bogs but needn't have been - it was easy!! Finding the checkpoint half way and then the fence line leading to Hell Gap was similarly unproblematic.

The only thing slowing me down was the wind and a short lived flurry of snow! I recalled there was a 0% chance of rain. Given that this was actual snow, the statement still rang true. Nailing the navigation was good as I needed to make good progress to banish the final 2011-demon - getting grouped at Cray. To make the cut off, which was 30 mins earlier than last year, I'd have to make it through Cray by 1900. I'd then be able to progress on my own up Buckden Pike and keep my own pace through to Park Rash. At 1830ish, with Hell Gap not in sight I thought this was going to be impossible. I pushed on and eventually spotted the track leading from Hell Gap in the distance and worked hard to get there as soon as I could. It wasn't long before I was heading down from Hell Gap to Cray, keeping an eye on the watch as my quads took a beating from the hard packed track.

I reached Cray at 1852, a good few minutes to spare. With a couple of bourbon biscuits and a mug full of spaghetti hoops I headed out towards Buckden Pike. The climb was slow but once on the top I made good progress through Top Mere and down to Park Rash where I knew I'd be grouped.

There were no other runners at Park Rash when I arrived so I would be the first in any new group to form. This was good as I'd get some time to refuel and rest, with the added bonus that waiting time gets deducted from your finishing time. Unfortunately I got a little short changed here as I was awarded only 5 minutes for what was well over 15 minutes of faff as we got our group together [Still awaiting the results, so I don't know what the other guys were awarded].

Unfortunately the fourth member of our group was struggling and we got caught on the descent down from Great Whernside by a group that set off a few minutes after us. We reached Capplestone gate as two groups but separated shortly after, our group making the slower progress. Despite a few handfuls of Jelly Babies, our guy was still finding the going tough and took a couple of tumbles.

He was pretty spaced out at arrival in Yarnbury, the penultimate checkpoint. As it's a simple road route back to the finish in Threshfield, groups are allowed to split and the three strong runners among us, myself included, shot off towards Grassington. Fueled by a certain amount of frustration built up over the final section of the course, we made rapid progress and ran miles 60 and 61 in about 15 minutes. I stopped the clock at 13:42 - over 3 hrs quicker than 2011!!! A pleasing result.

After grabbing some food I met with the other guys who'd just finished getting cleaned up. The team had done brilliantly, led by another remarkable performance by Konrad in joint 3rd place with Ondrej. He too had smashed last year's time and Ondrej had taken the Tregoning Cup for the quickest novice. Jonny and Duncan had followed suit in just under 13 hours, coming 10th and 11th respectively. Needless to say, the Iced Spiced Collective took the team honours! Unfortunately Rob had retired early on in the race.

I eventually got to bed about midnight but it was really difficult to sleep. So many different pains emanated from my legs, feet and back I just couldn't switch off. It was during one of my waking moments that I discovered the race had been cancelled at 0140. Conditions has deteriorated since I had finished, with snow and rain coming in. Coupled with the strong winds and night time temperatures, the support teams at various checkpoints were becoming stretched, dealing with many cases of hypothermia. The organiser had taken the very difficult, but ultimately correct, decision to pull the plug and get everyone off the fells. Although not everyone is happy to be told they cannot continue, safety should always come first - as was said on the FRA forums - "better a pissed off competitor than a dead one".

In summary: I'm pleased with my race and managed to meet all my in-race targets. I could have probably gone a bit quicker than my time will suggest but the grouping can be a bit hit and miss and I was just a bit unfortunate this time. But, that's the nature of the event and something you just have to accept. There's only one way to remove the randomness grouping creates and that's to get to Park Rash before the cut off. Maybe a target for next year? [Did I really say next year?]

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!