Everything you need to know about the Bob Graham Round
Located in Lake District, the Bob Graham Round (BGR) is one of the UK’s classic mountain ‘rounds’. It requires runners to scale 42 peaks across a distance of 66 miles within 24 hours.
The challenges are myriad: elevation, distance, terrain, navigation, sleep deprivation and, more often than not, inclement weather conditions.
The event is named after a Keswick innkeeper, Bob Graham, who first scampered over the 42 fells in 23 hours and 39 minutes, back in 1932.
One of the things that separates the BGR from a standard ultramarathon is that there is no set day of the year on which runners must complete it. Instead, runners must register themselves on the official BGR website, bobgrahamclub.org.uk, before attempting the challenge. If successful, they become members of the exclusive Bob Graham Club.
Most runners attempt the round in the late summer to run in optimal conditions, although there is nothing stopping runners from attempting it in the winter (more on which later).
As of the end of 2023, the BGR has been completed by 2,818 people. While solo rounds have been accomplished, most contenders are accompanied by at least one other runner in support – a requirement for acceptance of membership to the Bob Graham Club.
How hard is the Bob Graham Round?
The club states that ‘the round of 42 Lake District fells traversed within 24 hours is probably the most demanding test of physical fitness available to British athletes or mountaineers’.
The round may be attempted either clockwise or anti-clockwise, provided that the start and finish is at Moot Hall, Keswick.
The elevation that runners take on in the BGR is quite astonishing – around 27,000ft (8229.6m).
To put that into perspective, the notorious Western States 100-miler in California has 18,090ft (5513.9m) total ascent. Indeed, the BGR is only 2,000ft shy of equalling the elevation of Mount Everest.
Around 200 people attempt the BGR each year and the completion rate is, unsurprisingly, less than 50%.
What is the male record for the Bob Graham Round?
Since Bob Graham first completed the challenge in 1932 – wearing a pyjama jacket and fuelled by bread and butter – the male record has been lowered nine times.
It is currently held by US runner Jack Kuenzle, who ran a time of 12 hours 23 minutes in September 2022. Kuenzle grew up in Connecticut and lived out of a van in the UK for a few months prior to his BGR attempt.
Before that, the record had been held by Spanish superstar Killian Jornet, who completed the challenge in 12 hours 52 minutes in July 2018.
Prior to this, British runner Billy Bland had held the record; his time of 13 hours 53 minutes, set in 1982, had stood for 36 years.
The other variation of the BGR is where runners see how many different Lake District peaks they can climb within a 24-hour period.
That record is held by Andy Berry, who equalled the previous record holder Kim Collinson’s 78 peaks but in a quicker time of 23 hours 23 minutes.
What is the female record for the Bob Graham Round?
The female record is held by Briton Beth Pascall, who lives on the edge of the Peak District.
In 2020 she broke Jasmin Paris' time of 15 hours 24 minutes by almost an hour with a lightening-fast time of 14 hours 34 minutes.
The first female to complete the 42 peaks in 24 hours was Jean Dawes back in 1977, with a time of 23 hours 27 minutes. Her record has subsequently been broken nine times over the past 47 years and lowered by 8 hours and 57 minutes.
The female record for the most peaks in 24 hours is held by Fiona Pascall, Beth's sister, who chalked off 68 peaks in 23 hours 26 minutes in 2022.
What is the mid-winter Bob Graham Round?
If the challenge wasn’t already hard enough, recent years have seen an increased interest in athletes attempting the mid-winter Bob Graham Round.
Running the BGR in the winter magnifies the difficulty as conditions are likely to be extremely treacherous.
The 2024 mid-winter season starts at 00:00 on Saturday 21 December, through to the first period of decent weather after the shortest day but to be completed no later than 23:59 on 10 January.
The shortest day in the UK has just 7:49:42 worth of daylight, meaning that those attempting the BGR will spend more than 50% of the run in darkness.
As of the end of 2023, the number of people who have completed a mid-winter BGR is just 57, six of these being female.
The first people to complete the challenge in the winter were John Brockbank and Welwyn Wright, who together, on 14 December 1986, finished in a time of 23 hours 06 minutes.
What does it take to complete the BGR in the depths of winter?
The record for the mid-winter run is held by female ultrarunner Henriette Albon. The Norwegian completed the 42 peaks in a time of 17 hours 55 minutes in 2023.
Albon has completed some of the most challenging ultras in the world, including the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc. Her video below captures what it takes to complete the BGR in the depths of winter:
[youtube align='centre' autoplay='0']https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tje5FomYQ5g[/youtube]
We spoke to Albon about her experience of the BGR and what it took for her to smash the mid-winter record.
Albon stressed the importance and gratitude she had for her team and pacers that helped her round the BGR. ‘When I run, I run alone, I train alone, I do the majority of stuff in the mountains alone and going into the attempt was quite overwhelming because I was like, sh*t, I’ve got 15 people waiting for me to do this.’
‘I went over in November for a recce of the route and I'm really glad I did, partly because I then realised how tough and gruelling the challenge is and also just got a taste for the underfoot terrain.’
When asked what the hardest bit about it was, Albon said, ‘It was daunting running for 18 hours, I’d never run for that long before, and just going into it knowing I was going to be on my feet for that duration, it just blows your mind a little bit. I'd say it's definitely the day I'll remember most from my running career.’
Describing the final 100m of the round, she said, ‘The word that describes it best is relief. I was relieved to not let my pacers and crew down; I wanted to make them proud. I’m just so glad it all came together when it mattered.’
How do people train for the Bob Graham Round?
Training for the BGR takes an extreme amount of commitment, time and resilience.
The Bob Graham Club website states, ‘Some say that you need to be climbing 10,000ft (3048m) a week'.
It also highlights that 'most runners have quite a few years' running background, and would start their training app' 12 months before their attempt'.
Albon shared how she herself prepared herself for the BGR. ‘I focused on building that strong engine and was cross-training quite a lot,’ she said. ‘I did 80km a week [running] and within that I focused on a lot of steep uphill as I have access to that.
‘I also focused on a lot of downhill running, just because I knew from experience that what actually limits you in long ultra-events are the downhills: your knees and your quads just seem to get really sore, and so if I could sort of reduce the impact on the day from being used to running downhill, that would make a huge difference.’
When asked how much experience someone needs to attempt the BGR, Albon said, ‘I mean, you don’t necessarily need to have raced an ultra before, but you need to be doing a solid amount of running over a prolonged period of time.
‘I think this is a challenge you want to seek out a year, two years in advance and really build yourself up to it. Honestly, I don't think there's much point attempting it without being a solid version of yourself. It's definitely the toughest running challenge I've done just because of the vert [elevation] and technical terrain.
‘I do a lot of plyometric-based stuff, which I find is quite specific to running and really helps me. I do lunges, jump squats, that sort of thing. It’s something I definitely would incorporate on a regular basis.’
In addition, adding in the following training components will likely benefit most runners:
● Strength and conditioning: twice-weekly strength training, mainly targeted on the major muscles of the lower body, will help to build the muscle required to tackle the hills.
● Hills, hills, hills: the thinking from BGR veterans is you need to hit over 3,000m a week of ascent – training muscles for hills, not mileage. If you can’t get to somewhere suitably lumpy, make use of the stair climber and a treadmill on maximum incline.
● More hills: road bike repetitions will also build leg strength without the associated wear and tear of running.
● Weighted hikes: unless you’re one of the elites, you’ll spend a great deal of the BGR hiking. So it pays to get really good at it. For an extra stimulus, head out for long hikes while wearing a heavy backpack or weighted vest.
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