Bob Graham Round


The Bob Graham Round is a fell running challenge in the English Lake District. It is named after Bob Graham, a Keswick guest-house owner, who in June 1932 broke the Lakeland Fell record by traversing 42 fells within a 24-hour period. Traversing the 42 fells, starting and finishing at Keswick Moot Hall, involves 66 miles with 26,900 feet of ascent.
The Round was first repeated, in a better time, in 1960 by Alan Heaton. Since then over 2000 individuals have completed the Round with the fastest time being 12hr 52m set by Kilian Jornet, surpassing by more than an hour, Billy Bland's record which had stood for 36 years. The women's record is 15hr 24m set by Jasmin Paris in 2016. 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:
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 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 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 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 1st 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 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:
Alan Heaton replaced these with:
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 77 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 2384 people up to the end of 2019. 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 four 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.
Summit
Sequence		Location
Start and Finish LineMoot Hall, Keswick
1Skiddaw
2Great Calva
3Blencathra
Road CrossingThrelkeld
4Clough Head
5Great Dodd
6Watson's Dodd
7Stybarrow Dodd
8Raise
9White Side
10Lowerman
11Helvellyn
12Nethermost Pike
13Dollywagon Pike
14Fairfield
15Seat Sandal
Road CrossingDunmail Raise
16Steel Fell
17Calf Crag
18High Raise
19Sergeant Man
20Thunacar Knott
21Harrison Stickle
22Pike O' Stickle
23Rossett Pike
24Bowfell
25Esk Pike
26Great End
27Ill Crag
28Broad Crag
29Scafell Pike
30Scafell
Road CrossingWasdale Campsite
31Yewbarrow
32Red Pike
33Steeple
34Pillar
35Kirk Fell
36Great Gable
37Green Gable
38Brandreth
39Grey Knotts
Road CrossingHonister Pass
40Dale Head
41Hindscarth
42Robinson
Start and Finish LineMoot Hall, Keswick

Record circuits

The succession of fastest rounds by men for the standard 42 tops is:
The progression of fastest ladies' rounds is:
The progression of these record times is shown in the graph.
Building on the basic Bob Graham Round, later runners raised the number of peaks traversed within 24 hours still further:
The sequence of ladies 24-hour records is:
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:
A double round is two rounds on consecutive days. This has been achieved four times, twice within 48 hours, with the record held by Nicky Spinks:
Baumeister and Spinks both started at Keswick, ran clockwise to Yewbarrow, reversed and ran back to Keswick, then continued anticlockwise to Yewbarrow, 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:
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.