An Amazing Night
Nearly two years ago I was asked if I fancied helping Mike Vogler on his attempt to complete the Bob Graham Round. This is a circular round of 42 Lake District peaks and covers approximately 72 miles. It has to be completed in 24 hrs or sooner to count. The start is in Keswick and can be completed in either clockwise or anticlockwise direction. It is broken down into 5 legs, each leg is around 4-5 hrs long and about 13-15 miles in distance. In order to complete this you require lots of support from pacers and road crews, the road crews supplying you with refreshments at each rest break. Oh yes, you also have to be exceptionally fit, incredibly strong, and above all determined.
Mike had trained for a round in 22Hrs just to make it even harder. The date was set for Saturday 26th May at 6.00pm and my contribution was to pace him on Leg one from the Moot hall to the top of Skidaw across to Great Calva, then to Blencathra and finally ascend down Halsfell Ridge to Threlkeld. He would then have a 10 min break and carry on up Clough Head for leg 2 with fresh pacers. This sounded brilliant, a nice evening run finishing around 9.45pm for me and good luck to the next lot having to fell run in the dark.
Three weeks prior to this I went and reccied the route with Dave Fell and it was tough. After Skidaw it turned into bogs, Thick heather, a river and lots of marshy grass with no visible good route. Halsfell ridge looked like you needed ropes to get down, never mind I thought it will be alright on the day.
The day was looming and I was apprehensive as my running seemed to be all hard work, not only that but my pacing partner was a runner called John Fleetwood, another exceptional endurance fell runner, Oh well I had rested a bit. Then an urgent message, bad weather ahead and Mike was not only bringing the start time ahead 24 Hrs but starting at 1200 midnight so my bit was now all in pitch black. Great!
So there we were at the Moot Hall 10 mins to midnight ready to go, Mike, John Fleetwood and myself. Another surprise in store Chris (the Vet) Fellows was also there and was doing a 23 hr round he had 4 Pacers.
Now then, the pacers job is to keep Mike to his schedule, this is somewhat difficult as he is full of energy and raring to go. The other job is to carry all of the gear so Mike carries nothing. In Mike’s case this was lots of food, drink, spare clothes, head torch etc. As my fellow pacer had decided to carry on and do leg 2 it was up to me to carry the bag which then had to have my essentials in, needless to say it was not light.
Midnight and we were off, clearing drunks out of the way and running to the bridleway that led up to Skidaw. The plan was to run where possible and fast walk all other climbs. We needed head torches straight away as the moon was non existent, but no problem; the path up Skidaw is good. Two thirds of the way up Skidaw the bag was taking its toll, I was 10 paces behind and finding it hard. Luckily Mike needed his gloves and we could not get them out on the move. John said he would get them from the bag and catch us up, I dumped the bag and have never experienced such a relief in my life I was literally catapulted up the hill, I caught Mike and we plodded on. He was stopping for nothing. John took 20 mins to catch us up, that was the bag effect. We hit the top of Skidaw bang on Schedule 80 mins.
I took the bag back at the top of Skidaw, had a moment’s toilet stop and then had to blast it in the pitch black to find John and Mike; luckily I heard them go over the fence and caught them up.
This was a long run down to a lot of thick heather and a bog, John stopped for a quick pit stop and promptly lost us and the path, Mike and myself lost the rest of what was a sheep path and found ourselves in deep heather. Chris Fellows group was now with us and all you could see were head torches darting all over. Chris found a bit of a path and we all made our way towards him, eventually all ending up in a long snake of lights. Still no John, but no time for waiting, we carried on up to the top of Great Calva. Finally we saw Johns light catching us up the climb; we arrived on schedule 2hrs at the top. He caught us up and we decided we needed the big head light for the next bit, I put it on, on the move and Mike as usual was off like a rocket down the hill to the next set of obstacles. Well, I lost him, mainly due to the extra weight of the bag; John had dodgy shoes on and was behind me somewhere, so I eventually had to shout out to find Mike as I did not know where to turn to go over the river. He heard me, turned and I saw his light and finally caught him up, we shouted john, could hear him, but could not see him, he shouted that he knew the way and was ok.
Onward up Mungrisedale to Blencathra, a long climb, John caught us and we toiled on towards the top, well I toiled, Mike was striding out, as though he had not even started yet and John was showing what an exceptional fell runner he was.
Towards the top we met one of Chris’s pacers lying on the slope with cramp, he was ok and would follow. Next thing the lights went out, the big light had expired and I had to change to the small one again, John took the bag this time for good and after a quick change of lights we were on our way again. We arrived at the top of Blencathra bang on time at 3hrs 15, as it turned out both groups had taken separate routes but arrived at the same time.
Mike was now on a mission and decided to blast it down the ridge. It was pitch black and I had not done this ridge before, needless to say I was a little apprehensive, but no time for that we were off. Chris’s group had set off seconds before us and it became evident that we were a lot faster than them. If you have seen the ridge you will know it is sheer rock and in the dark it seemed worse than ever, but somehow following John we managed an overtaking manoeuvre that I probably would not have done in the daylight. Anyway we were on our way to Threlkeld, Refreshments, and for me, the end of my bit.3hrs 45 mins non stop with a bag and 1700mtrs of climbing.
Mike was well into his 10 min break when we arrived and was in good fettle; Phil had set up a camp and had his breakfast ready. The second lot of pacers were ready and Minutes later he was off on leg 2 and so was John Fleetwood, I got a lift back to Keswick and drove home just as dawn was approaching. I went to bed for 2hrs and woke up thinking was that all a dream, I soon realised when I tried to walk that it wasn’t.
I went to Keswick that evening and Mike appeared at 9.50 pm to applause all round, in a time of 21 hrs and 50 mins. He was still going strong and sprinted the last 100 meters, what a fantastic round I felt happy to have been a part of it, and John, he had decided to carry on and do an impromptu solo round. Apparently he was only 20 or so mins behind at the last checkpoint. Unbelievable.
Chris (the Vet) Fellows was also on schedule for his 23 hr round.
Would I do the whole round? Not on your life, but I would pace again if asked.
Graham Pinder
PS
Don’t think any contribution has to be anywhere near as long or detailed as this, as I said I was on a high when I wrote it.