Bob Graham Round

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In 1932 the Lakeland fell runner Bob Graham set a peak bagging record of 42 Lakeland peaks in just under 24 hours. His feat, now know as the 'Bob Graham Round' was not equalled again until 1960. It thus stood for that period as the Lakeland 24 hour record, which is one of the principal peak bagging records in the UK. The fells of the English Lake District are ideal for this activity with some 200 recognised 'tops' distributed over a fairly compact area; the evolution of the 24hour record from 1883 to 1932 is given in more detail in the fell-walking section of M. J. B. Baddeley's Lakeland guidebook (ref 1).

Building on the basic 'Round' later runners such as Eric Beard (56 tops in 1963) and Joss Naylor (72 tops in 1975) have raised the Lakeland 24 hour record considerably. The present record is of 77 peaks, and was set by Mark Hartell in 1997. The ladies record is of 62 peaks, set in 1994 by Anne Stentiford. The record for the fastest 'basic round' of 42 tops is held by Billy Bland who in 1982 set a time of 13 hours 53 minutes.

By the end of 2005, however, Graham's original schedule of 42 tops, the BGR, had become a fell-runner's test-piece in its own right, and had been repeated by over 1280 people. The route between the tops as usually followed requires 25,500 feet of ascent, and covers 61 miles (this is debatable - 66 miles and 27,500 feet according to actual GPS data).

Although it is possible to complete the basic round at a fast walking pace, provided an optimal route is taken, most participants choose to run at least the downhill and level sections, with at least one other runner in support (as required for acceptance by the BGR Club).

Graham is believed to have chosen 42 peaks as his age at that time (he had attempted a round of 41 peaks the previous year and narrowly failed to complete in 24 hours). Several later runners have successfully attempted 50 peaks at 50, and 55 peaks at 55. (Naylor is understood to have attempted 60 peaks at age 60, but over 36 hours - the bid is understood to have narrowly failed). Yiannis Tridimas completed 60 at 60 on 6-7 August 2005.

The Lakeland writer Harry Griffin is credited with rekindling interest in Graham's record in the late 50s, at a time when the veteran walker Dr Barbara Moore had gained much publicity for doing the John o' Groats to Land's End walk. Griffin went on, with Fred Rogerson, to found the BGR Club, which meets bi-annually in the Lakes.