This is the short article we submitted to the Bob Graham 24-hour Club for its records.
| Runners' backgrounds: | Three of us are general runners with mountain marathon and fell race experience but Rob is a rower and triathlete with some fell experience. |
| Schedule: | We chose to do an anti-clockwise round with a midnight start to get the night out of the way before we were physically tired. We based a 23-hour schedule upon times from our partial recce and actual times recorded by Ken Turner and Paddy Buckley. With a large group and little scope for losing time we ruled that stronger runners would push ahead if we were ever 15 minutes down. |
| Supporters: | No runner and only one pacer had covered the whole route (as a three-day hike many years ago) and only three pacers had much fell running experience. They were there to carry a small amount of kit and additional water as required (the runners carried their own day food and basic equipment) and for safety/redundancy in case the group had to split. Some supporters also met us on the route with water to minimise the amount we had to carry. |
| Weather: | Nearly perfect. The first night was clear enough for one of us to run entirely without a torch. The day saw broken, high cloud and a good breeze apart from the last leg when it clouded over and a thunderstorm arrived. |
| Clothing: | We all wore trainers over the Newlands Fells. Alan and Garry changed into studs for the remainder of the round. John was rather formal in black tie (a home-made pertex DJ/trousers, white shirt and bow tie) plus road shoes (with holes cut out of the heels to accomodate serious blisters sustained on the LAMM two weeks previously)! |
| Leg 1: | Unpaced with a brief stop at Newlands Chapel to collect bumbags. Easy going in the moonlight. Just up on schedule at Honister. |
| Leg 2: | One pacer with us and two supporters went ahead to Black Sail Pass for a water stop. Garry came extremely close to dropping out at Wasdale. Just down on schedule. |
| Leg 3: | Two pacers now, both very experienced in the fells, plus two water stops provided by a strong hill walker - this was going to be a hard leg and we wanted our best support for it. Rob retired at Esk Hause. Alan and John were entitled to push on at Rossett Pike as we were 15 minutes behind schedule but Garry got his second wind so we stuck together. Still down on schedule. |
| Leg 4: | A longer rest at Dunmail but high spirits. Three hard climbs weren't too bad then the nicest bit of the route along the Helvellyn-Dodds ridge - Garry even ran all the way up Great Dodd! Back on schedule. |
| Leg 5: | A good stop at Threlkeld then misery! Three long, slow climbs finally being greeted by lightning on Skiddaw summit. Lost some time but finally, triumph! |