Great British Tradition.

It started with a drunken suggestion at a party. “Yes, of course I can help you with your Ron Graham”,I said, “what is it?” This was about 2 years ago. I had started running to keep fit and had worked my way up to 5-6 miles at a time. I had somehow got myself into “pacing” leg 2 on a friend of a friend’s BGR. This first, thoroughly enjoyable yet painful experience, led to the start of an idea. “Could I do it? This thought started to go through my head.

2009 saw me enter a number of fell races. Mainly to build up leg strength for my BG attempt in 2010. I pencilled in a date and started to recruit my team.

I trained reasonably hard through the winter but also listened to lots of advice. The main advice from those having achieved the BG was to get plenty of ascent in, so this formed the basis of my training. I kept a blog to help me focus and record my training etc and before I knew it the day had arrived.

I was unsure whether to start or not. The weatherline forecast was for pretty strong winds, cloud & rain on the Saturday, yet the MWIS forecast suggested that the weather would be a little better. In addition to this I had a slight sore throat coupled with what felt like a temperature coming on. I had a chat with a couple of my pacers and it was all systems go.

Leg 1 – Nav Berni Gilmartin, Pacers Anja Pheonix & Sky

We set off at 10.30pm on a Friday night leaving the Bank Holiday revellers to Keswick town centre. I was on a 23 hour schedule with the challenge of just getting round being enough of a challenge for me. The visibility was good, with a slight chill in the air. We made up 5 mins to the summit of Skiddaw, passing some walkers in the darkness. Anja had made her way up earlier to mark the fence crossing coming off the back of Skiddaw. With Sky leading the way we continued at, what seemed like a fast pace, over Calva and beyond. We had a dry footed crossing of the Caldew and subsequently got wet feet across the Mungrisdale slog. Next came the “Ninja route” down Halls fell. A route that I had recce’d loads and got the approval for after showing Berni a week or so earlier. Arriving at Newsham road, I felt that the pace had been quick, based on my effort levels and was disappointed to hear that we were bang on time. Surely we were up on time given the quick pace. The thought “Maybe I am ill” came into my head and was quickly pushed to the back of my mind. I had eaten well throughout the Leg and the food laid out by Niv at the changeover was also easy to eat.

Leg 2 – Nav John Sealby, Pacers Craig Smith & Simon Vietch
We left Newsham road at 2.15 am and the climb up Clough Head seemed easy but the ability to eat was becoming harder. The skylarks had started to sing in the early morning and as we moved south along leg 2, the sunrise was fantastic. We had a couple of discussions as to which cairn marked the top on Nethermost Pike so I touched the two most likely. My inability to eat was getting to me. I knew I should be eating more as this would definitely affect me later on, but, even with tiny little mouthfuls, the sickness feeling continued. Despite struggling to eat and not feeling too great I still had made up 24mins when we dropped into Dunmail at 6.12am. Joining Niv in logistics was my Dad, Mike and my Brother-In-Law, Nigel. I tried to convince my body that it was time to get up by having my normal weetabix breakfast and then cleaning my teeth. I didn’t feel great at Dunmail and there was still a doubt in my mind as to whether I could get round which was again dispelled. This was reinforced by the weather starting to look worse and the promised low cloud now coming in.

Leg 3 – Nav Keiran Hodgson, Pacers Dave Jacks & Carl (Dave’s mate), Niv (Broadstand)

We climbed Steel fell in 23 minutes which set the tone for the 1st half of leg 3. We continued to push on hard through the clag and managed to get up by 36 minutes on reaching Harrison Stickle. Keiran’s navigation was brilliant in the dense cloud, however the pace was taking its toll on Dave who had had a plaster on his broken arm removed earlier in the week. We took a direct line, down & up, to Rossett Pike and this is where Dave left us to head back to Seathwaite. This was due to not only to the pace but also the fact that one slip could damage his newly uncovered arm. From thereon the remainder of leg 3 was slow due to the clag but also due to the wet boulders. The wind had picked up and I put on my waterproofs to protect me from the cold wind rather than the drizzle. We reached Scafell Pike at 11.42am (17 mins up) and had to “push in” to touch the top of England. This is where Carl left us to join up with Dave and his wife at Seathwaite, or so he thought. It turned out that he ended up safe & well in Eskdale several hours later. Next was Broadstand. Niv had agreed to not only take care of most of the logistics, but also set a rope up. Oh and how I needed it. The rock was slippery and I felt really exposed with my wobbly legs. Keiran & I got up quickly and continued up the scramble and onto Scafell. With my knees now hurting the descent into Wasdale was quite painful and it must have been slow as we spurned 7 minutes on my descent. We arrived at Wasdale at 12:50pm. It was good to see that Niv had beaten us down and was safe and well having been up there on his own.

Leg 4 – Nav Kim Collison, Pacer Clare McKeown

We left Wasdale at 13.08 pm. Something happened to me on Leg 4. I don’t know what. I now seemed to have loads of energy and had got up Yewbarrow in 39 minutes. The pain in my knees had gone, thanks mainly to Mr Buprofen. Again, having been provided with some pretty challenging weather to Nav in, Kim really showed why he is a top mountaineer and endurance runner. He guided me round leg 4 expertly without a single moment lost through nav error or even when taking a bearing. Kim made it all look effortless. All I had to do was follow on his heels and keep up the pace. The climb up the gully up Kirkfell was a welcome change to the hard running and it was upon reaching the summit of Kirkfell that I realised that the BG was in my grasp. We continued on at a cracking pace reaching Honister at 17:34 exactly 1 hour up on my 23 hour schedule. I made use of the YHA facilities and had a quick cup of tea before setting off on leg 5 at 17:45.

Leg 5 Nav – Keiran, Bernie & Clare again, Richard Ellwood & Niv

It was great to have Niv running with me on this leg. He had made a huge effort all night/day and it was great to get to run in with him. Clare was relieved of the heavy bag by Richard. Berni/Keiran led the way in the clag up Dale Head. Again the pace was quick up Dale Head reaching the summit in 34 minutes. We eventually reached no 42 at 7pm and it became apparent to me that I would be looking at round under 22 hours, provided that I could maintain a quick pace. We got to the start of the road section where we were met by Anja with our road shoes. We bashed on where we met Rachel, (my wife) Miranda & Gill who were also joining us for the road run in. Unfortunatley the big “Keswick Magnet” had got hold of me with the temptation of a sub-22 hour round luring me in at a 8min /mile pace. We cracked on and I was able to reach the steps at 8:18pm. This gave me a time of 21:38 which I am absolutely ecstatic about.

It’s difficult to just put down in words how grateful I am to everyone who helped me on the day. Everyone had made a big effort to, not only be there, but also ensure everything went smoothly. If any of these guys need me for anything I will be there in a flash. Fantastic camaraderie, teamwork & togetherness throughout the build-up and on the day itself.

I just hope that the Health & Safety, claims conscious leaches in the world we now live in never get near our Cumbrian fells & the old traditions that make this county & country truly great. I feel honoured to be now part of this fantastic tradition. Isn’t it great to be British!!

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