It's Bob Graham season

James, Paul (the main man) and Michela (the main woman)

The Bob Graham Round of 42 peaks is one of the most demanding challenges in England. It is approximately 72 miles and the runner climbs approximately 28,500ft, which is just a little bit shorter than Mount Everest at 29,029 ft. The challenge is to complete this in 24 hours and join the Bob Graham 24 hr club. The rules say that you have to start and finish at Moot Hall in Keswick and you can go round clockwise or anticlockwise. You also have to register your attempt.

For most, June is the prefered time of year to attempt the challenge in order to take advantage of the extra daylight. Paul was setting off at 1845hrs on Friday night so we rushed up there for 1800hrs on the Saturday. I was really excited and looking forward to seeing him come in. This was his second attempt. I had gone to see him finish last year and he missed the 24 hour cut off time and came in in 25 hours. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that he would do it this year. He prepared with complete focus and has lost around a stone and a half in weight through the training. He was looking as fit as he could be. He also had the right mindset and I think that was partly due to him finishing just short of the mark last year. He was really hungry for it and excited at the same time. He has also become one of the 'go to' people for advice on this sort of event. His attention to detail on the organisation (or was it his wife Michela's?!) of his support team, food and equipment was second to none. He spent several weekends on recces of the five stages and did lots of practice climbing big hills and even more on running down bigger ones.

We parked up and rushed through an alley-way towards Moot Hall. As we got there we saw a couple of ladies who had clearly just finished. Rosie-cheeked and glowing, they were with their supporters looking tired but elated. "Did you do it in the 24 hours?" I asked "Yes" 23:59!!" they replied. I felt quite emotional! I couldn't wait to see Paul come in and had my camera ready to go and capture his moment of glory.

There was no sign of our group on this side of Moot Hall so we made our way around the other side and spotted Tony, Cath, Brian and Sue who would also be waiting for Paul and so we made our way over to them. They saw us approaching and gave us the terrible news......

....."You've missed him by nearly an hour!"

I was gutted (although I was really pleased that he'd had such a great run)!

You could be forgiven for thinking that the weather had been ordered especially for Paul's attempt. Friday was a very hot day but once the sun was low in the sky he set off up Skiddaw to enjoy the amazing views and inspiring sunset. He covered the first leg before the sun went down and then it was onto leg 2 in the dark with two supporting runners, one of whom found them a scree-free route up Fairfield. By the end of leg 3 he was 5 minutes ahead of time.

Saturday's weather was perfect for running. The heat that had been around the day before was tempered by a cool breeze and a few random clouds that got in the sun's way sporadically. Leg 4 saw Paul running with no less than six support runners. This was good for morale on some tough climbs. He said that once he'd bagged Great Gable he knew he was there. Everything went well on leg 5 and he was on such a high as he ran in to Keswick that he was stretching the runners who were supporting him on that stage!

He finished in 22:41. Fantastic!

The team had set up base at Thirspot camp site so we made our way over there to meet up with the superstar himself and his crew and to pitch our tent so that we could enjoy a night of celebration and hear all involved recount the tales. Paul looked like he had been out for a stroll in the park. Apart from being a bit doddery he looked as fresh as a daisy but he must have felt worse than he looked because, after walking into the pub, he turned around and walked out again to crash out for the night. It wasn't long before the rest of the team turned in too. Everyone had used more than their daily allowance of energy and so it was early to bed.

It was early to rise too. We were all up and eating bacon butties by 7:30 the next day. The topic of conversation was on who would be next to become a member of the 24 hour club. Supporting a runner to achieve this accolade can go either way. Some are completely inspired to have a go at the full thing but others feel that it is a feat too difficult to achieve. One thing that is for sure though is that, anyone thinking of doing it should get involved with supporting on a leg or two beforehand. There were actually three runners that set off from our group on Friday and Paul was the only one of those three to finish it. Support, organisation and knowing what you're in for are critical and can make all the difference in registering a DNF or becoming a member of the 24hr club.

We packed away our tents and then it started to rain. Someone up there had definitely looked after this group with the weather!

On the way home that day we called in at Pete Bland Sports in Kendal and Pete was there in the shop. He was a legendary fell runner in his day and we told him about our night in Keswick and Paul's successful Bob Graham attempt. Pete told us that he only attempted it once himself and didn't finish. Now Paul was already right up there in terms of respect but this has definitely elevated him to hero status! 

Nice one Paul!