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Bob Graham Round
The Bob Graham Round is a fell running (hill running) challenge in the English Lake District. It is named after Bob Graham (1889–1966), a Keswick guest-house owner, who in June 1932 broke the Lakeland Fell record by traversing 42 fells within a 24-hour period. Traversing the 42 fells, starting and finishing at Keswick Moot Hall, involves 66 miles (106 km) with 26,900 feet (8,200 m) of ascent.
The Round was first repeated, in a better time, in 1960 by Alan Heaton. Since then over 3000 individuals have completed the Round with the fastest time being 12hr 23m set by Jack Kuenzle in 2022, surpassing Kílian Jornet's record by almost 30 minutes. The women's record is 14hr 34m set by Beth Pascall in 2020. The Lakeland 24 Hour record has also been improved with the current holder, Andy Berry, successfully reaching 78 summits in the allotted time.
Along with the Paddy Buckley Round and the Ramsay Round, the Bob Graham Round is one of the classic big three mountain challenges in the United Kingdom. Some fifty-six individuals have completed all three.
Before the Bob Graham Round, many shorter rounds of the Lakeland fells were developed. These are chronicled in the Bob Graham Club's Story of the Bob Graham Round, in the fell-walking section of M. J. B. Baddeley's Lakeland guidebook, and most recently in Chapter 15 of Steve Chilton's It's a Hill, Get Over It: Fell Running's History and Characters.
Some of the more notable rounds:
Dr Wakefield codified the essentials of the challenge: "To traverse on foot as many tops over 2000ft and return to the starting point within 24 hours". Wakefield specified the start/finish point as Keswick's Moot Hall.
Wakefield also encouraged an attempt in May 1932 by Freddie Spencer Chapman, who completed a route similar to Bob Graham's subsequent successful round but finished over the time limit in 25 hours.
On 12–13 June 1932 Bob Graham extended the 24-hour Lakeland peak bagging record to a total of 42 peaks in a time of 23 hours 39 minutes. This was recognised as the new record, despite several tops claimed not reaching 2,000-foot (610 m) in altitude. The approximate distance of the new record (determined using current technology) was 66 miles (106 km) with 26,900 feet (8,200 m) of ascent. At the time the distance was claimed (though not by Graham himself) to be in excess of 130 miles (210 km) though the given amount of ascent was close to the currently accepted figure. Several 20th Century sources (including the 42 Peaks booklet) erroneously state the distance to be 72 miles (116 km).
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Bob Graham Round
The Bob Graham Round is a fell running (hill running) challenge in the English Lake District. It is named after Bob Graham (1889–1966), a Keswick guest-house owner, who in June 1932 broke the Lakeland Fell record by traversing 42 fells within a 24-hour period. Traversing the 42 fells, starting and finishing at Keswick Moot Hall, involves 66 miles (106 km) with 26,900 feet (8,200 m) of ascent.
The Round was first repeated, in a better time, in 1960 by Alan Heaton. Since then over 3000 individuals have completed the Round with the fastest time being 12hr 23m set by Jack Kuenzle in 2022, surpassing Kílian Jornet's record by almost 30 minutes. The women's record is 14hr 34m set by Beth Pascall in 2020. The Lakeland 24 Hour record has also been improved with the current holder, Andy Berry, successfully reaching 78 summits in the allotted time.
Along with the Paddy Buckley Round and the Ramsay Round, the Bob Graham Round is one of the classic big three mountain challenges in the United Kingdom. Some fifty-six individuals have completed all three.
Before the Bob Graham Round, many shorter rounds of the Lakeland fells were developed. These are chronicled in the Bob Graham Club's Story of the Bob Graham Round, in the fell-walking section of M. J. B. Baddeley's Lakeland guidebook, and most recently in Chapter 15 of Steve Chilton's It's a Hill, Get Over It: Fell Running's History and Characters.
Some of the more notable rounds:
Dr Wakefield codified the essentials of the challenge: "To traverse on foot as many tops over 2000ft and return to the starting point within 24 hours". Wakefield specified the start/finish point as Keswick's Moot Hall.
Wakefield also encouraged an attempt in May 1932 by Freddie Spencer Chapman, who completed a route similar to Bob Graham's subsequent successful round but finished over the time limit in 25 hours.
On 12–13 June 1932 Bob Graham extended the 24-hour Lakeland peak bagging record to a total of 42 peaks in a time of 23 hours 39 minutes. This was recognised as the new record, despite several tops claimed not reaching 2,000-foot (610 m) in altitude. The approximate distance of the new record (determined using current technology) was 66 miles (106 km) with 26,900 feet (8,200 m) of ascent. At the time the distance was claimed (though not by Graham himself) to be in excess of 130 miles (210 km) though the given amount of ascent was close to the currently accepted figure. Several 20th Century sources (including the 42 Peaks booklet) erroneously state the distance to be 72 miles (116 km).