Jarvs Bob Graham round 1/07/11
After Dallams 5 successful rounds in 2010, we were looking for candidates for this year. As I had helped out on so many previous rounds my name was put forward, along with Martin Gardiner & Mike Smith.
My plan was to start training in January, if I had no injuries or other set backs I wanted 6 months training. So I set my date for 1st July.
Training went well. Hills, hills & more hills, no road work, speed work or cross training, just hills. Every run with a heavy rucksack & each one logged on my Garmin.
From 02/01/11 to 30/6/11 my total was 946 miles & 300,500 foot of ascent.
July 1st soon came round, with so many BGers in Dallam we had everything covered, nav men, sherpas, road crew, food, clothing etc. The advice from these people made the preparation for the big day so easy.
Leg 1
What a beautiful night, clear skies & no wind, but not too hot.
I set off 18:00 & let my legs set the pace, as fast as I could go without feeling uncomfortable. I just got my head down & got on with it. It is unbelievable how easy it is to run on legs that have done very little for 2 weeks & no backpack to carry.
Skiddaw was done in a flash & we met Dawn & Cathy on the Cumbrian way who gave me some soup before climbing Calva. Feeling good I was soon up Calva & Blencathra & at the changeover at Threlkeld, where I had some liquidised stew & coffee.
Leg 2
After such a good first leg I felt much more at ease & set off well up Clough Head, but by Great Dodd my stomach started to blow up with all the fluids I had taken in. At Sticks pass we met Leechy & Shinny with coffee & biscuits. By this time my stomach had settled down & I really started to enjoy the beautiful clear night. Steve was full of a cold & was now feeling worse than ever & we lost time up & down Fairfield. I expected to lose time on Fairfield, as this is the only one I wasn’t looking forward to. The run off into Dunmail was fantastic as it was so dry. More stew & coffee.
Leg 3
With Fairfield out of the way I was looking forward to my favourite leg 3. I felt quite full again so took it steady up Steel Fell. At Calf Crag my stew had settled so Deasey told me to push on. It was a beautiful warm clear night we only put head torches on between 11:30 & 03:30. Mike McKenna & Micky P were at Rossett with cake & coffee. (Warm coffee half way through a leg is so nice after all the cold drinks). I pushed on up Bowfell with a fresh spring in my step & a great climb up Broad Stand put me well ahead of my schedule as we dropped into Wasdale 49 minutes in hand.
Leg 4
3 weetabix for breakfast & some rice pudding & off up Yewbarrow. I felt good up to the summit but maybe overdid the fluid intake & started to feel full & bloated again. At bottom of Red Pike Andrew McCracken told to try a smoothie, as it might sort out my guts. It certainly did, I got 100 yards further & threw up twice. Guts sorted ! Mike McKenna & Deasey were waiting with coffee & tangerines on the slope up to Kirk Fell. My legs were still feeling good & I took 7 minutes off my schedule to top out Great Gable. As we dropped off Grey Knotts I spotted a sheep that was rigged, so Mike McKenna went across to put it back on its feet, he handled it like an expert ! Good deed done for the day we carried on down towards Honister. This was one of the best moments as we came over the last hill & saw the crowd cheering me on.
Leg 5
After a long run I always love an ice cream so Adele went to get me one from the slate mine café. With loads of time in hand I enjoyed the atmosphere (and the ice cream) as 12 runners & 2 dogs got ready to go. As normal by now I was slow out of the blocks & lost time (probably through talking to everybody) up Dale Head. At the summit I picked up the pace again until Robinson & stopped for a few minutes for a photo shoot. A few hundred yards off the peak Shinny appeared & joined us back to Little Town. Then the hardest bit, the road, I never imagined how hard it would be to start running again. I don’t know if it was because it was tarmac or I knew I was nearly there, but we eventually did a steady pace & came into Keswick at 22 hrs 25mins.
Job done !
What an awesome feeling.
24 hours of my life I will never forget.
Dallam support crew are second to none.
Thank you all.
Jarv.
