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As someone who has only done long fell races can the difficulty of the Bob Graham be quantified? Eg 4 X Borrowdale? : /
I have always thought I would do it at some point, but can't get my head around the scale of it. I suppose a leg of support would help.
One comparison I've heard is 3 x Wasdale.
I'd certainly recommend doing a leg. I had a jog round leg 1 and just about kept to the schedule (admittedly it was in mid-winter and Blencathra was done in the dark), but the thought of continuing for another 18-20 hours is rather daunting.
I also did the 10 Peaks Lakes course a few years ago and estimated that it was approx 2/3rds of a BG...
I don't think you can really just quantify it by distance. Because obviously it's a lot slower than most other things you'll do. The time on feet and mental toughness needed also come into it.
So if you were to equate it to fell races, it would be more like: running X number of Y races at the pace of the back marker but starting at 2 in the morning.
BTW: I haven't done a BG, so am not best placed to comment.
Wasdale = 21 miles/9000', which is roughly a third of the BG's ~62 miles/28000' (measurement varies)
I came up with this 'measurement' when I completed my first Wasdale in 4:35 and realised that wasn't much quicker than Billy's then record (13:50-odd)
That said I have yet to BG.
I find it helps not to think about the ‘big picture’. Break it down to each individual leg, during which eating and drinking at regular intervals is a must. Eat well at changeovers and change into fresh socks.
Cheers chaps. Yes I suppose you can't really compare it to a race, only perhaps the distance, climb and terrain involved?
Whenever I finish a race I can't imagine having to do it again due to the effort put in.
Breaking legs down is a great idea, I've had a map of it in the bathroom for ages :) I'm a master of procrastination. I need to get a support leg done and some longer slower type events.
A leg supporting someone who understands properly what’s involved and who has good supporters is a really great way of getting your head round the challenge. The schedules most runners use take into account a slowing down as you progress. eg leg four is not much faster than than two miles / hour on a 23.5 hour ‘just get round’ schedule
One thing I wouldn’t do which many people try is tagging on leg two to a leg one recce too early in their training / recceing 😉
I’ve done a BG and I’m not much of a fell runner. Mental application is important and the old 10,000 feet per week of climb (and descent) is a good benchmark imho
There’s tons of tips / advice / inspiration on here but also at Bob Whiteman’s excellent website
When I did mine, I just thought of it like doing a hard day of physical work followed by going to the pub, then the nightclub and still able to go to work the next day. I could do that as a teenager....so. Anyway I started 8.00am Monday morning, had a grand day out going anti clockwise, always looking forward to the final descent off Skiddaw and yes I managed to drop one of my pacers on that descent. 1985!
I've often thought 4 x Borrowdale feels about right and to corroborate this my slowest time at Borrowdale (recorded last week) x 4 works out to be 21mins slower than my BG time. Where my slowest time at Wasdale (2010)x 3 works out to be 1 hour 46 minutes faster.
On both occassions I was nearly last in each race for different reasons, at Borrowdale I suffered badly with cramp and (pretty much) walked all the way from Great Gable summit.
At Wasdale it was thick clag and rain on the summit of Scafell Pike and spotting two runners with numbers and kit through the mist proceeded to have a proper ding-dong battle on the descent, only to realise on reaching the fell gate that they were in a different event and I had to walk back up to Lingmell nose to tick the check point.
I'm not sure this proves anything really, but that's my take on it.
Chris, hello from bonny Scotland. I'm afraid neither of us were teenagers in 1985!
Cheers.
Mark
Mark, on the outside maybe, but on the inside I'm still a teenager!Oh and my reason for doing the BG,I broke my big toe in 1984 on my last long run before the New York Village marathon, a passing comment about a slow steady comeback like BG training and everyone (except me) knew I was attempting it in 1985! We're not back in Scotland until October unless I get out to see the Tour of Britain.