Billy Blands Splits

[ironmannk]

If your'e talking about comparing the 2 , Billy didn't have a nice well worn track to follow all the way round like today !

[scott baistow 93]

Did Billy do a full week at work, then the bg on the weekend and back to work on monday? If so this is what Kilian would have to do to match him, or beat him.
Maybe one of Kilian's quests should be a trip to Keswick Job centre :w00t:

Don't get me wrong Kilian is a phenomenal athlete and probably would equal or beat Billy, but they hardly live the same lifestyle now do they? Think this should be taken into account when comparing the 2.

So true this is...Look at all the support Killian gets on all these epic runs...Brand new shoes ect every few hours...Custom kit & shoes...Im sure when Billy did his BG it was probably done in a pair of old PB racers with not much grip...There just different generations & runners, Lifestyles Ect.

[Cliveybaby]

I think Kilian Jornet would get near it, don't know that he'd break it.

I reckon if he dedicated time to it, he might do it. Don't forget Billy Bland lived and breathed those hills... they were his back garden and training ground, and I'm sure he knew every inch of the route inside out. Were Kilian to dedicate time to getting to know the route and running a lot on Lakeland hills, who knows?

Mark Palmer last year ran 14:59. An absolutely staggering time and a huge, huge achievement... but would he beat Kilian at, say, UTMB? Or Western States? I'm guessing not. I would say Kilian is the better athlete, maybe the greatest living runner (in my opinion). So would Kilian run a better BG time off the bat? Maybe, maybe not. With some training on the route, I think he definitely would. Would he get close to King Billy? It'd be interesting...

I am sure Kilian is an amazing athlete but when talking about the greatest living runner Haile Gebrselassie might have something to say. No he doesn't race in the mountains but his span of distances has been amazing. That Cudahy chap was alright too.

[IainR]

Is there a greater record in any sport? I can't think of one. Is there anyone running now who could get near it?

CD's 3000ers record is up there..

I think Killian will get very close.. if not beat it. As people said its a quicker course now due to route knowledge and paths.

yeah he has a different life, but that's just changing times. I'd love to see Kilian go for it, whether he did it or not, it'd show just how good Billy was, even if he did just beat it. records are there to be broken. Few talk about CD's record, mainly because few go for it.

[IainR]

So true this is...Look at all the support Killian gets on all these epic runs...Brand new shoes ect every few hours...

This for me is huge. I'm not a fan of this level of support at all. It saves a runner 10's of minutes over a 20 hr run, so its obvious that the sponsored runners will beat those who can't arrange teams, as the non-supported guys will need to be a good 30 minutes quicker.

In the UTMB I was running against a US guy who had full team support, I'd hit a station, sort my feet, look for food, think abot what I needed.. he'd be having his trainers changed, food given to him, driinks prepared, its a huge advantage. I'd prefer we went back to a stricter no support rule, just food stops that a runner uses themselves.

[elliptic]

In the UTMB I was running against a US guy who had full team support, I'd hit a station, sort my feet, look for food, think abot what I needed.. he'd be having his trainers changed, food given to him, drinks prepared, its a huge advantage

Can see how that would be a bit galling to be up against in a competitive event when you're playing away from home as it were, but still nothing more than standard road support for yer typical BGR attempt. And I'm sure Billy wasn't left to his own devices to sort himself out...

[Fellhound]

If your'e talking about comparing the 2 , Billy didn't have a nice well worn track to follow all the way round like today !

To properly compare, Killian would need to win both Ennerdale and Wasdale and put the BG record in between them....

Jornet is a great athlete but he's no Billy Bland.

[IainR]

To properly compare, Killian would need to win both Ennerdale and Wasdale and put the BG record in between them....

Jornet is a great athlete but he's no Billy Bland.

Have you seen KJ race schedule? He's clearly very close.. huge races week after week.. the other year raced a good chunk of the UTMB, it was cancelled so he went and won another big race the next day?

TBH if he ran sub 14 it shows how good he is.. I think he would. Mark's a great runner, but he's someway off Killian..

Re support< I mean only at races, BGR support is different as everyone can get support.

[Baggins]

And I'm sure Billy wasn't left to his own devices to sort himself out...

I can imagine the support he got was more "robust" than Kilian is used to

[paulo]

To properly compare, Killian would need to win both Ennerdale and Wasdale and put the BG record in between them....

Jornet is a great athlete but he's no Billy Bland.

I can hear distant echoes of the British climbers' refrain "but what's he ever done on grit?" Surely it's not possible or useful to compare the two and we should expect that today's top mountain runner will be able to beat Billy's times. I'd certainly be surprised if he can't but that doesn't detract at all from Billy's status and achievements from a certain never to be recaptured time and circumstance, some might even say "golden age" - I don't know, I wasn't there. It's like trying to compare Mummery with Steck, Hannibal with Napoleon or Elvis with Strummer - impossible, pointless, to the detriment of both parties, and better left to lie