[A]fter months of preparation, the last weekend in June saw 10 Keswick AC ladies take on the Billy Bland challenge. The event is named after the fell running legend from Borrowdale who has the record for the Bob Graham round. It can be completed any time within the month of June and splits the Bob Graham into 5 legs. Teams run in pairs on each leg.
Leg 1 goes over Skiddaw, Great Calva and Blencathra. Jenn Mattinson and Katy Moore were set the challenge of getting the team off to a good start, and at 4am on Sunday morning, they left the moot hall in wet, windy, misty conditions. After getting off the summit of Skiddaw they broke out of the mist and the weather improved.
At the crossing before the climb up Calva they were boosted by the appearance of Suzy who runs Skiddaw House Youth Hostel who had come to cheer the ladies on and offered drinks and refreshments. The pair pushed on up Mungrisdale Common and descended down off Blencathra, pushing hard with arms flapping for balance, reaching the changeover in Threlkeld in a new ladies record of 2 hours 59mins.
After a bum bag explosion with kit all over the road the tracker was handed to Catherine Spurden and Hannah Horsburgh. The speediest pair in the team, they ran over the Dodds, Helvellyn and Fairfield and dropped into Dunmail in 2 hours 50, smashing the previous ladies record, an amazing run that just showed how good these two are.
Then after avoiding being run down on the dual carriageway it was over to Cat Evans and Jo Gillyon. Leg 3 is the longest leg that takes in a lot of iconic fells before descending off Scafell down into Wasdale. The pair ran hard and even managed a royal wave as they were cheered over the edge of Steel fell. After around 4 hours of running they flew down off Scafell Pike to be greeted by Keswick supporters Mandy, Chris and John who helped them up Broad Stand. The pair ran faster than the previous year and finished in 4 hours 28, just 6 minutes off the previous record.
Down in Wasdale nerves were running high as the overall record was in sight. After watching leg 3 runners descend into Wasdale the excited pair handed over to Trudy Beetham and Rachel Mellor. They had the leg burning climb of Yewbarrow before summiting the likes of Pillar, Kirk fell and Great Gable. They were encouraged up Steeple by club mates Vic Haworth and Rachel Findlay Robinson. A big crowd were at Honister to congratulate the pair for running a new ladies record over this rough leg in a time of 3 hours 16.
Finally it was over to former V50 English Champion Julie Carter and Lindsay Walker to bring it home. Leg 5 is the fastest of the legs with over 5 miles of road from the foot of Robinson to the centre of Keswick.
Mandy and Sam Ayers kept the two hydrated and motivated all the way to the Moot Hall. After running in to applause and screaming the pair completed the leg in 1 hour 47, only 6 minutes off the previous record. This secured Keswick AC Ladies a new overall ladies record beating the time set by Dark Peak in 2013 by over 40 minutes.
The new record set is 15 hours 22 and this is much deserved after all the work that went in to making it happen. The result was really two years in the making, and was achieved by runners and supporters from this year’s and last year’s attempts.
Keswick Ladies feel extremely proud to have brought the record ‘home’ to Keswick, where it belongs!
