GRAHAM

by Steve Chilton

"To see the frost coveredwhite fells, and witheverything being so still aswell, was a magical moment.We got a sunrise on Bowfell ^after I had been going for abouthalf the round. To see the suncome up and turn the sky blue wasawesome. I could see Windermere andacross to Morecambe Bay. It was one ofthose defining moments for why you runin the mountains and why you run throughthe night into the dawn, or get up at thattime to see. The night had also been sogood, but it is hard to describe really."

That is how 39-year-old Kim Collisondescribed the best moment on hisrecent winter traverse ofthe Bob Graham Round(BGR), on 1 December2019. He had been buildingtowards it for ten yearsor so. For the record, theround is a Lake Districtchallenge, encompassing42 peaks, which hasbecome something of a riteof passage for fell runners. Itis roughly 62 miles long, with27,000 ft of ascent and hasa 24-hour time limit.It was Collison's third BobGraham Round completion.His first one was in May2009, which was 18 monthsafter he had settled in theLake District and startedtraining regularly on the fells. His fatherhad done his BGR twelve years before,and Collison says doing the Roundwas always going to be his own firstlong-distance challenge. 'I trained hard,learned the route and was really focussedon it', he says. 'I did 19 hours 21 mins onthat day. There was no doubt I was goingto do it, but I was pretty inexperienced. Ihad a lot of drive though.'Collison's second round didn't go so well.He decided that he wanted to do a wintersolo unsupported round carrying all thekit, and duly set off right at the beginningof December 2013. 'I got dropped inKeswick and it was supposed to be aclear night', he recalls, 'but it ended upbeing really quite foggy. I started offup Skiddaw but got complacent withmy navigation and came off slightly inthe wrong direction ending up in a loadof knee-deep heather. I got back on

track for Great Calva,!% but by the time I got toj| Blencathra I had really

||jj lost enthusiasm. ThenU I along came another_| light just behind and it

was Helene Whitaker,%-- who had started a solo

f winter BGR just afterme. She also decidedon Blencathra it wasn'tto be, so we ran down

; Doddick together. I hadII to run home, back to|f Penrith, so it was still a

good long training run.'Kim Collison's second

completed Round was a winterround in 2017. It was undertaken

over soft snow, wearing crampons 90% ofthe day. He describes it as an absolutelyamazing experience and one that put abig smile on his face, finishing as he didin 20 hours 36 mins.When I interviewed Collison recently,he was quite clear that by 2019 he hadbecome ready to aim for the record fora winter round, and to do it as fast as hecould. The window for being considered a

Heading towards Scafell Pike.

winter round extends from the beginningof December to the end of February. Hehad targeted 1 December, thinking thatyou can often get better weather at thebeginning of December. He adds thatit was also a Sunday, which helped fororganising pacers. 'I thought in the backof my mind that if it wasn't a good dayI would hold off till later. I didn't needperfect weather because I thought, "wellit is winter, and I am gonna have to dealwith it". There was no moon really.'Collison chuckles as he adds that, 'at thestart of this winter round Carol Morgan,a supporter, handed me a Twix bar fromHelene Whitaker, saying "you might needthis on your round". That made me laugh,after our previous jointly aborted efforts.1He decided to carry a tracker andbroadcast his location live because he

knew how people like to follow theseattempts via an app. People get reallyexcited and involved with it, and it alsohelps with verifying what you have done.It is also a sort of a record of achievement.'I didn't feel any pressure on me', hereasoned. 'I was mentally prepared for it,and physically I was confidant of what Icould do on the day. I knew it would behard and that the ground would be frozen.I have got some iRock orienteering shoesfrom VJ, which have the little metal dotsin, which gives a little bit of extra grip onice and frozen ground. I used them for thewhole round. They were brilliant.'He also explains that the boggy groundbeing frozen probably gave him a good5-10 minutes advantage because hewasn't wading in bog in the usual places,particularly either side of Great Calva. Atthis point in our conversation, I mentionedthat I had read that he had reachedthe summit of Skiddaw (the first of the42 peaks on the round) in 59 minutes,which was only 6 minutes slower thanBilly Bland had been on his record roundof 13-53 in 1982 (a time subsequentlybeaten by Kilian Jornet in 2018). I askedCollison if this was perhaps too fast, or

just an indication of how wellhe was going to go.'You know when you startrunning up a hill and yourlegs feel bouncy that it wasgoing OK', he respondedquietly. 'It was a good pacebut not flat out. Seeing it tobe under an hour made methink, yep I am going wellhere.' By Threlkeld, Collisonwas 16 minutes up on JimMann's previous fastesttime for a winter round, of18-18. Collison confirmsthat at road crossings hehad a short and sharp policy.Perhaps a slug of applejuice or a coffee, a handful ofcrisps and then pretty much

out again.'I see stopping properly at a roadchangeover as a waste of time', hereasons, before going on to outline hisrefuelling strategy. 'Because you havepacers you can then eat on the move. Iwas warm enough, and I didn't need tochange clothes or anything. For events ofthat duration I am happy taking on quite afew gels, often using Mountain Fuel jellies.They slip down really quickly. A selectionof different ones to mix it up a bit. Then Iadd in some savouries, so cut-up pizzato give slow release carbs. I have oftenused Longhaul, which is a prolongedenergy release fuel. More solid foodcan be hard to get down when you arepushing the pace. On longer enduranceevents I might be more unselective andcan eat loads of things. I need real foodif it is more than about 15 hours. On theBGR I was trying to have something

every 30 mins, 25 mins sometimes, tokeep a constant energy flow. I also focuson getting salt into me as well, in drinksusually, to cover for sodium loss whensweating.'Later in the round, on leg 3 betweenDunmail Raise and Wasdale, he hadthe feeling that either the wheels weregoing to fall off and that he was going topay for that early pace, or hewas going to be able to keepit going. It could have goneeither way. He concentratedon food going in and onkeeping moving. He thengave an interesting insightinto how he monitored himselfand maximised the outcome.'By the time I dropped intoWasdale I was still in reallygood shape and saw that asub-16 time was a possibility.I was thinking "I don't like tolimit myself by what has beendone in the past". To me itwas more about what I coulddo that day. It was aboutcreating an artificial goal ofsub-16 which allowed me to push on afterWasdale and keep pushing, rather thanaccepting that if I kept going at what I wasdoing I was going to be well within the 18-18 record. Psychologically it helps you tokeep driving forward. Having said that,climbing up Yewbarrow was a real slog.I think it always is. Looking at the splitcompared to Jim Mann's, I was still up onhis pace. Even though it felt really tough itwas a notable psychological boost to meat that point.'He was warm, was moving and eatingwell, so he kept pushing on and tickingoff the summits. He then had anotherboost, seeing Scoffer (Schofield) arriveon the scene just as he was halfwaydown from Pillar. This was another highpoint. Scoffer came out after work, sawKim was moving well (on the tracker),and came over Kirk Fell to make sure hedidn't miss him, bringing concentratedRibena and Cola, which he fed him.The psychological boost of seeingsomeone like Scoffer, who knows the fellsand is an inspiration, as are so many inmy club (Borrowdale Fellrunners), meantI could click into his pace and effort. Hehad great lines to follow, which was a realmorale boost. Usually I know where myred line is, and I push up to it.' Collison didhave a slight blip on Great End earlier,and really had to eat to get energy backand had to go slower than he wanted fora while. 'My legs started to feel fatigued',he recalls, 'and when subconsciouslyyour mind starts to wander, then you startto accept that pace that the legs and mindare wanting to go. I had to force myselfto say, "no actually your legs aren't thatbad, you can run downhill quicker thanthis". When Scoffer was there, I could justconcentrate on pushing my legs to go

that bit quicker.'Hearing about this minor blip, I askedhow he had got on at two places whichare often pinch points on a winter round.Firstly, there is the route choice coming offBlencathra, which can be difficult in someconditions. 'Off Blencathra I was alwaysgoing to go for Halls Fell because I havedone it so many times', he replies simply.

On Robinson, the last summit.

'It was covered in frost, but it wasn't toobad. Wet ice would have been worse. Iwas cautious naturally and took my time.'Secondly, there is the question of whetherto risk scrambling up Broad Stand whengoing onto Scafell. This time it was a no.!l decided to take Lord's Rake, but thendecided against the west wall traversefurther up. This was because of where itfunnels out. I didn't want to be stuck inthere if it was really icy.'Looking back on the day, Collisonconfirms the sunrise as a high point,before adding, 'there is nothing like thelift of daylight to revive you. Going ontoBlencathra was nice because the frostwas so white and amazing. A real highfor me was going up Dale Head, becauseby that point I knew that sub-16 wasdefinitely possible, and it just felt reallygood. It was tough but nothing was goingto stop me at that point. I was surroundedby friends and colleagues from OutwardBound, so there was a real good spiritgoing on.'His eventual time was 15-47 officiallyand, according to the Bob Graham Club,it is the 9th fastest time. 'Unofficially 10th

fastest', reckons Collison, 'because a Britwho lives in America, Ryan Smith, did a14 something but it was largely solo sonot recognised by the BG Club.'I could feel the emotion in his voice ashe added that he felt absolutely ecstaticabout the outcome. 'It is a culminationof years of hard work, training andknowledge gaining. The desire to pushon and do that time feels like a superbachievement. It puts a really big smile onmy face. This is now without doubt thehighlight for me of my fell career.'

Remembering what he said earlier, Iasked how crucial the Twix bar had been,and when did he eat it. Chuckling, heresponded, 'it was the first thing I ategoing over Jenkin Hill on the ascent ofSkiddaw, way early on the day'.Collison lives in the north Lakes with hiswife and two dogs and has earnt a crustby coaching others over the last couple

of years. He has a real loveof the fells, and of beingcompetitive, particularly withhimself. 'I am passionateabout running and off-roadin particular', was how he putit. 'I love to challenge myself.Fell, trail, ultra - all of them.I guess my main passion ismountains. Being out in natureand exploring comes into ittoo. I am quite competitive.The race element comes rightto the fore for me.'He adds that having done15-47 on the BGR makeshim think, "what can I do onother ultra challenges". 'I thinkprobably Bob Graham is done

for me', he concludes. 'I know I am not aKilian Jornet or a Billy Bland, so I think mytime, done in winter, stands up for itself.'

Steve Chilton's fourth book 'All or nothingat all: the life of Billy Bland' will bepublished by Sandstone Press this July.He blogs at: https://itsahill.wordpress.com/

Job done, at Moot Hall, Keswick.