Da n Toole - Bob Graham Round 11/10/25 23:00 I guess I should start with the first time I’d heard about the round. It was 2020 and I was filming a video for Vaga. Going up Blencathra, Ellis mentioned that he’d attempted a double bob graham earlier in the year, but pulled out due to injury. This was my first time in the lake district, never mind up a fell. My little city brain only knew of skateboarding , fo otball (being from liverpool it ’ s thrust upon you) and riding my bike everywhere . I couldn’t comprehend what a bob graham even was. However, after running up and down the fell filming the video , it felt amazing and the seed was planted. At some point in 2022 I started hiking, and getting the train from Liverpool every week. I started going up the fells close to Wi ndermere so I could alway s make the train back, but onc e th ose had been bagged I had to expand my radius of comfort. It wasn’t until 2023 that I actually started running though. Somewhere whilst bagging a few wainwrights I started to run the flats and descents. Getting the train up every week meant that if I started to just run everywhere I could see more and bag more. Through the week back in Liverpool I’d run the odd 5km or 10km, just to make running in the lakes easier. I suppose my first real obsession with the round came from watching the Nicky Spinks film “Fell - running's ultimate challenge: Bob Graham Round .” This was the first time I’d had some perspective of what a feat of endurance it was, and also put Ellis’ double effort into perspective for me too. I was hooked, I consumed as much Bob Graham information as I could and every time I came back to the lake s the thought of the round never left my mind. When we moved to the lake district in march 2024 it cemented that I was going to attempt it myself. I spent the rest of that year doing recces and trying to spend as much time in the fells as possible. 2025 came and I knew summer was the time for my first attempt. July 25 th I pulled out at dunmail raise due to hurting my ribs on raise. I cried my eyes out sat in a camping cha ir as I tried to tell m y support I wa s calling it. It was devastating to admit defeat, but in hindsight I’m so glad it didn’t work out. I reset myself, re trained myself and set a new date for October 11 th . My average training week consisted of 120km and 4000/5000m of elevation gain (75miles and 13,000/16,000feet). Some weeks felt harder than others, but I got it done. Training that ha rd set me up for success on my round and I’m so glad I stayed consistent. Now to the round, the whole reason for me writing this. Jen drove us to moot hall with liv in the back and we picked up Alex Staniforth (leg 2 pacer) on the way. The nervous energy had well and truly set in. Although I had a nap earlier in the day it was s till a long wait for 23:00. We got to Moot Hall around 22:30 where Adam and Madsie (my friends from Liverpool) were waiting for us. Just before 23:00 my two leg 1 pacers arrived, Jack Oliver an amazing runner who i’d met supporting him on his lakes, meres and waters last year. And Charlie Bell who I found using the bob graham facebook group 23:00 came and we finally started running towards Skiddaw , headtorches on and adrenaline coursing through my body. Leg 1 was an absolute dream , about 200m off Skiddaw we were above the clouds. The bogs after Skiddaw were wet, but not as wet as I’d expected. Same for the Caldew river crossing , it wasn’t very high, but it was cold! Trudging up mungrisdale common my feet were freezing , but soon we started running again I warmed up Going up to Blencathra we ran the whole way and almost dropped Charlie. Jack could still see his headtorch and told me not to worry. He managed to catch us at the top and we descend ed via the parachute line then traversed back onto halls fell missing any of the super technical terrain. Before I knew it we were in Threlkeld and I was putting fresh shoes and socks on. I ’ d set off in a new pair of Ino v 8 mud ta lon s , knowing that they ’ d get sacrified for leg 1 , but thank ful for the grip in the wet and scree . I then put on m y Nnormal Tomi r ’ s and they s tayed on until the end (apart fro m the s ock change at dunmail) I thanked Jack and Charlie and picked up my new pacers Alex Staniforth and Stephen Pearce. Stephen lives near Penrith and calls himself a leg 2 specialist He had he lped on my previous attempt so I had full con fidence with his navigation. Alex has had a busy year, completing all 446 mountains in Wales and England in one con tinuous self powered journey. I joined him on a few of his lakes legs and completed some of the tops in some pretty grim conditions. No idea how he did that for 45 days. I only had to keep going for less than 24 hours ! J ust after 2:30am we set off into the darkness . The summits on leg 2 come quite quickly and we were ticking them off. Although as we set off clough head I started to feel sick just like my first attempt. I can’t really remember what I ate on this leg, probably some jam buttys and the odd gel. I had carb/electrolyte drinks too I kept sipping on . The taste of those still haunt me. Just after the dodds we turned our headtorches off and just used to moon and stars to navigate. Incredible. The sun started to rise as we topped out on Fairfield, this time I choose the line around Grisedale tarn rather than just straight lining it for the screes , my knees thanked me A brilliant red lit up the horizon and this is when Alex told us it was his first inversion! Dropping down into the freezing clag we arrived at Dunmail Raise. Luke and Paddy from work where there to see me in which was lovely. After some rice pudding, a coffee and a smoke we pressed on . I left Alex and Stephen here and picked up Ben Mcgovern and Mylo Jewell. Ben ’s nav on this leg was so good , not a second wasted . Alex had described him as a sherpa, and he was not wrong. Ben has also done some big rounds so I knew I was in good hands Mylo is a gifted young runner from Whitehaven. We first met while supporting Arthur (leg 4/5 pacer) on his ACW round back in May. Paddy came with us to Steel Fell and we carried on . It was so nice to finally be on the fells with him after he’s been inured for so long. I don’t recall when, but I must’ve rolled my ankle at some point on this leg. I remember asking for painkillers somewhere in the Langdales. On the climb up Bowfell we bumped into Jacob Tonkin, who I’d originally asked to pace this leg. It was nice to have him there for that section, like it was meant to be. The next summits came quickly and honestly all feel pretty similar. Very rocky, not very runnable . The busiest summit of the round , Scafell Pike was touched and we moved on quickly. When we dropped down to Mickledore there was man with a dog who asked Ben “do you know where you are?” “yeah” he replied waiting to find out why the guy ha d asked. Turns out he wanted to go up Lords Rake with his dog. “It’s steep with loose rock, but y eah you can if you want” Is basically what I remember Ben saying. As we got to the bottom of Lords Rake, Arthur suddenly appeared. He had made his way up from Wasdale to join us! Lords rake and West Wall traverse done we summited Scafell and headed down to Wasdale. That scree d escent is sublime and so much fun. In Wasdale I had two mini cans of coke w hich tasted amazing. Exactly what I needed to power me on. I took some more food with me and leaving Ben and Mylo here I picked up Arthur Hill and Ian Hill. A father son combo that truly love the fells. Ian has been helping on rounds for years and Arthur , ha d just set an 18:01 ACW round in May H e also holds two FKT ’ s for the george fisher tea rou nd. Onwards to Yewbarrow we went. I remember reading from John Kelly’s grand round that he actually liked Yewbarrow. A long steep climb where you can switch off. So that’s what I did, just switched off and climbed. I was moving at a decent pace, but every time I stopped to be sick was adding up and slowing me down. Just before Red Pike we bumped into Iza (my boss from work) and her dog coco. It was nice to randomly b ump into a familiar face! The cuddle from coco kept me going and we pressed on. We got a broken spectre at the summit , something I doubt most people have their rounds. I started to feel a bit more alive after Pillar when Arthur gave me a stroopwaffel (something Alex came to love during his 446 challenge) and a bit of luco z a d e down the neck. Just before kirk fell when we had ran out of water and I asked Ian to fill up our soft flasks , there is a small spring on the Wasdale side of black sail pass. While Ian was doing this, me and Arthur carried on up red gully to summit Kirk Fell. In the gully we found a little stream and puddle just deep enough to submerge your face. It was so cold and fresh, just what we both needed! Near the top of Great Gable the sun started to set and it became apparent that it was going to be dark before we got to Honister. Being behind schedule I’d neglected to remember that it would get dark on this leg and didn’t have my headtorch. A fter Brandreth Arthur gave me his head torch and somehow managed to nav us off Grey Knotts keeping my feet as dry as possible, which I was very grateful for. If I could keep my feet dry, it would make Honister a bit quicker. It w as on this decent I started t o halluc inate . I kept seein g iphones on the floor, but they we re rocks. I kept seeing ten ts se t u p and eve n t ouched on e, but they were rocks. Just m y eyes playing tricks on me I guess. We arrived and Jen , Liv and Kenny where the onl y ones in the car pa r k. There cheering guiding us in as th e clag was so thick Honister was so cold after being above the inversion all day. I left my pack at Honister and carried on with nothing but my poles. Another coffee, another rice pudding and we started up Dale Head. Every now and again asking for water from Ian or Arthur. I’d committed to eating nothing on this leg now t o save myself from being sick. I remember Arthur saying we have to move as time was getting tight. When I left Honister, I was nearly 2 hours behind schedule and every second mattered now. Hindscarth and Robinson came quick enough, but I need ed to si t down on Robinson. Part of me wanted to enjoy it as the last summit, and part of me just wanted to stop and put my jacket on. I knew descending it was going to feel cold again. Ian outstretched his hand and pulled me. “lets go back to Keswick” I said. Arthur asked what kind of descent I’d prefer and I said “grassy” , knowing that the nose of Robinson is rocky I was curious which way he'd take us. My sense of direction was telling me we had gone an usual way, but by the time I recognised where we were the was no rock underfoot. Just the sharp de scent down to the valley between Hinscarth and Robinson. I knew that as soon as I was down that I could run again. The pain in my ankle was getting really bad, and I had to apologize to Ian for all my swearing. If I hadn’t have had my poles if would’ve been a lot hard er to get down. The road section dragged, as I’m sure it does for most peop le, but I could move faster than I had for a while. We saw Stephen (leg 2 pacer) at Swinside inn and he ran with us to Por tinscale where he had parked. I thought that was the last we’d see of him until he turned up at moot hall just as I did! Now over the bridge , I started to speed up. Knowing how close Keswick was pushed me on and I wanted to get it done. As I saw Moot Hall it was the first time it felt like it was in the bag and that I could do it. Arthur turned to me and said “what have you got left?” and with that we started sprinting. I touched the door in 23 hours and 44 minutes. I had finally done it. After watching so many other people finish there rounds it felt so strange to actually be there myself. Even though it was my round, it was a team effort. I could not have done it with out my incre dible team of pacers and road support to whom I’ll be eternally grateful. It was a day I ’ ll treasure forever.