Billy Bland on Kilian Jornet's potential Bob Graham record attempt
Published 2018-01-01
The Bob Graham Round is a now famous 65mile route of 42 Lake District summits within 24hours, first run as a birthday challenge by Keswick guest-house owner Bob Graham in 1932 when he was 42 years old, hence the same number of peaks.
Billy's record of 13hrs 53mins from 1982 is now 35 years old so I took the opportunity to interview this 70 year old fell running legend from Borrowdale, Cumbria, at the Inov8 Fell Running Evening at Kendal Mountain Festival 2017.
Kilian mentioned in several interviews during 2017 that he would like to run the Bob Graham Round and maybe have a go at the record if it went well, but he hasn't been back to the UK since the Salomon Glen Coe Skyline...I'll keep you posted.
Kilian's previous interviews on this channel:
• EXCLUSIVE interview with Kilian Jorne...
• Kilian Jornet in action in UK mountains
Photos: Euan Crumley, Jordi Saragossa
Transparency: Apart from Kendal Mountain Festival 2017 kindly providing a press ticket to the Inov8 Fell Running Evening, this film is not funded by any publisher, brand or shop. My views are my own.
Music: Alta Loma Terrace by Wes Hutchinson
All Comments (7)
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What a pleasure to meet Billy Bland today on a walk. Lovely guy, was out on his two wheels today. So glad I shook his hand. What a great part of Lakeland History. 🙏🏽
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Loved this interview! Would love to do it one day
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Great video.
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What a champion!
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I must admit, I feel a bit sad about Billy's record being broken. I think there should be an amateur and a pro record. Completing the Bob Graham is about being a part of something more. The runners support each other, it comes from a background of completely amateur runners who escaped to the fells after working insanely hard weeks not professionally sponsored runners with all the latest gear and support crew. While Kilian is a phenomenal runner, he won't support the Bob Graham in the future or other runners, he's just ticking off records and I really find it a shame. Oh well :)
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meh, records are all meant to be broken. fun to see the process. and the cultural context too.
