Paul and Marks BGR : Yet another blind date at Dummail Raise

• Monday : rest
• Tuesday : 5500ft 11 miles 5 reps up and down Plynlimon
• Wednesday : rest
• Thursday 1000ft 2 x bus stop to hill fort
• Friday : rest
• Saturday 13,000ft 27 miles legs 3 & 4 of BGR
• Sunday : Brussells airport

so a total of about 19,500ft and 40 miles which is more like it. I really should have run on wednesday, but work and home life got in the way.

Saturday morning, 8am at Dummail Raise walking up line of cars on the grass verge asking if they were waiting for runners called Mark and Paul. Eventually found the road crew, among 2 other BGR parties and one doing the Joss Naylor, for Mark and Paul, said hello, eat breakfast and had a brew.

Mark came in 1st, looked good going well, had some beef stew(I had some at the end leg 4 and I can confirm it was the best food in the world ever), change of socks and pacers and off he went up Steel Fell. Paul came in about 45 minutes later, he looked shot, mumbling about not intending to carry on. A combination of a good talking to from his wife and beef stew persuaded him to carry on. It appears that his pacers on the 1st 2 legs did not feed and water him to the extent needed.

If you have never been a BGR pacer, it is quite reasonable to assume that the runner will ask for food and drink, rather than having to be pestered to eat and drink. I ran a 3rd leg of the Paddy with 3 very experienced guys who were very self contained and needed little water or food from me, so if that was your only experience of pacing, you might quite reasonably assume that you feed and watered the runner when asked, other than that you were there for company and carriage. It does highlight the need for a pacers apprenticeship and also for the runner to be aware of the experience of the pacers and to be clear what is needed of them. Anyone who offers to help on a Round is a top chap or top chapette just for offering, but sometimes you just don't know what is needed and I am certain the 1st time I paced a round I was at risk of not providing the support needed.

On leg 3, Dale, Jim and myself made sure that Paul eat and drank and by Calf Crag he was a recovered as a man who had done 30 miles and 12,000ft of up and down could be. Dale did the navigation, impended by a little mist, but still getting good lines. Jim and I played who can force the most food or liquid down Mark's neck without him getting visibly upset, but we eased up on the game by High Raise. Good banter, though it has to be said Paul had his mind focused on the task in hand. Scarfell Pike was standing room only. There were 2 climbers on Broadstand so rather than push past them, I went with the others on West Wall traverse which feels a lot slower and then down to Wasdale from Scarfell. It had been a great leg as a pacer. 4 people who had never meet each other before just coming together and getting on with it.

A change of socks and some food on my part, some TLC for Mark and his feet, a change of pacers and a new name for the 1st hill on leg 4, Yew-Bastard. Navigation was done by a chap called Ian who I think it would be fair to say knew Leg 4 as a navigator so well as not to put a foot wrong or to even hint it might be a possibility. I did little as a pacer on leg 4, I think I held a bottle of water once once, shouted a few words of encouragement on Great Gable and did a bit of torch shining coming down the hill to Honister. Other than that I was just along for the training. The 3 pacers Paul had were just what you would want for the task in hand. I missed out Steeple, choosing instead to phone home and have a chat with the kids before they went to bed. The subsequent sunset was spectacular, I will post the pics from my phone when I get a chance.

The few words I exchanged with Paul suggest a really nice chap, but he really did go inside to get the strength to get him round. This meant after 11 hours in his company over some of the toughest mountain terrain in England, I don't really know him at all. I hope some day we will have a few hours for a beer. He really did dig in and grind it out coming from being well behind schedule at Dummail Raise. I was travelling to Sweden for work the next day, so could not hang around for Paul to finish leg 5 which I regret, but that the breaks.

I did find the walk up Red Pike hard, I was probably a bit down on food and fluid by that time and also was carrying a reasonable amount of weight in a rucksack, so it is probably not a shock I was finding it a bit hard going after 18 miles and 9000ft. I tried a new gel from Torq which coach Jon recommended which has a nice Strawberry yoghart flavour and that was a lot easier to get down your neck that the usual SIS gels. It also perked me up straight away.

I did feel a lot better than the 6 weeks previous when I did legs 3 and 4 with Tattenhall, moving a lot faster on the downhills and finding the uphill also easier. Having eaten and drunk more, but also being it cooler and not having getting up a 1.30am probably helped.

As I got a lift back to my car at Dummail, we found out that Mark had finished in 20.56 which is a fantastic time.

I admit I had a slight(being a bloke we can only admit to a slight one) tear of joy when I got a text that Paul finished his round in 23.46. I was pleased that collectively as pacers we did our job. The huge contribution of Paul's wife and Mark's partner as road crew in terms of providing the worlds best beef stew, moving pacers around, tending needy feet and delivering a good stiff talking to. What really got Paul round was digging deep inside and grinding it out. I saw a huge amount of mental strength being brought to bear on legs 3 and 4, which is in relation to my attempt at the end of next month, was both inspring and sobering.