In early January, Elsey Davis became the record holder for the female Bob Graham mid-winter round, supported by her wife, Sarah, and the Lake District fell running community.
Elsey Davis has already made her mark among the road and trail running community, with top finishes in the Scafell Marathon, Transgrancanaria, The Valencia Marathon and the Golden Trail World Series final.
After serving on the front lines as a doctor during the pandemic, Davis, has taken time to focus on her running career and is currently sponsored by The North Face. She set her sights on the Bob Graham Round after being inspired by ultramarathon legend Beth Pascall who currently holds the title for the summer record. Elsey spoke of her admiration for the Lake District.
“I always love the Lake District. It’s where I’ve been doing a lot of my training for the last few years. It’s a place where I feel calm, and it relaxes me; it’s just my favourite escape. So I think gradually, over time, I started trialing some of the routes and getting intrigued by them.”
First set by Bob Graham in 1932, the round features 66 miles of rough fell terrain over a 42-peak circuit covering 27,000ft in under 24 hours. There are no official fastest-known-times (FKTs), only records kept by the Bob Graham 24-Hour Club, who have been stewarding the route and holding the record attempts since 1971.
The midwinter route, in this context, refers to the completion of the course between the Saturday of the weekend before the shortest day (the 18th of December 2022) to be completed by the 10th of January, according to the official Bob Graham Club.
“I wasn’t sure how quickly I would do it in the winter. I did a bit of trial run a few weeks before with a friend and then on my own and was roughly comfortably running at around an 18-hour pace.”
“So I spoke to Martin Stone, who did the first winter solo round in the late 1980s; however, he also helps with many other high-profile Bob Graham Rounds. We set a 19-hour schedule as a guide, mainly to help the pacers know roughly what pace to go at.”
Elsey Davis was overwhelmed with the response from the fell running community who chipped in along the route to support her and guide her around the 106km route.
“I wanted to get about two to three pacers per leg, and I wanted them to be of the local community who know the course really well. I like the Bob Graham tradition and how much it brings the local community together. I’d say about fifty per cent of them I already knew from racing, and then the other half kind of volunteered via social media when I put a plea out for help.”
“I was overwhelmed with the support, and I knew it was a team effort, but I think it only really sunk in on the day. I felt the support of everybody. Paul Wilson, the chairman of the Bob Graham Round, came and did a lot of my road support with my wife. I’d never met him before then. He went to all the stops and helped with all the pacers; he was absolutely brilliant.”
“I was surprised people would want to come out at two, three in the morning to start helping in the weather, although, at the time, we didn’t know what the weather would be like. But you know it will be unpredictable if you live in the lakes.”
Despite the snow that had peppered the country just weeks before, Elsey Davis had to pick between rain and wind for her January expedition.
“It was beautiful snow and no wind when I did my trial run; however, when it actually came around to midwinter, it just rained the whole time, high winds; there was just no perfect weather window, so I just picked the best of a bad bunch.”
But it wasn’t only the weather Elsey Davis had to contend with, as she had been experiencing pain in her calf’s just the week before the round.
“I could still feel it just before I set off. I had horrible visions of getting to the bottom of Skiddaw, and I’d have to walk back five minutes after leaving. I was very tentative going into the first leg. I couldn’t even envision myself finishing, but I didn’t want to back out. I don’t want to regret not trying.”
Luckily, Elsey Davis’ calf held up and didn’t become a problem. Davis joked, calling it a ‘paranoid niggle’ that fixed itself. “I think a lot of it is very slow going because you’re not doing any crazy power moves up there, so that kind of helped, surprisingly, and it’s been fine since.”
The first few legs were completed in darkness. Decked out in custom North Face trail shoes, a ski jacket and ski goggles, she complemented her choice of attire. Despite having to wade through a river in the first leg.
“I never once was cold in the round. So I think that made a huge difference. Obviously, the kit got wet at the river crossing, but I have this special gator on my shoes, and it seems to protect them from the wind. So I never had any issues like that. I wore a mountaineering jacket rather than a running one, and I was glad I had one because it was super protective from the wind.”
The wind also affected the North Face camera crew, who were filming the expedition for a film to be released this year. Davis joked that they were given a go-pro that would have captured the winds she experienced at the peaks.
Her wife Sarah, also an accomplished runner and doctor, met her at each road break, mashed potato and pizza in hand. Davis described that the 50mph winds made it difficult for her to take on fuel.
The plan was to take fuel every twenty minutes, usually reminded by her pacing team, with the primary goal of taking on carbs throughout the day. Elsey Davis used a mixture of sachets, gels and solid food to power her through and fill her stomach.
“I also use these super-natural fuel sachets, which are like natural ingredients; it’s more like a thicker paste, so I feel like it fills my stomach a bit more.”
“When I got to the road crossings, I had pasta and pesto, mash and beans, pizza and pot noodles. Luckily, it’s almost always straight up a steep hill after the road section so that you can walk with the food. My wife would walk next to me and take the lunch box once I’d finished it so I could not stop for too long and still make some headway.”
Elsey Davis completed her midwinter Bob Graham Round in 20 hours and 21 minutes, beating the previous record by nearly an hour and a half, established in December 2018 by Sabrina Verjee. Davis responded with a resolute ‘no,’ before chuckling when asked if she would attempt the challenge again.
“I’ve done it now, and I’m happy. Records are there to be broken. If someone takes it, then I’m happy with my record on that day, and that was the absolute best I could do. Without a doubt.”
Photography Credits: Finn Pomeroy / We Are 8 Seconds