UK BIG 3 History

For UK Big 3 information see: http://gofar.rwimbush.purplecloud.net/TheUKBig3.html

The Bob Graham Round is a circuit of 42 fells in the English Lake District, including the 3,000ft (910 m) peaks of Skiddaw, Helvellyn, Scafell and Scafell Pike. The round is named after Bob Graham (1889-1966), a Keswick guest-house owner, who in 1932 set the record for the number of Lakeland fells traversed in 24 hours. Amazingly, Bob did his round in tennis shoes and long shorts, with only bread and butter, a hard-boiled egg and some fruit for energy! He believed that anyone fit and well prepared could do the same round, yet his record was to stand for 28 years. The record was eventually broken by Alan Heaton in 1960, who completed the round in 22h 18mins. Today the Bob Graham round is the major achievement of many serious fell runners, who on completion are eligible for membership of the infamous Bob Graham 24h Club! The current record is that of Billy Bland in 1982 who ran the round in just 13h 53mins.
http://www.bobgrahamclub.co.uk/bobgrahamround.co.uk

The Paddy Buckley Round, also known as the Welsh Classical Round, is a circuit of some 62 miles with 28000ft of ascent, taking in 47 tops, most of which are in the well-known areas of Snowdon, the Carneddau, the Glyderau and the Moelwynion.  Paddy Buckley devised the round with helpful comments from Chris Brasher, but Wendy Dodds was the first to complete it in 1982 in a time of 25h 38 mins.  The first sub-24 hour round was completed in 1985 by Martin Stone in 23h 26mins. The record is now jointly held by Mark Hartell and Chris Near who both finished in 18h 10mins (in 1992 and 2008 respectively)!
http://bobwightman.co.uk/run_pb/paddy_buckley_round.php

The Ramsay Round: In 1964, Philip Tranter (with planning assistance from Blyth Wright) completed what is now known as Tranters Round. The Tranters Round involved a journey of 36 miles with 20,600ft of ascent (including all the the Mamores, Grey Corries, Aonachs, Carn Mor Dearg and Ben Nevis itself).

Following in Tranter’s footsteps, Charlie Ramsay envisioned an extended version of the Tranters Round, turning it into a challenge that would scale 24 munros within 24 hours, over a distance of 60 miles, with 28,000ft of ascent. Adopting the fell running approach of the Lakeland runners, and to raise money for Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team, Charlie Ramsay completed the round in 1978, returning to the Glen Nevis Youth Hostel with only 2 minutes to spare! The Ramsay Round record is today held by Adrian Belton (1989), who completed the round in 18h 23mins.
http://www.ramsaysround.com/