UKH

Jack Kuenzle, the man who went from someone most of us had never heard of to Tranter record holder a few weeks ago, is now having a stab at the Bob Graham. At the time of this post he's currently about 10-15 minutes up on Killian Jornet's record at great end. It seems the record is genuinely under threat.

Here's the link: https://live.opentracking.co.uk/jkbgr2022/

Looks like it'll be an early start to the weekend for avid dotwatchers. Go on Jack!!

Thanks for the heads up! 

Wheels might be coming off.......

It's a great effort so far.

As far as the record goes I wonder how hard Kilian pushed? For mere mortals (ie everyone not Killian) it's definitely full bore/eyes out all way but Killian it looked like he was cruising.

Edit to add - Yewbarrow is a killer, it's warm out today and very little breeze, that climbmust have been dire.

The dot has stopped at Yewbarrow summit, at least for now.  Could be a tech glitch?

Red pike now!

Looks like it’s working again. He’s still ahead of ‘Virtual Kilian’.

Not one for dot watching normally, but this is pretty cool. 

It's going again, he's still up on the record!

Anyone know his support runners?

Or not! Dot had stopped/been overtaken by Killian but Jack seems back ahead. His interview about the Tranter and the way he felt like he might blow up any second made him sound like an "everything from the get go" kind of runner so I assumed he'd gone out a little too hard. Obviously I was wrong (thankfully).

Also... if anyone is wondering, he pronounces it "Ken-zul", a bit like Denzel, but with a K.

Source - https://anchor.fm/go-mountain-goats/episodes/Episode-21---Tranters-Round-Re...

Virtual Killian is right behind him! Possibly data shadow though, doesn't seem to have moved on Steeple for a bit.

The impression I got, rightly or wrongly, is that Kilian gave it everything, but definitely suffered towards the end as a result of this. He went out the blocks super fast, but that came back to haunt him within the last couple of legs. Jack, at least in comparison, went out a little (but not a lot) slower, but made up the time by maintaining his pace.

Let's see if he can continue to maintain it until he arrives in Keswick!!

Jack posted the following over on Instagram yesterday:

Leg 1
Michael McGleenan
Mark Lamb
Nichola Jackson

Leg 2
Ricky Lightfoot
Steve Hebblethwaite
Andy Berry

Leg 3
Matthew Atkinson
Sam Stead
Jack Eyre

Leg 4
Doni Clarke
Gavin Dale
Matthew Atkinson
Col Hopping

Leg 5
Jonny Cox
Rich Keefe

He’s behind you!

Finlay Wild certainly made up a good chunk on Kilian's record in the last two legs, which would point to Kilian fading slightly towards the end

Tracker got stuck for a bit on Pillar but has just updated and he still just ahead approaching Kirk Fell. Exciting!

Fading or cruising it in? 

Its going to be close. I think he'll hold off to Honister, Killian's ghost will catch him on the climb to Dalehead and then it'll be he'll for leather into Keswick

Kilian had a sit down somewhere throughout the fouth leg, although I can't quite remember where.

Legend has it that Finlay dropped his pacers on the road into Keswick from Newlands, which is unfathomable given how hard he'd run to get to that point.

Let's see what Jack has up his sleeve for the final throes! 

Famously at the exact same point as Billy Bland IIRC, coming off Grey Knotts.

Jack has stretched away again from virtual Kilian over Kirk Fell

I think Finlay also had a shoe change "pit-stop" when he hit the road section into Keswick. The scissors came out and they chopped the laces on his fell-running pair before he quickly swapped into his road running pair. It was over and done in a matter of seconds and he was perhaps able to push even harder on the roads as a result.

I believe Jack invested/wasted* £200+ on a pair of carbon plated road shoes and has plans to do something similar.

*delete as appropriate

Money well spent if he comes in 5 seconds faster than the record…and it’s looking like it might come down to that sort of margin…

I guess by ~7pm tonight we'll know whether that investment was a waste or not haha...

You can get a pair of roller blades for that 

Somethings just happened…who’d have thought watching a dot could be this enthralling.

Well either he is stopped on the side of Grey Knotts and wondering where he put the receipt for those new shoes…or his tracker has gone on the blink.

Probably no signal around Honister, nothing to worry about just yet

Should be on Dale Head at about 17.16.

Yep, check the ‘last tracked’ time. I’m boring myself now.

He has popped up again.  Well ahead still!

Better yet; he's currently approaching Hindscarth.

Tracker is back and he still well ahead, approaching Hindscarth whereas "Kilian" is still slogging up Dale Head!

I’ve always enjoyed the view from the top of Dale Head…doesn’t look like he stopped to take much of it in !

Here's Killian's splits by the way: https://www.opentracking.co.uk/kilian-jornet-bob-graham-round-data-2018/

Both started at 6am, so their times are easily comparable. 

Killian was at Dale Head at 17:26:05, Jack has made it there at 17:05:22. That's some margin! Over 20 minutes at this point!!

22 minutes up at Robinson

Think he's going to make it! What an effort!

All downhill now, hope the queue’s short at the chippy!

He's going to absolutely smash it- top dot watching!

I've literally just clicked on this. Wow, all over bar the queue at the Keswickian. Having watched the two Jornet films on Netflix last week and walked most of the BG route over the years I am awestruck. Right, back to the tracker.

Edit. 11.29.18. Just wow.

12:23:48 according to the tracker so almost 30 minutes faster than Kilian. Wow!

Mind officially blown.

Yes, I hadn't noticed that had stopped at 11.29.18, just saw the actual time. Still, I get the impression that many thought that KJ's time would stand for a very long time. So still Wow! 

Been out climbing all day. So just caught this and yes indeed WoW!!! Simply an awesome athlete/achievement in my book.

Strava link if anyone is interested: https://www.strava.com/activities/7743378430

Edit: his Tranter Round write up here is very interesting as well: https://www.strava.com/activities/7543908905

Outrageous!

Video of final mile & finish, 

youtube.com/watch?v=lRZiUNgqjck&

He is shifting. Very, very impressive.

I think he's doing about 4min km (I looked at his Stava yesterday so can't quite remember). Maybe it's the carbon super shoes....

He looks like a big lad compared to the other runners round him!

Agreed. He doesn’t look like your typical world class endurance athlete. Was interested to learn he’s a former Navy SEAL, which I suspect wouldn’t be possible if you were a 9 stone elite distance runner!

Either way, he’s clearly got one hell of an engine (and mindset) on him.

Still mind boggled by it all.

His last three miles were sub 7 per mile, as were 20 or so others. A couple were sub 6. None were over 10.

Absolute insane numbers on that route. I think this one will stand for a long time. It does depend on whether Killian will want to give it another bash, he’s just broke the UTMB record so is in very good shape. I’ve always wondered if Jim Walmsley would have a stab at any of the big rounds as well. 

Thought exactly that, but wonder if Kilian’s effort was a ‘4 minute mile’ moment. Like you say, the likes of Walmsley, and Kilian coming back, would be super interesting to watch, if it ever came to pass.

Controversial, but I still maintain if someone like Kipchoge spent 12 months living and training in the fells something very special indeed could happen.

It's really cool to see Kenyans moving into trail running. I think both male and female at  Sierra Zinal was one y Kenyans this year. As the money in trail running increases I think we'll see more Easy Africans move away from road to trail. Currently I think it's still a relatively niche sport without the funding to attract a really super deep field. 

That doesn't seem to line up with what Strava says. I can't see any mile splits below six minutes and a lot way over ten minutes. Am I misunderstanding you?

You're right! My apologies, I was looking at the GAP.

I don’t think it’s controversial to say that - an very high level elite runner (the likes of Kipchoge & sub-2.10 marathoners) with the right training regime would very likely take the record lower still. I do think it’s pretty unlikely they would give it a go, however, given their interests lie elsewhere on the roads or track (which is fair enough, really). I think it’s pretty likely that it’ll remain an interesting hypothetical. 
 

Perhaps someone like Robbie Simpson - who has pedigree at mountain running ultra distance & marathon, as well as coming from the Scottish hill running scene - might give it a go one day & I suspect he’d at least get close to the record. Again though, I assume his priorities are elsewhere at the moment. 

Would be interesting to see what Jon Albon, Tom Evans could do, as well as Robbie S.

Talk of Kipchoge et al. - depends how quickly they'd adapt to technical and technical downhill running. Lung on legs would only get you so far.

Really silly pontificating about whether a Kenyan could beat the BG record, it's a bit like saying Bradley wiggins could win a Mtb world champs because he rides a bicycle, lets just celebrate the guy who did it!

I don't see pontificating, I see musing. 

Jack talks, reckons the BGR is the best....:

(caveat I find the interviewer to be reliably tedious)

youtube.com/watch?v=R1_h7z2bRIU&

When I was a teenager I had a running friend who was seriously talented. IIRC he had the fastest marathon time in the world for someone of his age (I think it was 2:23 at 17). Anyway, he decided at around that time to enter the Snowdon race, having done almost no hill running at all, despite loving mountain environments. He told me he was shocked to arrive at the top in 3rd place and not feeling all that bad, but on the way down he was passed by numerous others as he had the uphill legs and lungs but was simply a novice at descending!

I also fondly remember the only time I ever beat him in a race, as it was a short New Year's morning race from Pen y pass, round the lake and back again. He was miles ahead at the lake but there's no path around it, and he was so unused to boulder hopping I was able to overtake him and build up just enough of a lead to stay ahead as he hunted me down on the path back!

The moral, therefore, is that there's more to fell running than being a good runner on the road.

I think in the hypothetical, Kipchoge trains for a year and then has the ability to descend like Killian. I don't really know how Killians descending is (I'm sure it's word class) but it might be like in cycling where you have the super engines and good descenders, and these guys win the tour, but every so often there's someone who just descends better than everyone else and these guys win the stage. 

Maybe Kipchoge just needs to be an average descender... 

what, like Mathieu van der Poel who has won on road, cyclocross and MTB? 

Kilian I think commented that during his recent UTMB record win he'd pull ahead on ascents and Mathieu Blanchard would come back at him on descents so whilst Kilian is still awesome at descending it doesn't sound like he is the absolute best at that.

I could be wrong but here's a theory to be shot down...I suppose it depends on how technical the descent is compared to how gradual the ascent but generally speaking the ascent will be slower so you spend more time going up than down in a race. Therefore equivalent time gains (e.g. 30s every 10 mins) made in ascending could be more beneficial overall than the same gains made descending.

A summary of Jack's round from the pacers' perspectives

http://keswickac.org.uk/jack-kuenzles-record-breaking-bob-graham/

Thanks for posting that - one of the funniest things I've read in a while, particularly the first leg. "A majestic image set back against the rising sun." ?!

Fin Wild's podcast interview with JK on the Tranter Round was great and inspiring listening, but from this account you get a much clearer idea that JK would be huge fun to spend time with...

Y

That's really quite funny, the Pacers struggling all over the place and Jack's basically just having a laugh and a cracking day out on the fells 😁

If it gets much quicker then any pacers are really going to have to organise a proper (short stints) relay team.

black bag with salt tablets

There is a brilliant long interview with Jack here.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/singletrack/id1572382413?i=1000578421...

it’s Episode 127 of ‘The Single Track Podcast’.

Loads of detail about his prep, how he found pacers and most inspiring of all why he thinks the BG is the greatest route there is.