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| Bob Graham round relay October 2006
Following the ‘Three Peaks Challenge’ in 2004 and the ‘Radley Track Challenge’ in 2005, it was time for the ‘Radley College Extreme challenge group’ to head back to the hills. This challenge was to be the ‘Bob Graham Round Relay’ – a route which sends a shiver down the spine of any respectful hill-folk. Back in 1932 Bob Graham set off for a run around the Lake District. He managed to scale 42 peaks, covering over 74 miles, 28,500 feet height ascended and descended in just under 24 hours. The challenge is usually undertaken by extremely fit fell-runners and is usually a supported by a vast support crew. Our challenge was to run the route as a relay with teams of boys and Dons running 3 stages, continuously. We were aiming for a 30-hour ‘round’. I had tried this with boys from Newcastle RGS in the summer of 2003 but we were beaten by the route, weather and hypothermia. Would this attempt, at the start of winter be a success… P M Fernandez |
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Our adventure began with an early breakfast at 7am on Friday followed by loading up our undersized minibus and trailer in which we loaded, among other things, some spaghetti Bolognese for lunch, food for a cooked breakfast on Sunday morning and a ridiculous amount of Mars and Snickers bars and boxes of Lucozade powder. We left Radley at 07.45 with everyone still feeling as though they should be in bed, however our mood improved as we stopped off at a Birmingham service station and realised that everyone else was probably half way through their third lesson! We then got back into our cramped minibus and continued our journey up north, via another service station where we stopped for lunch. We finally reached or destination – Thirlmere Village Hall – and were greeted with typical Cumbrian weather; it was cold, windy, overcast and drizzling. We spent an hour or so unpacking the trailer and getting our stuff ready – we filled up our Platypuses with Lucozade and some over excited people began eating their energy bars, so that by the time we left for Keswick to begin the BGRR everyone was well and truly buzzing...Tom Atkinson
Leg 1 Keswick to Threlkeld, Start: Friday 20.00, Length: 6hrs 40mins Team A, consisting of PMF, Archie Vey and myself, continued on. Skiddaw, 870m, was the highest of the three peaks we had to negotiate that night. After around two hours of running/walking/sliding through mud and rain we reached the first peak. Then after a bite of a Mars bar and once PMF worked out where to go next, we headed off again. The other two peaks were easier to manage despite having to travel through bogs, marshes and a knee deep stream. Care had to be taken also whilst running on the downhill sections to avoid the odd stray sheep. Having reached the final peak in good time, despite being fairly knackered, we could now at least see the car-park where team C were waiting. However getting down the final peak proved a little more challenging than first thought, not helped by the sudden presence of fog: everywhere. So finally, having failed to find the original route down the hill the ‘alternative’ route was implemented after a couple of well chosen expletives. When we first left Keswick, our intention was to reach the next checkpoint in about five hours, however with the help of some undue fog on the final peak it actually took us six hours forty to reach the minibus. So after travelling 22.9 km there were to be a couple of hours spare before we had to go again, this time traversing nine peaks. We had only just completed the warm-up… ...Alex Binnie Leg 2 – Threlkeld to Dunmail Start: Saturday 02.40, Length: 7hrs 00mins Leg 3 – Dunmail to Wasdale, Start: Saturday 09.40, Length: 7hrs 27mins Leg 4 – Wasdale to Honister, Start: Saturday 15.00, Length 8hrs 3mins Leg 5 + 6 – Honister to Keswick, Start: Saturday 23.03, Length 4hrs 32mins This leg was a lot easier and all three teams ran together. It was all on road as we worked our way through soaked little country villages towards Keswick. It was a good feeling to have the whole squad out running to the finish. We did the leg quickly making up some time. We began winding our way through little streets in Keswick itself and very soon we were on the high street towards the Moot Hall, the finishing checkpoint. A mad sprint then persisted towards the hall door. We all slammed into the door together, and that was it – all 42 peaks, 74 miles, 28,500 vertical feet done in ‘just’ 33 hours and 42 minutes. You can not imagine the feeling at that moment. Everyone had big grins on their faces, we were all shaking hands and congratulating each other. It had been an amazing experience.... George Stinton Thanks must go to all involved for all their hard work in making the challenge a resounding success: Tom Atkinson, Ollie Arnott, Alex Binnie, George Carter, James Lucas, Charlie MacRae-Tod, George Stinton, Archie Vey, Dr Andy Pulham, Dr Julian Moore, Andy Thomas, Tom Ryder, Charlie Milward and Paul Fernandez. Top of page AJM trained for a year to swim the Channel to raise money for leukaemia research
Not content with the challenge of looking after over seventy boys in F, last September I embarked on another – to swim the Channel and by so doing raise funds for leukaemia research. Much of my motivation was drawn from the plight of Freddie Tapner who last Christmas discovered he had the disease. In the twilight at 5am on August 7th, a whole year’s preparations, both mental and physical were put to the test as I began to swim in choppy water south towards France from Shakespeare Beach in Dover. I was fortunate enough to benefit from a crew of helpers who were on board the accompanying pilot vessel administering half-hourly feeds and providing unfailing support and encouragement. Due to rough conditions in the early hours, much of the crew was stricken with seasickness but fortunately recovered enough to keep me on the path to success. During the gruelling swim, I had to contend with the sensory deprivation of keeping my face buried in water never warmer than a chilly seventeen Celsius whilst a procession of huge ships and ferries cut across my path at regular intervals. At times I felt as though I was swimming through an eerie underwater forest of weed and space-like constellations of plankton; but my main concern was to avoid the many jellyfish, which glowed in beautiful colours but would deliver a nasty sting if I touched their tentacles. Finally, after twelve and three quarter hours of unrelenting 55-strokes-per-minute shoulderdestroying front crawl, my steady progress paid off and, with a sense of disbelief that I had actually made it, I was able to touch down onto sand and run onto the beach at Wissant. I held my tired arms aloft and cheered loudly, much to the amusement of some local French people out for an evening walk. After asking one of them to take a photo of me on the beach and then collecting a rock to take back for Archie and Amber, I swam triumphantly back to the support boat. The swim was one of the most brutally masochistic but worthwhile things I have ever done in my life and with generous donations from so many of you we have managed to raise £50,000 for the leukaemia research to be carried out at University College Hospital in London. I suffered extreme pain and tiredness throughout the swim but not as much as those people with leukaemia who have to embark on years of gruelling treatment in order to beat the disease. Top of page TMM played the complete organ works of J.S. Bach in Chapel on 2nd July, to raise money for leukaemia research. It wasn’t really until I started to organise the programme that I realised quite what I was letting myself in for. I had rough timings for each piece, so I put them in order, hour by hour, allowing a five minute ‘comfort break’ each hour. I was rather alarmed to find that this gave me seventeen hours, or a day starting at 6.00am and finishing at 11.00pm. Perhaps I should have listened to LB, who questioned whether it was actually possible to play all the organ works in one go, and pointed out just how many CDs his complete boxed set took up. Like (I am told) preparing for the marathon, there is only so much one can do to prepare for an event like this. I did, at least, know all the pieces, rather vaguely in some cases. I played the complete organ works in 2000, in celebration of the 250th anniversary of Bach’s death, but on that occasion I started in January and finished in December, playing them at chapel once or twice a week. I started to practise each of my planned hours (and found some of them were only 45 or 50 minutes, which is how I managed to reduce it to sixteen hours); sometimes I even managed to practise two or three hours together, though finding that sort of time at Radley, especially in the exam season, is not easy. The day itself dawned cold and bright (it’s always cold and bright at 7.00am in the summer). I had arranged a rota of page turners and general assistants, to bring food, drinks, &c. throughout the day. At 6.59am there was still no sign of my first one – Ben Sheen (C) – although the Senior Prefect, Nick Buchanan (G), was there to witness the start. Ben arrived at about 6.59.50, just about in time to hear the first note (the Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C major). I had arranged for most of the best-known pieces to fall during breaks (boys were taking school exams at the time), and the real lollipops were kept for the Chapel Service at 7.30pm – Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (also known as the Lloyds Bank advert, to those of a certain age), and the Toccata & Fugue in D minor. There was always an audience, which was gratifying – at its smallest, only two or three people; but at times thirty or forty, especially at lunchtime (when I had foolishly decided to play the six Trio Sonatas, perhaps the most difficult works, back to back). The award for most dedicated listener has to go to Tim Nye (G), who must have notched up four or five hours. At the end, there seemed an enormous number of people, most of them – including the Warden – bearing very welcome champagne. Just as well, because by this time my arms were really starting to hurt... The best news, though, was that it was very definitely worth it – raising just under £12,000 for a research project at University College London Hospital, run by the professor who has been treating Freddie Tapner (F). Top of page The Ridgeway from Streatley to the White Horse at Uffington: 20 miles
No charitable activity so completely mobilises the whole school as a sponsored walk. No charitable event has the potential to produce so much money and no school event is more weather dependent. The September walk was originally due to take place in July but the near monsoon of June stopped that. The September weather was kinder and a route along the Ridgeway was chosen, an ancient route way that promised a safe passage and fine views for the whole school. There is a strange excitement that comes from seeing a plan involving almost everyone going into operation. On Sunday the 16th September the first two buses with B and H Socials left at 8.30am. By 9.15am they were walking along the Ridgeway while E Social was travelling down to the start and A Social was climbing aboard their bus at Radley. By 10.15am, I was looking for the first walkers near the first refreshment point (5 miles in); a group of H Social fifth formers appeared, jogging. I made a mental note not to trust social stereotypes – H Social was supposed to be full of scholars and actors and now they were treating the walk as a race. This was not in the plan at all – the timings of the refreshment points and the marshalls were predicated on walking times – runners were given a start two hours in so they would not finish first. As it happened, this would not be a problem. At refreshment point 1 the Haggetts began supplying the six hundred with water and chocolate bars. I was heading for the second refreshment point thinking it was going fine when the phone call happened – the runners ‘Sir, we’re lost.’ Manners and mobile phones are useful. By lunchtime walkers were having lunch. The marshalls were encouraging walkers with innaccurate predictions of the next refreshment point or the finish. A few people were counting blisters. I’d realised I’d forgotten about vegetarian sandwiches and had managed to get some. The final Socials, D and F, delayed by Shell medical examinations, were on the Ridgeway and Radley was practically empty. At the finish, the Uffington White Horse, a number of B and H Social boys manage to beat the marshalls into place and walked on a little way that must have seemed quite a long way before they were brought back. Just after 3-00pm the first bus left the Uffington White Horse for Radley. People were starting to finish. About nine miles East of the White Horse, MJSH, in the honoured position of back marker, was endearing himself to marshalls and refreshment points by telling them to go home once he was through. The four drivers of the transit vans were clearing up the debris from the refreshment points, seeking water and running a number of non-finishers back to Radley. As the afternoon wore on the temperature fell and rain began to threaten. We aimed to get the last bus away from the White Horse car park by 6-45pm so they could be back in Radley before it was dark and while the kitchens were serving supper. In the end, the last bus did not leave till 7-30 but the kitchens stayed open and everyone was fed. I was struck by the good humour and cooperative attitude of virtually everyone. There was a strong sense of community that day and a sense of achievement combined with a mutual desire not to do something similar for some time. The Charities - S.A.Thorn The four charities chosen for support from the sponsored walk have special links with Radley. They are: Education for Democracy in South Africa; Helen & Douglas House; Hope & Homes for Children, and CLIC-Sargent. EDSA provides secondary and higher education for poverty-stricken learners in Southern Africa. Helen & Douglas House provide hospice care for children and young adults in Oxford. CLICSargent cares for children and young people with cancer nationally. Hope and Homes for Children is also a national charity working with children abandoned or orphaned by conflict or disease. The final total collected was £49, 864.69. ESDA will recieve 49% of the total collected; Helen & Douglas House, Hope & Homes for Children and CLIC-Sargent will recieve 17% each. We are truly grateful to all those who have supported this venture: such significant sums will provide tremendous benefits for the charities concerned. Top of page
A year ago to the day, last September, we celebrated at Radley the fiftieth birthday of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. The New Pavilion proved to be an excellent venue for the celebrations with bubbles, balloons, banter and birthday cake. During the day, the Remove Bronze boys had completed the 50:50 challenge – a Ridgeway walking expedition of fifty miles shared somehow, despite the complicated maths, between twenty-five boys. At the party, tired but happy, the wanderers were able to regale us with their adventures whilst the Gold participants did the voice- over for memorable moments of ‘Dartmoor – The DVD’. Our knowledge of the Award was then tested by a Nostalgia Quiz which highlighted the history of the D of E stretching way back to the 50s when the Award Scheme first entered the Radley scene. As the sun set over Cheesers and the Golf course that evening, it was time to think back over the Golden Year of the Radley Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. And what a year it had been! Having recently become our own Operating Authority, we were the ‘New Kids on the Block’ as far as the national organisation was concerned and thus, to a large degree, we were under the spotlight. It was therefore good to see our Award Unit blossom as a result with more and more Radleians realising the importance of the Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards as top qualifications in Life. This evolution within the College was recognised in high places and last summer, we received the Duke of Edinburgh’s Certificate of Thanks for Service to the Award and our Award Officer, on Radley’s behalf, had the honour of being presented to Her Majesty the Queen, at Buckingham Palace. It is exciting that our Duke of Edinburgh's Award Unit has found itself in the limelight of late and that its popularity has grown. We have always operated a softly, softly approach without glitzy publicity campaigns but with participants usually signing up on a word-of-mouth basis. It is well known that the best D of E participant is the one who has a good understanding of the Award’s slogan ‘Make it make you make it’. He is someone who has the determination to tackle every challenge and to win through. He is focused and willing to show commitment. He has initiative, an awareness of others and is selfless with his time. This is what the Radleian D of E men are like for the most part and one has only to look through the list of achievements in all four sections of the Award to see evidence of their strength of character.
With all the wonderful facilities around them, Radleians could be tempted to try to ‘cruise’ through the Skills and Physical Recreation Sections of the Award. They are therefore encouraged where possible to try a new activity and it is really refreshing when a participant opts for something different like dulcimerplaying, conjuring, fishing or car-maintenance. We also now have some very promising chefs in our ranks! The Expedition Section has always been the most challenging aspect of the Award for Radleians, and I am sure that the song-line ‘When the going gets tough, the tough get going’ has often reverberated in their ears whether they are heading up yet another tor in Dartmoor, doing battle with a recalcitrant tent with attitude in Cold Aston (cold by name, cold by nature) or going squelching along the footpath to Appleton Weir. Of course, as every Deeovee–er is aware, his Award could not happen without the patience, help and support of mentors and expedition organisers who generously give up their time to monitor Award participants, keep them on track and finally fill in the all important record-book reports. I am sure that everyone will join with me to say a big thank you to all who help us to realise our goals. The sun may have set on the Jubilee Year but a new era of challenges has dawned. Long may the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award continue to inspire and here’s to another fifty years! |
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With rucksacks packed full of water bottles, waterproofs, safety equipment and the essential Mars and Snickers bars, the BGRR began with all of the team touching Moot Hall in Keswick and consequently waiting for bell to chime and signal the start of what would be one hell of a relay. Headlights led the way out of the town as the whole team ran the first mile and a half until the road stopped and the first of many hills began.
Team C, consisted of Mr Ryder, Dr Julian Moore, Charlie MacRae-Tod, George Stinton and James Lucas. We left Thirlmere Village Hall at 22.30 and waiting in the bus for three and a half hours was hardly the start we had expected. However, seeing ‘The A team’ appearing from the mist over the hill onto their final descent gave us a new lease of life. We started at around 03.45 and had twelve treacherous peaks to complete. We were extremely energetic for that time in the morning, as we had all had vast amounts of Lucozade sport energy drink to make sure we had enough energy for the leg. By the start of the leg we were buzzing with enthusiasm and our glucose levels were extremely high. Threlkeld to Dunmail (our finish point) was 25 km along the ‘Dodds’. We had just less than 2000m to ascend, 1600m to descend and a leg supposedly to take 7 hours, however being loaded with an excessive number of Mars Bars and getting lost near a lake, we managed to take an hour longer. Arriving at Dunmail where Team B where about to start at 08.45. Our final decent from the hills, was extremely tough as our legs were very tired and being so steep care had to be taken in order not to fall. A warm bus awaited us and we waved, shouted and said good luck to Team B starting the third leg....James Lucas 
Team B consisted of Andy Thomas (APT), Andy Pulham (PMF’s colleague from NRGS), Olly Arnott, Tom Atkinson and George Carter. We set off at 9:45 to cover the 15 peaks of Leg 3. The first 300 metre ascent seemed rather disheartening considering we could all feel a strong burning sensation in our calves and a light sense of fatigue; however our expedition soon improved. Within the first two and a half hours we had covered half the distance, running on ideal terrain consisting of luscious grass and footpaths, and it seemed pretty flat in comparison to what we later encountered. The weather was perfect for us as it didn’t rain once, and the wind was fairly non-existent. The second part of the run turned out to be much more of a challenge as much of what we were running on was big slabs of slate, which were fairly slippery. As a result we could not go as quickly and quite a lot of the time was spent walking and rock climbing. Sca Fell Pike and ScaFell, which were our final peaks, were undoubtedly the most strenuous and oddly enough the descent from the top down to the bus proved to be almost harder than actually getting up there. It seemed to go on and on forever and rather than taking five or ten minutes, which is what we intentionally thought it would take, it took us almost an hour. After covering the 28 kilometres of our leg I think it is fair to say that we were all absolutely knackered and the thought of having to run again five hours later was rather daunting....Olly Arnott
There really is an awful lot of organ music by Bach. He probably wrote more, in fact, which does not survive, a fact for which I was regularly grateful as I struggled my way through the sixteen hours which are extant, on 2nd July, in Chapel.
The Service Section has been one of the most popular aspects of the Award. We have raised hundreds of pounds through our various charity (or what we call ‘Fun-Draising’) events including for example sky-diving, fun runs in Oxford, five-a-side football marathons, sponsored walks and cycle rides, cake sales in Covered Passage. We have also worked our
magic at the local village fête! Many of our participants are now first-class first-aiders thanks to the Award and our involvement with various community action projects in the Nuffield and John Radcliffe hospitals has been most useful. The work of our D of E team has also been much appreciated at primary schools in the area, painting murals, teaching little people about computers, helping with games and setting up a library to name just a few of the recent missions.