Bob Graham round attempt report

Hi all,  I just had a crack at the famous "Bob Graham Round".  This is a 70 mile 42 peaks in 24 hours personal challenge thing through the stunningly beautiful (if notoriously wet) English Lake District. I've been wanting to do this for several years, and finally got all the ducks in order (road crew, pacers/navigators/mules) for an attempt today (Saturday).  Got here on Monday and got some serious last minute reconnoitering in through Wed.  Sadly the weather forecast was for rain from Friday (proved correct), so I decided to dispense with pacers (but take advantage of the friends and in-laws who had come out to road crew) and go off on Thursday.  Set off at midnight from Keswick on 1st of the 5 legs.  First climb went to pace, but after that I started to slip behind schedule – very tough going with no trail, striding through heather, deep grass, peat bogs etc.  By end of leg 1 I was 20 minutes behind schedule.  Tried to pick things up on leg 2, which is much more runnable and easier to navigate, and was cheered by the beautiful sunrise, but by end of this leg I was almost an hour behind.  Then came leg 3.  Navigating was ok (though the gps was on the fritz all way) but the ground is very rocky underfoot and I barely ran any of it.  Reaching Wasdale after 18 hours of pretty solid effort I was 2 hours behind and it was obvious I was not going to make it so I quit (30 peaks, 44 miles).  Mulling it over I can list a whole bunch of mitigating factors that went against me, but fundamentally this is just one seriously difficult course and it beat me.  Hope to try again next year.  Nick K.