Paddy Buckley Round 2024
Rob Brooks
I’m on the top of Snowdon - its dark, raining and very cold. I’m soaked to the skin and the wind feels like its blowing right through me. I’ve lost the path and my headtorch is failing. I feel like I’m on the brink of hypothermia.
This is how my first attempt at a Paddy Buckley Round ended 6 years ago (you can read about it here )).
I’d always intended to return for another go (I’d fast packed the round over 3 days with Katherine Davis a few years back which was a great experience), but for one reason or another I never have. Until now.
The Paddy Buckley Round is one of the UK big 3 rounds (the others being the Bob Graham Round in the Lake District and the Ramsay Round in Scotland), and generally considered to be the hardest. Its around 66 miles with 30,000ft of climbing around the whacking great hills of Northern Snowdonia.
To date only around 200 people have completed a Paddy in under 24 hours, compared to almost 3000 a Bob Graham.
My training had went as well as I could have hoped – I’d clocked up some big mountain days including the Howgills Harvey 40 tops, The Moors Traverse, 3 Peaks Race, Teenager with Altitude and Great Gifts Round on consecutive days and the UTS 100k.
The UTS 100k in particular had given me a confidence boost - I’d completed it in 20 hours and still felt pretty good at the end I definately could have kept going. It was also great to have everyone’s support and belief, I remember Andy (Higgins) words - “Believe that it’s possible and don’t waste any time - keep the urgency up and fuel well it is in you for sure”.
I had a crack support team around me – Carole Weatherley would be doing my road support and I also had Catherine Vicarage and Sean O’ Connor providing driving duties.
I’ve known Carole for a good few years and spent some quality time in the fells with her. I’d met Sean on the Dragons back in 2019, and we also ran most of the Winter Spine together with Rich Garland last year. I’ve known Catherine for a long time, she supported me on both my Bob Graham and Paddy 2018 attempt and we’ve also spent many a day in the fells.
Also on leg support were Alex Banks, Danny Richardson, Graham Lewis-Dale, Georgina “G” Lewis, Iain Armstrong, Seb Bufton, Jon Heaney, Davey Todd and Ewan Richardson.
Nikki Sommers had very kindly let us use her home as a base (she lives just outside Llanberis is a little village called Cwym Y Glo). I’d met Nikki on the Northern Traverse last year and we’d ran prety much the whole race together coming joint 10th.
I drove down on the Friday afternoon with Georgina and Carole, arriving at Nikki’s at around 9pm where everyone else was already enjoying her hospitality. It was great to see everyone, albeit a bit overwhelming and I had to resist the temptation of staying up chatting all night and try and get my head down for some sleep for a 5am start
Leg 1 – Llanberis to Ogwen
Alex, Danny and Graham were my pacers for the first stage of my adventure. It was the first time I’d met Alex – Danny and Graham had supported him on his BGR last year and he’s hoping to do a Paddy later this year. It was great to have him on board.
Danny had supported me on my 2018 Paddy attempt and I’ve also known Graham for some time, helping him on his Bob Graham Round. We’d all started the Dragons Back last year, although sadly Graham retired with injury and both myself and Danny wished we had retired many times but battled on with mashed feet to the end.
There is no easing into the round - we were straight into a steep 700m climb to Elider Fach, immediately followed by another 130m to Elider Fawr.
The route follows a series of inclines up through the long disused Dinorwig slate quarry. It’s a different route to that marked on the map and during my initial reccying I spent countless hours trying to pick my way through the quarry whilst avoiding numerous steep drops.
Luckily there was none of that today, and Alex set a brisk pace on the climb, entering the clag at about 600m and ticking off the first 2 peaks bang on schedule.
Both Danny and Graham commented that the pace was quick, especially on the climb to Glyder Fawr. It did feel quite brisk but comfortable and I certainly didn’t feel as if I was overextending myself.
The line between Glyder Fawr and Glyder Fach is fiddly especially in the clag as it is a mostly pathless boulder field. There is a huge rocky outcrop (Castell y Gwynt) which must be circumnavigated but thanks to Alex we got a good line and I was soon scrambling over the huge boulders to touch the top of Glyder Fach.
This section is the rockiest of the round and was immediately followed by a very steep and loose descent to Bwlch Tryfan before the pathless boulder strewn climb to Tryfan. Although I’ve been up this way many times I don’t think I’ve ever been up quite the same way twice.
It started raining as we reached the top and I decided to leave the jump between Adam and Eve for another day. The rain and wet rock made for a treacherous descent on which we all fell over multiple times.
Staggeringly the record for descending Tryfan via this route is 7 minutes and 21 seconds, set last year by Euan Patton breaking Mike Blake’s longstanding record (who broke both of his wrists on the descent).
I took slightly longer than this but thankfully escaped with both wrists intact (although I did give my back a canny whack on one fall).
As I reached the first changeover at Ogwen it was raining steadily but forecast to clear in the next hour. I briefly stopped to wolf down some pasta before setting off with G and Iain on leg 2. I was 14 minutes up on my schedule which gave me a boost, although I knew the next leg would be a challenge to stay on schedule.
Last year Jon Heaney had completed a Paddy Buckley Round in 23:19 and I had used his splits as a basis for mine, adding on an additional 22 minutes to give me a schedule of 23:41.
15 of those were on the first leg and 5 on the next. I hadn’t wanted to spend a load of time fiddling with the schedule but in my head I felt like I’d probably lose a bit of time on the first 2 legs, maintain time on leg 3 and then hopefully make up a bit of time on the last 2 legs.
Leg 2 Ogwen to Capel Curig
G and Iain were my next leg support. I’ve spent a lot of time with G this year training in the fells and we both did UTS100k (in which she came an amazing 3rd place). I’ve also spent a considerable amount of time in the fells with Iain, we both completed our Bob Graham Rounds within a few weeks of each other back in 2017.
G set a brisk pace on the 700m climb to Pen yr Ol Wen. In recent years the more popular line seems to be a dog leg around the right-hand side but I’ve always preferred this option – it’s brutally steep and direct with a bit of scrambling which plays to my strengths and adds a bit of excitement.
At the top we were back in the clag and wind again (is it ever not windy up here…).
G had promised me some interesting facts about the hills we were traversing on this leg and now it was time to deliver. I learnt that the highest peak of the leg (and 2nd highest in Wales), Carnedd Llewelyn is named after Prince Llewelyn, the last independent Prince of Wales. I also learnt that neighbouring Carnedd Dafydd is named after Llewelyn’s younger brother.
The banter helped pass the time and as we descended from Carnedd Llewelyn the clag cleared and a strange orange thing started poking its way through the cloud. Before I knew it we were standing on top of the slippery witch (Pen Llithrig y Wrach ) with only the boggy run down to Capel Curig to go.
When we reached the road G ran off to give Carole my requirements (paracetamol, pasta and coke) and Sean and his son Tom met us to run the last half a mile along the road .
I briefly sat down in the van for a few minutes to down some coke and pasta, then walked along the road eating the rest.
One of the more important things I’ve learnt since my BGR in 2017 is how much time you can lose in checkpoints/changeovers. I spent almost a full hour on my BGR including 24 minutes in Wasdale (I had my feet washed, brushed my teeth and did numerous other faffing).
Unless the weather is grim you can stop and rest at any point on a round so what do you really need to do at a road crossing?
Change your shoes? Unless the terrain is significantly different between legs (which I don’t believe it is on any of the rounds) then there’s no point.
Clean socks? Most likely your feet will be wet again in a short space of time.
Foot care? Unless you have a pressing problem then I don’t believe there is anything you need to do to your feet in a 24 hour challenge. If you have done sufficient training and broken your shoes in then you really shouldn’t be having feet related issues in a 24 hour challenge.
Eat? Yes checkpoints are an opportunity to get some proper food into yourself,
Tired/sick etc . From experience I believe there are diminishing returns for how long you stop. If you aren’t feeling any better in 10/15 minutes then you probably aren’t going to feel better any time soon so you might as well just get going. The longer you stop the harder it is to get going again both physically and mentally.
I’d been a part of Jon’s Ramsay and Paddy rounds and was struck by little he stopped.
Of course, if you are well ahead of schedule and not particularly bothered about a time then yeah spend as much time as you want (within reason). Sean even had a pint in the Swinside on the way back to Keswick.
For me though on this round there was a real sense of urgency, and I couldn’t afford any wasted time.
Leg 3 Capel Curig to Nantmoor
Jon and Seb Bufton were my companions for the first half of leg 3 (with Davey to take over from Seb at Rhosydd quarry). I had lost a little time on leg 2 but still left Capel 3 minutes up on schedule which I was more than happy with.
I’d helped Jon on his Paddy last year, and his Ramsay the previous year. I’d also helpd Seb on his Bob a few years ago. Both Seb and Davey (and Iain) run for Saltwell Harriers which is also my club. If I were to complete a Paddy then I’d be the first in the club to do so and that gave me extra motivation.
I walked the road section from Joe Browns to Plas Y Brenin whilst eating as much pasta as I could before starting the long climb up Moel Siabod.
Jon led the way whilst Seb stuck by my side and fed me whilst we caught up on life events.
Following Siabod there is one of the few really runnable sections on the round – a lovely gentle grassy descent down to Clogwyn Bwlch y maen and I really enjoyed this section. The sun was now out in full force and the views opened out vast panoramas for miles around.
The next section is my least favourite of the round – it’s quite rough underfoot (lots of bogs, tussocky grass, rocks and heather, much of it being pathless), doesn’t have any big climbs and is tricky to nav. There are a number of non-descript tops which must be visited, some no more than knolls off the side of the path and some of them aren’t even named.
Jon did a great job navving this section and it was such a relief to be able to follow him without worrying if I was going off route. He asked a few times if the pace was ok. It felt quite fast but it needed to be.
At one point he remarked that it was his maximum sustainable effort, but he could go into the red if I needed. There was no need, the pace certainly felt less comfortable than it had on the first 2 legs, and I was having to work hard but I didn’t feel like I needed to go any faster.
As well as having physical Jon with me I also felt like I was racing a virtual Jon as my schedule was basically his splits. At the top of each peak I’d get an update – up a minute here, down a minute there but I was pretty much maintaining my schedule.
As we caught our first sight of the quarry I spotted 2 figures in the midst of the old ruined buildings – Davey and Catherine wating for us. They had parked a few miles down the valley in Croesor and walked up to meet us Catherine driving Davey there, and Seb back.
As we drew closer however it was clear that it wasn’t Davey and Catherine – they were no-where to be seen. I began to be concerned – I’d given Davey very precise instructions on where to be and visibility was perfect. I was also bang on my scheduled arrival time.
Seb looked concerned too, I asked if he knew the way back down to the car park. He didn’t.
My mind raced thinking of solutions. I likely had enough food to get back to Nantmoor and there were streams available to replenish water. Seb could sunbathe in the quarry whist me and John ticked off the Molewyns and returned back to almost the same point. We could then do the final climb of Cnict and run back down together.
Myself and Jon both shouted out Davey’s name to no reply. I was just about to explain my plan when he came running down an incline from a different direction to that in which we were heading.
It transpired that he thought he’d have a better viewpoint from higher up and thought that the route went past where he was stationed. Sadly that plan had backfired but it was a relief to see him and I bid Seb farewell.
The weather now was glorious – wall to wall sunshine but with a light breeze which kept the temperature just right.
Despite this I was finding it a little harder to eat and the tiredness was beginning to catch up on me. Although I’d been drinking lots I also felt a little dehydrated. I wouldn’t call it a bad patch and it certainly wasn’t a bonk but everything just seemed that little bit harder.
I tried to focus – this is where I really needed to dig deep and not let the wheels fall off.
Jon was still setting a good pace and I did my best to keep up with him. On the plus side my legs were still fine and I didn’t have any pain anywhere.
Climbing Craigysgafn we bumped into a girl blasting up there a lot faster than I was. We briefly chatted and she mentioned that she’d done a Paddy last year before leaving me for dust. It transpired that she’d done a very fast Paddy, setting the female record of 17:22 – it was Lizzie Richardson. In a strange twist of fate I’d spent more or less every morning with her sister Jess on the Dragons Back race last year taping our feet, along with Danny and Peter. Small world.
Despite drinking lots I was feeling a little dehydrated so I asked Davey to top of from a nearby stream. It was his first trip to Wales and he commented on how beautiful the mountains were.
There is much more of a defined trod going up Cnicht now than there was the last time I attempted the round, mainly I believe to the Dragons Back following the same route.
It was a bit of a slog but by the time we got to the top I started to feel better again, helped by Jon’s concoction of a Boost and a Cola gel. I enjoyed the long run down to Nantmoor in the sun.
The drill was more or less the same here – sit, coke and pasta. The only addition was a little more time to remove some debris from my shoes which thankfully was done for me.
Leg 4 Nantmoor to Pont Cae Gors
Danny and Ewan Richardson were my pacers for the next leg. I hadn’t seen Ewan in a few months – he’d been planning a Ramsay Round in May but had sadly been curtailed with injury. He said that he was planning on running the last leg with me too which was great to hear.
I had scheduled 15 minutes break at Nantmoor but only took 6 meaning that upon leaving I was bang on schedule.
The first climb up to Bryn Banog is steep and pathless with lots of thick vegetation to negotiate but Ewan picked a good line and by the top I’d made up 4 minutes, and then another 4 minutes on the next big climb to Moel Hebog.
I felt a small pang of excitement – there was still a long way to go but I now had around 30 minutes buffer on the 24-hour limit. I didn’t need to make up any more time, as long as I didn’t lose any significant time then I should make it – could I really pull it off?
I quickly put the thought to the back of my mind, there was still plenty work to do and I couldn’t afford to be complacent.
My legs were still feeling good and I was enjoying the descents and brief stretches of running, although there aren’t many on this leg. I was still managing to eat solid food – boiled potatoes were going down well although they were fairly mashed by the time I’d finished them.
As we ascended the ridge to Trum Y Ddysgl the light started to fade and the wind picked up again making it bitterly cold. The next section along the Nantile Ridge is one of the highlights of the round with some spectacular scenery and big drops offs. It’s also very rough with lots of scrambling and down climbing and it was dark by the time we reached the final peak of the leg, Y-Garn (not to be confused with Y-Garn on leg 1).
There follows a steep grassy descent made very slippy by the dew on which I must have fallen over at least 10 times – the VJ’s aren’t as good as Mudclaws on this type of terrain but you can’t have everything.
Once we reached the forest track Ewan ran ahead to prepare himself for the last leg and try and source a shrubbery for me.
Leg 5 : Pont Cae Gors to Llanberis
Another brief stop to eat some pasta and then we were off into the night - G and Graham would be joining Ewan with me for the last leg.
As we left the car I felt another pang of excitement – I had 5 and a half hours to complete the last leg, I was feeling good and apart from a bit of wind the forecast was looking decent.
The feeling of excitement turned to frustration as we immediately went through the wrong gate (my fault) and ended up in a load of think undergrowth and boggy reeds.
Luckily, I realised straight away and it only cost me a few minutes but f** I couldn’t afford any more mistakes.
Back through the correct gate and after negotiating some boggy ground we were climbing again over steep tussocky pathless ground towards the summit of Craig Wen. There were even a few walls to climb over which added to the excitement.
This is the type of terrain that defines a lot of the round and makes it so hard. There is simply not enough footfall to generate the type of trods that have developed on the BGR so progress is slower and navigation more difficult.
As we climbed higher the temperature dropped and the wind increased prompting a quick stop for extra layering. I was a few mins down by the time we reached the summit but that was accounted for by the earlier nav error and stopping to layer up so I wasn’t concerned.
I gained back the lost minutes on the next climb to Y-Arran despite being buffeted by the strong wind before descending to Bwlch Cwm Llan and picking up the Cambrian Way.
G continued feeding me and we played a game of “guess the colour of the jelly baby just by taste”. I think I was around 50% successful.
I felt strong on the long climb up to Snowdon, taking in a subsidiary peak along the way and gained another few minutes. We had the summit to ourselves, before traversing around to Garnedd Ugain.
The solitude didn’t last as we could see a steady stream of walkers climbing up both the Llanberis and Pyg track paths some of which we passed descending down to the Ranger Path - presumably 3 peakers.
My legs still felt good descending although I had a little pain in the soles of my feet so I took a few more painkillers, not long to go now…
After the steep climb to Moel Cyghorion there is a long grassy descent which I was able to take advantage of before another short climb to Foel Goch and another grassy run down.
Now on lower ground the effects of the wind were significantly reduced and combined with a largely cloud free sky made it a pleasant night. A multitude of stars illuminated the night sky and G pointed out the plough at one point.
And then before I knew it I was on the final climb to Moel Elio where Nikki was waiting having ran up from Llanberis to meet us. It was great to see her although pleasantries were kept short as there was still work to do.
There was a mild moment of drama when we realised that my splits were slightly out and I had 10 minutes less than I’d thought but by that time it didn’t matter – I had 70 minutes to make it back down, barring a disaster I was home dry.
The long grassy run down from Moel Elio with G, Graham, Ewan and Nikki was really special, it was the ideal way to finish the round.
At the end of the descent Nikki took us a slightly different route to the one I’ve previously taken which hilariously gave G the opportunity to perform an impressive mud slide.
And then before I knew it I was running through the playpark and housing estate into Llanberis where everyone was waiting for me at the car park from which I’d set off the previous day.
I felt like I needed to touch something, so in the absence of anything meaningful I chose a random piece of railing to signal the end of my round.
And I’d done it!!! 23 hours and 25 minutes after leaving the previous morning I had completed the Paddy Buckley Round.
Epilogue
Out of all the races and challenges I’ve completed, this is the one I have derived the most satisfaction from. Even though things like the Spine, Dragons Back and Bob Graham Round have been significant challenges I’ve always been reasonably quietly confident that given a fair wind I had what it takes to be successful (even though starting my first Spine with broken ribs and the heat and feet issues of last years Dragons Back certainly added to the challenge).
I always knew that a Paddy in under 24 hours was going to be extremely tight, and I certainly didn’t feel confident that I’d get around in that time so to do it with 35 minutes to spare feels like a real achievement.
Last year was a big one for racing. I completed the Winter Spine, Northern Traverse, Lakeland 100 and Dragons Back however I don’t believe I reached my full potential in any of them and probably compromised my chances of doing so by having such a full schedule. I don’t know (and never will) what my full potential is, but it feels like completing the Paddy in under 24 hours is a lot closer to it.
I’m obviously not getting any younger (on completion I was a few weeks shy of my 49th birthday), and I believe there is a ticking clock to be able to do these types of challenges in the given timescales.
However although I’m almost certainly slower than when I completed my BGR in 2017, I believe I’m now a better mountain runner. Experience, dedication and grit play a massive part in these challenges. I’ve also spent a lot of time on visualisation and positive thinking – belief is a very powerful emotion.
Whilst I do enjoy races and solo challenges there is something really special about undertaking a challenge with the support of your friends.
I feel so privileged to have so many good friends who are willing to give up their weekend and travel all the way to Wales to help me achieve one of my dreams, it really was a team effort (even if some of them occasionally quite literally punch your lights out).
