On the very early morning of Sunday 11th October 2020, British fell runner George Foster, sat calmly at his breakfast table, map in one hand, breakfast spoon in the other. This would be his last meal before he embarked on an adventure that would go down in history.

On this day, George Foster would go on to set a new British record for the legendary Bob Graham Round and the second fastest of all time. Like most epic adventures, it all began with that energising first bowl of 3Bears Porridge.

The Bob Graham Round

The Bob Graham Round is one of the most well known challenges in the world of endurance sports. The route, which covers around 106 km with a total of 8,200 m elevation gain over 42 fells, (a fell being a mountain range) has become a reference for long-distance runners from all over the world who, for years, have travelled to England's Lake District to try their hand at completing it in under 24 hours in order for their attempt to officially count and to become a member of the Bob Graham 24-Hour Club

The round is named after Bob Graham, a Keswick Guest House Owner, who in 1932 broke the Lakeland Fell record by traversing 42 fells within 24 hours. Back then, Bob Graham ran the route in tennis shoes, long shorts and a pyjama jacket. His food was bread and butter and a lightly boiled egg. He also carried fruit and sweets with him for energy. Bob said that anyone who was fit and well prepared would be able to complete the same round in a similar time, however, his record stood for 28 years.

Since 1932, only 2,000 people have completed the route within the time frame, therefore making it a very exclusive club indeed.

Powered by 3Bears Porridge Athlete, George Foster

Most recently, one of these 2,000 people was British fell runner and Powered by 3Bears Porridge athlete George Foster.

George, who completed the round in just 13 hours and 44 minutes, is now the second fastest BGR finisher of all time, coming in just one hour short of Kilian Jornet's 2018 record time and the second person in history to better Billy Bland's long standing record from 1982.

"The feeling on finishing was more one of relief than anything else; it was pretty painful and I got a bit emotional with the realisation of how much everyone else had invested into the day to help me. It was a really incredible feeling that people could be so kind with their time and support. I didn’t expect to get under Billy’s time but I was willing to give it a go and see what might come of the effort."

As a Powered by 3Bears Porridge athlete, we could not be more proud to be George's fuel of choice for this day and look forward to fuelling many more of his achievements in the future. Well done George! 

Don't forget to follow George on his incredible running adventures over on Instagram.