Keswick Athletic Club ladies have brought the Billy Bland women's challenge record back to the town.

After months of preparation, 10 hard athletes took on the challenge, named after the fell running legend from Borrowdale who has the record for the Bob Graham round.

It can be completed any time within the month of June and splits the Bob Graham into five legs. Teams run in pairs on each leg.

Leg one goes over Skiddaw, Great Calva and Blencathra. Jenn Mattinson and Katy Moore were set the challenge of getting the team off to a good start.

The pair pushed on up Mungrisdale Common and descended down off Blencathra, reaching the changeover in Threlkeld in a new ladies record of two hours and 59 minutes.

The tracker was handed to the speedy duo of Catherine Spurden and Hannah Horsburgh who ran over the Dodds, Helvellyn and Fairfield and dropped into Dunmail in 2:50, smashing the previous ladies record.

Then it was over to Cat Evans and Jo Gillyon for the longest leg that takes in a lot of iconic fells before descending off Scafell down into Wasdale. The pair ran faster than the previous year and finished in 4:28, just six minutes off the previous record.

Down in Wasdale nerves were running high as the overall record was in sight.

Trudy Beetham and Rachel Mellor had the leg burning climb of Yewbarrow before summiting the likes of Pillar, Kirk fell and Great Gable.

A big crowd was at Honister to congratulate the pair for running a new ladies record over this rough leg in a time of 3:16.

Finally it was over to former V50 English Champion Julie Carter and Lindsay Walker to bring it home. Leg five is the fastest with over five miles of road from the foot of Robinson to the centre of Keswick.

They reached the Moot Hall to complete the leg in 1:47, only six minutes off the previous record.

This secured Keswick AC Ladies a new overall ladies record beating the time set by Dark Peak in 2013 by over 40 minutes.

The new record is now set at 15 hours and 22 minutes.

Keswick Ladies said they felt extremely proud to have brought the record ‘home’ to Keswick, where it belongs.