Keswick AC runners have smashed Ellenborough AC’s recent Billy Bland Challenge record.

Keswick AC’s finest team of male runners wiped a massive 50 minutes off the record in the Billy Bland Challenge Bob Graham Relay on Sunday, setting a time of 12 hours 24 minutes to beat the previous mark held by local club Ellenborough AC.

The Billy Bland Challenge is a team relay over the route of the Bob Graham Round, a 66 mile loop over 42 Lakeland fells with over 27,000ft of ascent.

The route is split into the five legs, with a different pair of runners tackling each leg in an attempt to equal Billy Bland’s legendary solo time of 13:53 from 1982.

Keswick’s attempt was spearheaded by Steve Hebblethwaite and Mark Lamb, they stormed round the leg one peaks of Skiddaw, Great Calva and Blencathra before arriving at the changeover at Threlkeld in just two hours and 10 minutes, a new record for the leg.

Leg two saw Sam Stead and Phil Winskill cover 12 peaks on the Helvellyn Range in 2:27, 17 minutes faster than the previous relay leg record.

Leg three is arguably the most arduous leg of them all, with 13 of the highest tops including Scafell Pike to cover between Dunmail Raise and Wasdale Head. Carl Bell and James Appleton had a small navigational error but righted themselves to hand over at Wasdale Head in 3:10 minutes, another leg record.

The heavy rain and low cloud now made it tough but Dave Birch and Lee Newton expertly found their way across leg four in atrocious conditions, in 3:12.

In the final leg, Peter George and John Battrick had the luxury of two hours in which to break the overall record, but they only needed 1:25 to finish the team off in style at the Moot Hall, with another leg record to boot.