It’s a “PB” for the Legend

Another day to log in the history of Calder Valley Fell Runners as the legend Karl
Gray set the second fastest Paddy Buckley time. In doing so he made it a CVFR 1st
and 2nd in the all time list with teammate Math Roberts holding the fastest time.

The Paddy Buckley Round, also known as the “Welsh Classical Round” is a long
distance fell running challenge in Snowdonia in Wales. The route is a circuit of just
over 100km long taking in some 47 summits. It has the reputation of being
somewhat tough with very varied and hard terrain to encounter. Karl started his
challenge in Llanberis at 4am on Sunday morning in near perfect weather conditions.


The going was good with fairly dry conditions underfoot after last week’s settled
weather. Moving well at his own pace he tackled The Glyders and then onto the very
rocky and steep Tryfan mountain. Losing a little bit of time on his schedule he was
soon on his way from Lyn Ogwen to Capel Curig and held a consistent pace over
Moelywyns to Betsw y Coed. A master at pacing he picked up time on the next
grassier section to the bottom of the ranger path before tackling the highest summit
Snowdon. With lots of climbing still to do and darkness setting in on this last tough
leg he was only 10 minutes behind schedule. Karl tackled Moel Eilio and had a
strong run back to Llanberis to completed his PB in a time of 17 hours 28
minutes.

– CALDER VALLEY NEWS REPORTER: THIRZA HYDE. With thanks to lee Shimwell for photos and information