On September 2, 2022, the worldwide ultrarunning group did a double take when a brand new velocity file was set on probably the most revered mountain routes on this planet — the Bob Graham Spherical within the U.Okay.’s Lake District, a 66-mile loop that summits 42 fells and good points 27,000 toes of elevation. The file had been held since 2018 by none apart from Kilian Jornet, who took it from British fell working legend Billy Bland, who had held it for 36 years.
However what made this new velocity file extra astounding was that it was set by neither a local mountain goat-like fell runner nor one other worldwide Jornet-type celebrity — however by the comparatively unknown and unsponsored American, Jack Kuenzle, who had been spending a number of months dwelling in a van and immersing himself within the U.Okay. fell working scene.
A number of months on, when the mud had settled, I caught up with Kuenzle to seek out out extra about his background in working, the spherical itself, and the set of circumstances that led to him setting out from Moot Corridor in Keswick, England, on that Friday morning.
Jack Kuenzle (left) on the end of the Bob Graham Spherical with former file holder Billy Bland. All images courtesy of Jack Kuenzle except in any other case famous.
Jack Kuenzle grew up in Connecticut, within the northeast United States. Rising up, he performed ice hockey and ran cross nation and monitor in highschool, however he humbly identified, “I wasn’t all that good.” After highschool, he joined the U.S. Navy, which funded his faculty schooling, after which he was required to serve for a time. He stated, “I used to be lifting weights so much, preparing for [Navy service], I used to be working so much. Additionally, I performed membership ice hockey in faculty, which was an actual time dedication. Once I went into the army after that, I needed to do a few years coaching that was fairly bodily intense.”
With already a whole lot of endurance coaching below his belt, he dabbled in ultramarathon working in 2018 and 2019 however wasn’t overly enamored with the format, saying: “Again in 2018, I did a 50 miler. It was first rate, however I wasn’t too into it. Then in 2019, I did a handful of different races out to 100k distance. It was high quality.” Though toeing a begin line with lots of of different runners wasn’t one thing that notably appealed to Kuenzle, he did log some good outcomes, successful the Iron Mountain Path 50 Mile in 2019 and putting second within the Lifeless Horse Extremely 50 Mile and the Hellgate 100k that very same yr.
Nevertheless, it wasn’t till he started to pursue quickest recognized time (FKT) initiatives that Kuenzle actually discovered his groove within the ultrarunning sphere. He stated: “2020 and 2021 are once I actually began specializing in FKTs. I began specializing in extra mountainous FKTs. Then in 2021, I did a undertaking to attempt to set information on all probably the most aggressive one-day FKTs within the northeast United States.”
Kuenzle earlier than his Mount Shasta ascent FKT run. Photograph: Jay Kuenzle
He factors to this undertaking nearly as good preparation for his enterprise into U.Okay. rounds, saying: “That model of working is similar to fell working. And that’s sort of the place I acquired a greater begin.”
When he completed his service with the Navy in 2021, Kuenzle was capable of incorporate a full ski season into his athletic yr and stated: “Earlier than, I used to be snowboarding some, however I used to be dwelling in Virginia, so I wasn’t capable of ski all that a lot. So in 2021, I used to be capable of ski full-time within the winter. I went for a handful of winter mountaineering-style FKTs out within the western U.S. Some on skis, some working on ice and snow.”
Jack Kuenzle snowboarding through the Mount Hood FKT. Photograph: Wes Bochner
When the summer season of 2022 rolled round, Kuenzle made a whimsical resolution to go to the U.Okay. for what was initially deliberate to be a brief journey. He recounts:
“I completed up a 100-mile undertaking that I’d began within the northeast [the 104-mile section of the Appalachian Trail as it passes through the White Mountains]. I wasn’t capable of end it in 2021, however then I did end it in June 2022. After that, I used to be initially planning to exit and run the Hardrock course — the Hardrock 100 route, however FKT model — however I used to be apprehensive in regards to the smoke. It ended up being a superb smoke yr, so it in all probability would have been okay to do it, however I didn’t.”
He continued, “My dad was a pilot for Delta Airways, so I might fly very low cost and final minute, and I’d at all times thought of doing a number of the velocity information within the U.Okay. So I simply selected a whim to fly out. Initially the intention was to simply do the Ramsay Spherical and to return again a pair years later and do the Bob Graham Spherical as soon as I used to be extra skilled. However I purchased a van, and I had to purchase automobile insurance coverage, and it was £200 a month, and the minimal I might purchase was three months, so I used to be dedicated [to stay a bit longer]. So I stated I’ll do the Bob, or if I feel the Bob [speed record] is simply too quick, I’ll discover one thing else to do.”
The primary port of name for Kuenzle within the U.Okay. was the Ramsay Spherical in Scotland, which, over 58 miles, summits 24 mountains and climbs round 28,500 toes. However as an alternative of the total route, he opted to run the Tranter Spherical — a shorter variation of the Ramsay, for which Scottish hill runner Finlay Wild held the velocity file. Wild additionally holds the file for the longer Ramsay Spherical and had contested Jornet’s Bob Graham Spherical file in 2021 however got here up seven minutes quick — working 12:59 to Jornet’s 12:52, for what remains to be the third quickest time on file.
Kuenzle (left) with Finlay Wild.
Kuenzle spent a while attending to know the routes and stated: “I ended up doing the Tranter.” This lesser-known variation of the Ramsay Spherical takes in 19 mountains over about 37 miles with 18,000 toes of climbing. It has an extended historical past than the total Ramsay Spherical, and as Kuenzle outlines: “The primary 24-hour file in Scotland on the Munroes was the Tranter, that was within the early Sixties. Then within the ’70s, Charlie Ramsay did the Ramsay Spherical, which is an extension. It simply provides 5 peaks onto the Tranter Spherical.”
He defined why he opted for the shorter Tranter Spherical, saying: “I didn’t just like the Ramsay very a lot. The extra 5 peaks it provides, they’re not very aesthetic. It’s sort of nasty working, it’s like heather, up and down. It’s not very nice. … The Tranter does have an enormous historical past of competitors, and Finlay Wild’s file on the Tranter was arguably higher than his file on the Ramsay, so it was a worthwhile objective.” Kuenzle ended up taking 14 minutes off Wild’s 8:52 file on the Tranter Spherical, and this end result was a part of what planted to seed for his try at breaking Kilian Jornet’s Bob Graham Spherical file.
He stated: “My thought was Finlay’s time on the Tranter as a result of he had raced it a number of instances, and it was in his yard. I figured his time on the Tranter was higher than his time on the Bob. Additionally, I felt like Finlay was in all probability higher on the shorter stuff relative to me, as a whole lot of the fell racing he does is shorter. So I figured that as the space acquired additional alongside, I’d in all probability perform a little higher.” He went on to say, “I feel in the event you have been to have a look at my time on the Tranter alongside Finlay’s instances on each, you would in all probability precisely predict what time I used to be going to do the Bob in.”
To check his idea a little bit additional earlier than committing to the trouble, Kuenzle — who was nonetheless on the time in Scotland — calculated the peak achieve to distance ratio of the Bob Graham Spherical and the tempo required to interrupt the file and ran a equally paced 20-mile run within the Pentland Hills — which have considerably related terrain to the Lake District. He stated, “It was only a regular cardio run for me, simply to really feel it out. And after that, I used to be like, possibly [I could run the Bob Graham Round speed record].”
One rule of the Bob Graham Spherical is that each one aspiring rounders should have at the very least one pacer accompany them to every summit — a practice that started for security and verification within the days previous GPS tracker expertise. Additionally, the foundations enable pacers to hold no matter diet and kit the runner requires, so it has turn out to be the norm for runners trying a quick spherical to avail of this and carry nothing on their particular person.
Kuenzle set about recruiting a group of quick pacers. From scouting round at native fell races and inquiring with golf equipment, he had compiled an inventory of some 50 potential pacers, however below the understanding that he would run on the weekend and never earlier than September 9, when as a consequence of climate and different components, he ended up working on Friday, September 2. It was a scramble to seek out anybody out there to tempo. He stated, “Happily, I whined sufficient … and finally, I acquired sufficient folks to return out of the woodwork and assist!”
Kuenzle with a few of his Bob Graham Spherical pacers (l-to-r): Jonny Cox, Jack Kuenzle, Matt Atkinson, and Jack Eyre.
On the day of the spherical, Kuenzle deliberate to keep away from falling into the pitfall of many previous runners by beginning too quick and was glad to separate the primary leg slower than Jornet’s time. He was of the opinion that when Billy Bland set the unique file, Bland had began very aggressively, and it was doubtless that each one subsequent challengers to the file had adopted go well with in making an attempt to match Bland’s early splits.
Talking of the quick males who had tried the spherical up to now, Kuenzle stated: “Everybody appeared to explode by Gray Knotts on Leg 4, so I feel they actually went out too rapidly.”
He additionally aimed to make up time by transferring effectively by way of the transitions and stated: “For no matter cause, Kilian stopped [for several minutes] at a number of the highway crossings. I feel possibly techniques in ultrarunning have been just a bit bit totally different again in 2018.”
He remembers: “I break up Leg 1 eight minutes slower than Kilian. On the primary peak of Leg 2, we have been nonetheless two minutes behind Kilian. We tried to match that break up however missed it, so after that, I made a willpower, I must beat Kilian on these subsequent couple of splits, simply because I wanted the arrogance. So I advised my crew we have been going to hammer the subsequent couple of splits, and we did that. I used to be feeling fairly good, and by the point we acquired to Dunmail Increase [at the finish of Leg 2], we had introduced the tempo right down to one thing fairly manageable, and we have been nonetheless gaining on [Jornet’s time]. That was once I began to really feel that I might in all probability do it — which was solely like hour 4, actually.”
Kuenzle throughout his Bob Graham Spherical velocity file. Photograph: Andy Berry
He went on: “I knew myself effectively sufficient that except I fell or one thing, I wasn’t going to explode.”
The route ends with a highway part into Keswick, which many discover soul-destroying, owing to the discomfort of switching gears again to highway working after a day on the fells. Kuenzle recounts, “I had been dreading the final highway miles a lot that when it occurred, it actually wasn’t that dangerous. I feel it simply felt good being thus far up on the file, figuring out I’d get it.” At this level, he was nearly half an hour forward of Jornet’s time, which means he might cruise the previous couple of miles as a victory lap earlier than lastly touching down in Moot Corridor in a time of 12 hours and 23 minutes.
Kuenzle felt indebted to his group of crew and pacers. Within the traditions of the Bob Graham Spherical, he returned the favor every week later in pacing one other runner on their spherical, which gave him an perception into the calls for of the duty. He stated: “It was actually exhausting to do. Since you aren’t in the identical headspace because the runner, you’re carrying all their stuff, and also you’re making an attempt to do the considering for them. It’s a whole lot of strain. It’s actually, actually exhausting to do.”
Jack Kuenzle (middle, white shirt) along with his crew at Moot Corridor, the place the Bob Graham Spherical begins and ends in Keswick, England.
After the spherical, he wanted a little bit timeout and stated: “It took me some time to get better. I began coaching fairly decently every week later. I skilled for 2 or three weeks, after which I ended up having to take 10 days off firstly of October as I used to be so burned out.” He additionally stated that, as somebody with a give attention to FKTs somewhat than races, it was exhausting to know the place to go subsequent — as he thought of the Bob Graham Spherical to be the “world championships of velocity information.” He stated: “So far as velocity information go, broadly, except you go for the Appalachian Path, the Bob Graham is just about the head. There are different quick efforts on the market, however by way of historic significance and every thing, the Bob Graham Spherical is just about the height.”
Though he factors to Kilian Jornet’s run because the time when the Bob Graham Spherical first piqued his curiosity, he added: “I feel Jasmin [Paris] first began the golden period of the Bob Graham.” In 2016, Paris set the ladies’s file on the spherical in 15 hours 23 minutes, taking greater than two-and-a-half hours off Nicky Spinks’s earlier finest. He continued, “[Jasmin Paris] did it in 2016, Kilian Jornet did it in 2018, after which Beth [Pascall] did it in 2020. After which Finlay Wild tried it in 2021, and now Tom Evans goes to do it in 2023.”
Kuenzle has stored in contact with Jornet, who reached out to congratulate him on his file, and in addition with Wild, who performed a giant position in his U.Okay. journey. Removed from being too guarded or territorial of his velocity file, Kuenzle stated: “Personally, I’d like to see Kilian or Finlay do the Bob Graham Spherical once more.”
Trying ahead to his personal plans, he stated, “I feel I’ll positively do one thing else within the U.Okay., possibly in preparation for the Lakeland 24-hour velocity file.” He has additionally been racing Trofeo Kima in 2024 and is exploring the potential for spending that yr in Europe.
You continue to gained’t discover out a lot about Jack Kuenzle from race outcomes — owing to a scarcity of current races, his present Worldwide Path Working Affiliation (ITRA) efficiency index is 0 — or sponsored content material — he’s not occupied with that facet of the game. However he has nonetheless proved himself to be up there with the most effective mountain ultrarunners on this planet.
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Jack Kuenzle on a mountain run in Bosnia in 2020.
