Legendary Lake District Fell Running Challenge set to Music
A legendary Lake District fell running challenge and two of the iconic runners to complete it is to have its own piece of music, a very novel twist for UK's Adventure Capital!
The Bob Graham Round, named after a Keswick guest-house owner and keen fell-runner is to be set to music. The Round is a circuit of 42 fells in the Lake District including; the 3,000-foot (910 m) peaks of Skiddaw, Helvellyn, Scafell and Scafell Pike.
Graham pioneered the gruelling mountain jaunt in 1932 and completed the run in tennis shoes, long shorts and a pyjama jacket, sustained only by bread and butter, a soft-boiled egg and a piece of fruit with some sweets during his gruelling challenge: a climb of 27,000 feet, (1,000ft past Everest Camp Number Four), across 42 peaks and a distance of 70 miles - all in 24 hours, which he held for twenty eight years until its repeat, with Graham's encouragement, by Alan Heaton in a quicker time in 1960.
Despite Graham's understatement that the round is achievable by anyone of ‘average' fitness, it is considered by many as one of the most demanding tests of endurance for an amateur athlete or mountaineer.
The piece composed by Italian Maurizio Malagnini, who lives in London, is called ‘Running in The Clouds' inspired by the Bob Graham Round and one of the greatest runners of our time Joss Naylor. The piece is described as a musical diary of iron Joss's memories and will be given its world premier by the Salford based BBC Philharmonic, in Kendal, on 14th January 2012, to be broadcast live on BBC Radio Cumbria and recorded for transmission on Radio 3 at a later date.
Malagnini who before being asked to compose the piece had never visited the Lake District, was taken to the top of Yewbarrow, 1985ft / 602m, on the shores of Wastwater, by Richard Wigley general manager of the BBC Philharmonic to give him an idea of what a fell runner might face.
Maurizio Malagnini said: ‘'The piece portrays the intimate relationship between the runner and his environment. The music takes us through the most energetic and heroic moments of the ascent. It culminates in the final movement, A View from Yewbarrow. Here, Joss is lost in the mist until the wind blows away a cloud and uncovers an incredible view from the summit.''
Ian Stephens Managing Director of Cumbria Tourism said: ‘'The Bob Graham Round is a huge challenge and anyone completing it has gone through an epic feat of endurance and has to be admired. For Bob and Joss; two Cumbrian icons to be honoured in this way is perhaps overdue and this goes some way to recognising their contribution to the sport of running and celebrating all that is magnificent about The Lake District fells, the amazing scenery and the relationships created between man and the environment.''
Notes to Editors:
1: For further information please contact Cumbria Tourism Press Office on 01539 825002 or on pressoffice@cumbriatourism.org
2: Cumbria Tourism is the lead organisation for tourism in the county and is at the heart of the Cumbria Visitor Economy. It is also the largest membership organisation in Cumbria with more than 3,000 members. Over 40 million annual visitors to Cumbria contribute more than £2 billion to the local economy and support around 56,500 jobs. To find out more about the work of Cumbria Tourism, visit www.cumbriatourism.org
3: To book accommodation in Cumbria - the Lake District, visit www.golakes.co.uk
4: Malagnini is a composer who specialises in television and cinema, he collaborates with MTV Italy and his compositions have been synchronised into adverts for; Miller, X-box 360, Fiat, Samsung etc. He graduated in Contemporary Composition under the guide of Stefano Gervasoni, (the best Italian composer of the new generation - Grand Prix de Rome in 1995), he was awarded with Emma Contestabile Award by Oscar prize Luis Bacalov in Accademia Chigiana di Siena, The Frederick Cox award by Royal College of Music, and also The Arts and Research Humanities Research Council (AHRC) award in UK and also achieved a Distinction in Music Technology from The Royal College of Music.
