Bob Graham Round data for 2022

The figures for Bob Graham Round (BGR) registrations, completions, male/female split, direction of travel, etc. for 2022, have been released on the BGR website. It always make interesting reading, and I have commented on it previously. [eg https://itsahill.wordpress.com/2020/01/08/bgr-completions-2019-update/]

I have updated my spreadsheet, and the graphs of several aspects of the data, which are illustrated below with a couple of comments on each.

This first graph shows the data just for completions since 1971. The black line is the actual numbers completing, which was at its highest ever level in 2021, after a downturn in 2020 because of lockdowns. It was slightly down again in 2022. The red line is the trend line which is obviously up (after the data recovered from the Foot and Mouth blip of 2001) and the dashed blue line is the 6-year moving mean, also trending upwards, quite steeply in last few years.

More recently figures for registrations and completions have been published, allowing analysis of completion percentages. The graph above is of the last 11 years, showing upward trends in registrations and completions (these figures are for males and females combined) despite a drop-off in each for the year, but interestingly NOT an increasing percentage actually completing (the trend line is slightly down over time). It invariably hovers either side of 50%. The next two graphs look at the male/female data.

The men’s data pretty much follows the pattern of the total data (there are still many more men than women involved). 2022 shows a fall in men’s registrations and completions for the year, but with both being some of the highest ever. The completion rate of 44.21% for men is the lowest since 2018 (the highest was 54.95% in 2019), although it has wobbled between 40.8% (2014) and that 54.95%.

The women’s completions, of 19 (red line) were the highest in this 11 year period, from an equal highest ever registrations number (40). The percentage line (green) is at the top of this graph as the numbers are higher than either the registrations or completions, and had previously shown an upward trend, but this last three year’s completion rate brings that trend line down as 2022 was only 44.2%, admittedly from the usual small sample size.

The original data, and much more (including gems like: the average age of successful contenders was 37 yrs 1 months) is available at the Bob Graham Club website.

Feedback: I’d be interested in anyone’s comments on why they think it might have been a quieter year in 2022 for numbers of Bob Graham rounds.