Bob Graham Round data for 2023

The figures for Bob Graham Round (BGR) registrations, completions, male/female split, direction of travel, etc. for 2023, 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, and marginally up in 2023 (2 more than the year before). 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 12 years, showing upward trends in registrations and completions (these figures are for males and females combined) despite a drop-off in each for the last 2 years, 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). 2023 shows a small increase in men’s registrations and completions for the year, but with both being some way off the highest ever. The completion rate of 49.22% for men is still lower than the peaks % year of 2019 (with a figure of 54.95%), although well above the low if 2014 at 40.8%.

The women’s completions, of 10 (red line) were only the 8th the highest in this 12 year period, from an equal highest ever registrations number in each of the 2 previous years (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 four year’s completion rates brings that trend line down (admittedly from the usual small sample size).

The original data, and much more (including gems like: average age of successful contenders was 40yr 8mths, and the age of successful contenders ranged from 19 to 63) is available at the Bob Graham Club website.

NB: For a good read about the Bob Graham Round see ‘The Round: in Bob Graham’s footsteps’. It is available from Sam Reads bookshop (online and in shop), direct from Vertebrate Publishers, and from the Big A.

Signed copies are available direct from me (via a blog comment or my Contact page).