Billy Bland (runner)

Billy Bland, born in 1947 in Borrowdale in the Lake District, is a British former long-distance runner who was one of the most prominent fell runners from the mid-1970s until the late 1980s and is arguably the best long-distance fell runner in the history of the sport. His father Joe was a guides racer and his brothers Stuart and David also became fell runners. Bland ran professional guides races early on, was reinstated as an amateur around the first Borrowdale Fell Race in 1974, finished eighth in the 1976 British Championships and became British Champion in 1980. He set the Bob Graham Round record of 13:53 on 19 June 1982, which stood until Kilian Jornet beat it on 8 July 2018, and he holds the Borrowdale Fell Race record of 2:34:38 from 1981.