Gavin Bland was born in 1971 in Penrith, Cumbria, and grew up on his family's farm in Borrowdale.
[1] The prominent fell runner Billy Bland is his uncle,[1] and several other members of his family were active in the sport.
He attended Keswick School, leaving aged sixteen to work on the family farm.
This was despite being a self-acknowledged "lazy trainer", though his work as a shepherd meant that he spent a lot of time on the fells in addition to his specific training.
[6] After the interruption of fell running by the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak, Bland featured less prominently in races but had occasional returns to good form, winning counters in the English or British Championships series at Langdale in 2003[7] and Silent Valley in 2013.