Skip to content

Wainwright peak run record beaten by Paul Tierney

Paul Tierney conquered all 214 Wainwright's summits in six days and six hours

A fell runner has set a new record for tackling all of Alfred Wainwright's 214 Lake District peaks.

Paul Tierney ran 318 miles (511 km) starting and finishing in Keswick and ascending a total of 36,000m (118,000ft) in six days and six hours.

The 36-year-old running coach, based in Windermere, raised more than £18,000 for the mental health charity Mind.

The previous record was set in 2014 by Steve Birkinshaw, who completed the challenge in six days and 13 hours.

Prior to that, in 1987 Joss Naylor set it at seven days, one hour and 25 minutes.

Mr Tierney spent months mapping out what he believed to be the quickest, continuous on-foot route over the 214 hills and mountains that featured in Alfred Wainwright's seven-volume A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells.

He scaled the equivalent of four ascents of Everest while battling exhaustion and all manner of weather conditions, eating on the move and sleeping in a van at road crossings.