Steve Birkinshaw, right, and a support runner head from Brae Fell to Longlands Fell

Ultrarunner Steve Birkinshaw is on schedule to break the record late today for the fastest round of all 214 Wainwright fells in the Lake District.

The Berghaus-sponsored athlete is approaching the final leg of his mammoth run and at the time of writing has just summited Barrow, only 5km from his finishing point in Keswick.

But the irony is he will have to turn and run south from there to take in the last nine mountains before his planned finish at the Moot Hall.

At present, the Newcastle University research associate hopes to finish about 11pm today.

Birkinshaw has said he welcomes fellow runners joining him at Newlands Hause to run Robinson, Hindscarth, Dale Head, High Spy, Maiden Moor and finally Cat Bells before hitting the last section around the north shore of Derwent Water.

His supporters say he is really starting to suffer now, but is determined to finish and break legendary fellrunner Joss Naylor’s time of seven days and one hour.

Getting shoes on and off is now a painful experience for the Berghaus runner

His feet are badly blistered and he has complained of knee pain since early on in the mammoth challenge. He is also now, not surprisingly, showing general signs of exhaustion, a problem also suffered by Naylor when he set the record 27 years ago.

If Birkinshaw can keep up his present pace he is likely to clip about 11 hours off Naylor’s time. He is also raising funds for two multiple sclerosis charities. His sister has the condition.

Anyone wanting to support him on his final leg is advised to check out his blog where there is a live tracker which pinpoints his position on the fells and is updated every 1½ minutes. At present, his target time for arriving at the Moot Hall in Keswick is 11.11 tonight.