Damian Hall in action during his record-breaking Pennine Way run. Photo: Bob Smith/grough

Athlete Damian Hall has broken the record for running the length of the Pennine Way.

He arrived in Edale in Derbyshire on Friday shortly after 7.30pm on Friday, beating the fastest known time by more than three hours.

The record, set by Mike Hartley had stood for 31 years until last week, when John Kelly set a new fastest time 34 minutes quicker, completing the challenge in 2 days 16hrs 46mins.

Eight days later, Hall completed the 268-mile route in a provisional time of 2 days 13hrs 34mins.

Hall ran the national trail north-to-south, setting off from Kirk Yetholm at 6am on Wednesday. He arrived at Edale 2½ hours up on his target time.

He achieved his goal of reaching the finish point ‘in time for last orders’.

Inov-8 footage of his arrival at Edale

En route, he and his support team collected litter. Hall also said the venture would be carbon negative.

He faced mixed weather early in the challenge, with rain and wind, but on the final day conditions improved. He ran consistently ahead of his schedule and survived on power naps.

The inov-8-sponsored endurance runner also used the Pennine Way challenge to raise funds for Greenpeace. At the time of writing he had surpassed his target by more than 50 per cent.

Because of the coronavirus crisis, he kept his support team to a minimum, running with small teams of pacers and helpers at refuelling points at roadheads.

Inov-8 footage from the final day of his challenge