Tom Hollins on the Pennine Way during the Spine Challenger race. Photo: Bob Smith/grough

Endurance athlete Tom Hollins is attempting to break the record for completing all the Wainwright fells in a continuous run.

The West Yorkshire anaesthetist began his challenge at 9.40am on Saturday in a bid to beat the current fastest time set by Paul Tierney.

By lunchtime on Wednesday, Hollins had summited almost half the 214 peaks detailed by Alfred Wainwright in his series of Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells.

He was about 8½ hours behind his own schedule and more than 20km behind the distance travelled by Tierney in the equivalent time during his record-setting June 2019 run, which he completed in 6 days 6hrs 5 mins.

Hollins faces worsening weather as he continues towards the weekend, with an Atlantic low pressure system bringing heavy showers, some of which may be wintry on the tops.

Paul Tierney currently holds the Wainwrights record. Photo: Bob Smith/grough

Sabrina Verjee had to abandon a similar attempt earlier this month when cold weather exacerbated her asthma, affecting her breathing.

Montane runner Hollins hopes to finish his run at lunchtime on Saturday at the Moot Hall in Keswick if he can regain his scheduled times.

The runner has previously won the Spine Race, which involves a winter traverse of the full 260-mile length of the Pennine Way.

Paul Tierney set the fastest time for a round of the Wainwrights, ascending 36,000m during his 318-mile (512km) run, beating the time set in 2014 by Steve Birkinshaw. Joss Naylor had previously held the record for 28 years.

Hollins’s progress can be followed on the Open Tracking website.