Tom Hollins. Photo: Bob Smith Photography

An experienced endurance runner is preparing for his longest challenge yet: a continuous circuit of 330 peaks in and around the Lake District.

Tom Hollins plans to start his Lakeland Round run at the Moot Hall in Keswick on Tuesday, with the goal of raising money for a charity at the hospital where he works.

The route includes ascending not only the 214 official peaks described by author Alfred Wainwright in his series of Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fell, but also the 116 from the Outlying Fells of Lakeland, detailed in the 1974 companion to the main series.

These lesser fells range from Dent in the West, to Humphrey Head in the South. Faulds Brow marks the northernmost hill in the list, and High House Bank the eastern limit of the challenge.

Hollins, a consultant anaesthetist at Airedale General Hospital in Keighley, has previously completed two continuous rounds of the Wainwrights, one of which as the first ever self-supported round in winter, accomplished in less than 8½ days in 2025.

In 2017 he won the Winter Spine Race, running the full 268-mile length of the Pennine Way and has completed a ‘vertical marathon’, summiting Pendle Hill in Lancashire 223 times, completing the equivalent of 26 miles of ascent.

The Wainwrights round involved 500km of running, but the Lakeland Round far surpasses the distance. He said: “This is far further than I have run before and is the next step in my journey of exploring the outdoors and testing what I’m capable of.

“It is also a personal tribute to Alfred Wainwright and all the great family memories he created. As well as the fells, I plan to visit Wainwright’s first entry point to the Lakes, Windermere train station, and the place where his ashes were scattered, Innominate Tarn.”

Hollins said his parents loved the Wainwright pictorial guides, and he said the hand-drawn sketches brought the hills to life.

“I kept turning the pages until I got to the eighth book on the shelf, The Outlying Fells of Lakeland, which I realised contained many beautiful places which I had never visited. I also realised that completing the Wainwrights and the outlying fells had been done by hillwalkers, but no one had ever run a continuous round of these tops before.

“I’ve spent more than a decade taking on long-distance challenges, and while I’ve been fortunate to have some successes along the way, each one has taught me more about resilience and humility.

Airedale Hospital consultant anaesthetist and ultrarunner Tom Hollins. Photo: Bob Smith Photography

“In my role as a consultant anaesthetist at Airedale Hospital, I’ve cared for many patients in the emergency department. I see every day how hard the ED team works and how important the right environment and resources are, especially when time is critical. “That’s why I’ve chosen to support Airedale Hospital and Community Charity’s Emergency Department Appeal.

“Every year since 2014 an average of 75,000 patients have visited ED to seek emergency care. This means in just nine years over half a million people have received help when they need it most.”

His target is to raise £10,000 for the charity and he has set up a JustGiving page which, at the time of writing had pledges of just over £2,500.

Outdoor brands Scarpa and Montane are also supporting the challenge, with the former offering a prize of Spin Planet trail shoes and the latter a Vortic waterproof jacket to the person who donates more than £5 to the appeal and guesses the correct time it will take the runner to complete the round and how many metres of ascent he will make.

He said: “Entries to the prize competition will be open until midnight on 10 May (there is your first clue). The closest to the correct answer in each category will win a prize. After 10 May the answers may become too easy to guess, but donations to the emergency department will still be very gratefully received.”

Entries can be made via the JustGiving page. The public will also be able to follow Tom Hollins’s progress from Tuesday on the Kong Tracking page.