The Steve Parr Round. What a weekend…
Without a doubt, the most physically and mentally demanding thing I’ve ever done.
We set off at 8am from Moot hall on Leg 1 with Ben and Charlie, heading up Skiddaw straight into wind and rain. It was a case of keeping the effort steady, running to feel, and pushing through the conditions. We finished the leg around 30 minutes ahead of schedule.
Leg 2 saw Cal and Jonny join me. With good pace and plenty of laughs along the Helvellyn ridge, we managed to extend the lead slightly, heads down to stay sheltered from the relentless rain doing our best to avoid the crowds of Helvellyn as we moved through.
On Leg 3, Dan and Luke joined for the longest single leg of the round. The sun finally made an appearance, the wind still had a bite, but spirits were high. We had a proper laugh moving through the hills, topped off by an incredible sunset descending from Fairfield — a perfect way to end the day.
Leg 4, with a different Dan, was always going to be tough. It started with around 10km of flat before a brutal, pathless climb up Wetherlam, topping out at a 47% gradient. Once up high, we were rewarded with some great trails and a few technical sections. All in all, a strong leg — we came into the graveyard shift 90 minutes ahead of schedule.
This is where things started to unravel…
Leg 5 began well, with Andy, Mike, and Ben bringing a big morale boost. We climbed strongly over Crinkle Crags and Bowfell, but from there the ground turned. Slippery conditions on Esk Pike, then ice as we dropped down and climbed again toward Glaramara. From Great End to Scafell, it was slow going... loose, chossy rock covered in ice. A few slips knocked the confidence, but as the sun rose, we regrouped and got moving again. By then, the buffer was down to 30 minutes. The support crew hiked up to Styhead tarn to resupply us, another Ben was there which made a lovely addition to crew, keeping spirits high!
Leg 6, again with Mike, Andy, and Ben, was exactly as expected...tough. A relentless stretch of Lakeland fells, with constant steep climbs and descents. After Haycock, we dropped into Ennerdale, the most beautiful valley in the Lakes (in my opinion), but the descent was brutal: steep, technical, and unrelenting. Boggy sections gave way to rocky, overgrown paths with little visibility.
Climbing out of Ennerdale toward Buttermere felt like the final boss. I knew if we could get over that, we still had a shot. After a couple of short breaks (quickly shut down by Andy and Mike), we made it to the top. Mike ran the numbers, despite losing more time and now sitting 15 minutes behind schedule, if we moved fast down to Buttermere, kept the stop short, and pushed the final leg, the record was still in reach. As we dropped into Buttermere, Ben from leg 1 showed up halfway down the last descent to take my bag and give some encouragement.
A rapid changeover, and I was joined by Cal again, along with Ciaran, Becky, and Brad (the best crew chief). They drove me on relentlessly: every climb, every descent, gels forced down, spirits kept high. We hit the final summit, number 61, with 50ish minutes to get down to Braithwaite and back to Keswick. My wife, Beanie, joined for the last descent, and Reece turned up to cheer us on.
We reached Braithwaite with 5km to go. Jonny rejoined, along with Meg on the bikes, and we pushed hard... 9-minute miles all the way into Keswick. Grim
There are so many people to thank, but a huge shout out to all my pacers who kept me moving forward, my road crew — Brad, Suff, and Beans — and Aston, Tom and Joey for being out all weekend to film . And to everyone who came out to support and cheer me on — you’re all legends.