John Kelly in the Yorkshire Dales, en route to setting a new Pennine Way record. Photo: Bob Smith/grough

John Kelly has reclaimed the record for running the complete length of the Pennine Way.

The endurance runner arrived at Edale this evening, 2 days 10hrs 4mins 53secs after setting off from Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders on Saturday.

His time is 3hrs 30mins faster than that set by Damian Hall in 2020. It is also beat Kelly’s previous fastest time of 2 days 16hrs 46mins, set in July last year, only to be surpassed eight days later by Hall.

Kelly has been consistently faster throughout his run than both Hall’s previous pace and also his own targets. For most of the latter part of the run Kelly has been about three hours ahead of his target times.

He faced torrential rain during long sections of his run, through the Yorkshire Dales, South Pennines and Peak District.

The La Sportiva-sponsored athlete has been supported by groups of runners throughout his challenge.

The Pennine Way record set by Mike Hartley stood for 31 years before Kelly and then Hall, posted faster speeds last year. The women’s record for the national trail is held by Sabrina Verjee, who ran it in 3 days 2hrs 28mins in September 2020.