Damian Hall in action during his record-breaking 2020 Pennine Way run. Photo: Bob Smith/grough

Endurance runner Damian Hall has added another record to his tally.

The athlete arrived at Robin Hood’s Bay on Wednesday evening after completing the full route of the Coast to Coast Walk in a new fastest time.

In the end, it was a close-run thing. Hall’s time of 39hrs 18mins 40secs beat Mike Hartley’s long-standing record, set in 1991, by 18 minutes.

The 45-year-old set off from St Bees Head on the Cumbrian coast at 6am on Tuesday and maintained a swift pace during the early stages of the 185-mile challenge, at one stage pulling more than two hours ahead of his target times, but dropped his speed as he made his way over the North York Moors.

Hall who, until last week held the record for running the whole length of the Pennine Way, was aiming to complete the Coast to Coast in a faster time than Hartley’s 39hrs 36mins 52secs. Before setting off on his run, Hall admitted that Hartley’s pace would be difficult to better.

The challenge followed the route of A Coast to Coast Walk, published by the late guidebook author Alfred Wainwright in 1973 tracing a route from St Bees Head on the Cumbrian coast, through three national parks, to end on the North Yorkshire coast at Robin Hood’s Bay. It is not yet recognised as an official long-distance route, or national trail, but is completed by thousands of walkers each year.

Damian Hall also attempted to make his challenge carbon negative by using local support runners and sticking to a vegan diet. He said he will offset his support crew’s transport emissions via the Trees not Tees organisation.