115 miles. 61 summits. One continuous push through the Lake District.
Athlete Harry Firth went looking for the biggest adventure he could complete in one go. He came home as the Steve Parr Round fastest known time holder, completing the supported round in 33 hours, 32 minutes and 51 seconds.
“What’s the biggest adventure I think I can do in one push?”
The biggest adventure he could find
The Steve Parr Round is a roughly 115-mile loop linking 61 Lake District summits above 2,500 feet. There is no fixed line between them: runners can choose their own route, provided every summit is tagged in one continuous effort.
Harry was not initially hunting a record. As he explains in the film, the idea began with the search for “a big adventure” — a long day out with friends and something ambitious enough to test where his training had taken him.
The record only became real during route planning. Harry had been building towards a 36-hour attempt when he found Andy Berry’s 2021 FKT report: 33 hours and 45 minutes. His response was simple: “Ah, okay. Go on then.”
From a 90-minute buffer to a final-leg fight
Harry left Moot Hall in Keswick on a 33-hour schedule and quickly began building time. He finished the first leg around 30 minutes ahead and, after four legs, had stretched that buffer to roughly 90 minutes.
Then the conditions changed. Across Esk Pike, Glaramara, Great End and Scafell, loose rocks were coated in ice. Several falls knocked Harry’s confidence and forced the team to slow down. Around 60 minutes disappeared on leg five, followed by another 45 to 50 minutes on leg six. By the final changeover at Buttermere, he was around 15 minutes behind his 33-hour schedule and had to push hard to keep the record within reach.
There was no long reset. Harry was back out in around three minutes and the final crew turned the last leg into a controlled chase. With the sun out, they pushed every climb and descent, reached summit 61 with the record still alive, then ran the final five kilometres from Braithwaite towards Keswick at roughly nine-minute-mile pace.
Harry stopped the clock at 33:32:51, breaking a record that had stood for five years. The result is recorded on the official Fastest Known Time listing.
How Harry fuelled the Steve Parr Round
The film shows a practical, changing fuelling strategy rather than a perfect spreadsheet. Harry used KMC alongside carbohydrate drinks, sweets and real food. At one point he described taking around 60g of carbohydrate, plus a few sweets. Croissants at a changeover later contributed to indigestion, while cold jelly sweets became difficult to chew and softer alternatives were easier to manage.
As the hours accumulated, flavour fatigue became part of the problem. Harry commented that there was “too much sweet stuff”, and his crew increasingly took charge of the basics: reminding him to drink and, on the final leg, calling “drink now, gel now” while getting a gel into him roughly every 30 minutes.
That is the reality of fuelling a very long effort: the plan matters, but so do texture, flavour, temperature, digestion and a crew prepared to keep the routine moving when decision-making becomes harder.
Watch the full film
Watch Harry Firth’s Steve Parr Round film on YouTube.
Planning your own long effort?
Start with our running nutrition guide, or explore our guides and products for energy gels and hydration.