John Kelly has settled unfinished business before returning to the US by breaking Sabrina Verjee's record for a continuous round of the Wainwrights. His time, still unconfirmed at this point, was 5 days, 12 hours, 14 minutes, and 42 seconds, meaning he broke the record by roughly 11 hours.

John had attempted the route - 214 Lakeland fells, 500kms, and 36,000m of ascent - last year but was hindered by extreme temperatures and problems with his feet.

John Kelly looks like he will break the Wainwright Round record tomorrow night. I was with him this evening on the Northern Fells, he was still moving strongly but at times in a lot of pain. Not happy we did not have any salt and vinegar crisps. https://t.co/f8BgROSJq6 pic.twitter.com/aeUCBAh8Eb

— Steve Birkinshaw (@SJBirkinshaw) May 6, 2022

The 37-year-old set off from Moot Hall in Keswick on Monday 2nd May. Compared to last year's attempt where there was a call out for people to ferry water up to John on the fells, the round went relatively smoothly. He had decent weather throughout the week and managed to get ahead of foot problems before they became an issue. He was also making micro-changes to Steve Birkinshaw's blueprint from 2014 in order to get some marginal gains.

During his time spent in the UK, John has been an exceptional member of the fell running community, breaking the record for thee 260-mile Pennine Way (twice), completing the Grand Round (a Paddy Buckley, Bob Graham, and Ramsay Round - consecutively, and connected by bike), and winning the Montane Spine Race in 2020. Further afield, he is a rare finisher of the infamous Barkley Marathons.

JOHN KELLY IS MAKING HISTORY! @RndmForestRunnr has covered 300 miles and 115,000 feet of climbing of the Wainwrights FKT, with ~15 miles to go. And HE IS STILL RUNNING! On pace to beat the record by 10-12 hours 🤯 How is this possible?! Inspired!

BELIEVE 🙌

📸Andy Ford pic.twitter.com/N3zlvTex7u

— David Roche (@MountainRoche) May 7, 2022

John was raising funds for Action Medical Research.