This morning (Friday 14 June), ultra-runner Paul Tierney began an attempt at a new record time for summiting all 214 of Alfred Wainwright's Lake District peaks in one go.

The inov-8 sponsored runner began his 318-mile challenge, which involves an epic 36,000m of elevation gain, at 8am.

The time to beat is 6 days, 13 hours and 1 minute, the current record set by Steve Birkinshaw in June 2014. Prior to that the record was held by another fell running legend, Joss Naylor, who ran them in 7 days 1 hour and 25 minutes in 1987.

Paul will follow a similar route to Steve, who spent months mapping out what he believed to be the quickest, continuous on-foot route over the 214 peaks that featured in Alfred Wainwright's classic seven-volume pictorial guide to the Lakeland fells.

The Windermere-based 36-year-old, said: "I'm under no illusions as to how tough this challenge will be. I fully expect it to test me to the absolute maximum and probably beyond what I can imagine. I will run what I can, but obviously there is going to be a lot of fast-hiking and, as time goes on, slower hiking involved.

"I'm lucky to have a fantastic support team and be part of a fell running community that has really got behind me. Being supported by inov-8 – a brand that produce the perfect kit for a challenge like this – means that's also one less factor I need to worry about."

He plans to eat on the move and sleep in a van at road crossings. With support throughout from family and friends, Paul will be jopined by groups of runners taking it in turns to pace and navigate him over different sections of the route.

The Irish-born running coach and ex-policeman has lots of experience in ultra-distance fell and mountain events. He has twice completed the notoriously-tough Tor des Grants – a 205-mile race through the Italian Alps that includes 24,000m of ascent – and is a former winner of the Lakeland 100 event.

Current Wainwrights record-holder Steve was amongst those who ran this morning's first section with Paul. He said: "My advice to Paul was to focus on small, achievable goals; be that getting up the next climb or pushing on through to the next rest stop. If you think too far ahead it becomes too daunting."

Lee Procter, inov-8 Global Communications & Ambassadors Manager, added: "This is a monumental challenge Paul is undertaking in our Lake District back yard. To put it into perspective, he is attempting to run 12 back-to-back marathons and do the equivalent height gain of four times up and down Mount Everest. We will be backing him every step of the way."

• Paul is running in memory of his friend and fellow endurance athlete Chris Stirling and raising money for the charity MIND, UK. Donations can be made via Paul's Justgiving page.
• You can follow his progreess on the live tracker here
• Also check out regular updates on inov-8's Facebook page

Paul Tierney is sponsored by: Inov-8