A TALK in Otley by ultra-runner Paul Tierney has raised £3,300 for a local hospice.

Nearly 300 people turned up at Otley Methodist Church on Friday, March 6 to hear about Mr Tierney’s record-breaking run in the Lake District last summer. He reached the summit of all 214 ‘Wainwrights’ – peaks featured in Alfred Wainwright’s pictorial guides to the Lakeland fells – in six days, six hours and five minutes: beating the previous record by nearly seven hours.

The evening, organised by Sue Ryder Wheatfields Hospice, included a film about the challenge and a question and answer session with Mr Tierney.

John Burland, from Otley Methodist Church, said: “Paul started the talk by telling the audience how he had moved from the sport of hurling, in his native Ireland, to taking up fell running and his move from Cork across to the Lake District a few years ago.

“He then showed the video of the run which included interviews with Sir Chris Bonington and fell runners Nicky Spinks and Joss Naylor, both of whom had held several long distance running records in the Lakes.

“It also showed sequences from each day on the run with some extraordinary shots using drones to capture the footage. Paul suffered some horrendous weather on one of the days but despite this battled on to achieve the new record.”

Questions put by the audience included queries about Mr Tierney’s favourite footwear and his nutrition during the record-breaking 2019 run.

Proceeds from the event will help Wheatfields Hospice, which has been providing expert end of life care for local people diagnosed with a terminal illness for more than 40 years, continue its work.