A PARAMEDIC and a teacher launched themselves in an epic challenge in the heart of the Lake District in a bid to try and set a new record.

Both runners, paramedic Josh Jardine, of Staveley, and teacher Pete Rigby, of Ambleside, found a small window of opportunity to try to complete The Classic Rock challenge in under 24 hours.

The gruelling course was inspired by Ken Wilson's Classic Rock book and consists of combining 15 brutal Lakeland rock routes. This includes Scafell, Tophet Wall, Needle Ridge and Gillercombe Buttress, while carrying your own gear and running in between each climb.

In total, this adds up to around 40 miles of running with more than 4,000 metres of ascent.

Mr Rigby, 34, who teaches Chemistry at the Lakes School, in Troutbeck, said they had been meaning to attempt to do the challenge for a while.

"We had decided to do it last winter," he said.

"But waiting for a weekend with good weather when I wasn't too busy and Josh wasn't working his shifts was very difficult. We had kind of given up on the idea until next spring but then we had a week of dry weather so we decided to go for it."

The pair, who both run for Helm Hill, set off into the dark at 3 am from Goat's Water, located between Dow Crag and The Old Man of Coniston, on Saturday, September 22.

"The hardest bit for me was probably between Bowfell and Scafell, we had only been on the go for about 5 hours at that point and I was really struggling to keep up with Josh. Luckily Josh started to feel bad soon after that which gave me a bit of a boost," said Mr Rigby.

"The highlight for me was actually down-climbing a route called Gillercombe Buttress. We decided not to use the rope until the last 100ft or so. I don't normally enjoy down-climbing even roped up so I was a little nervous looking down the 600ft drop, however when I started down all the fear left my body and I enjoyed every second of it. Oh and another highlight was the bottle of ale on top of the last route."

Holding their bottle of ale and toasting to their success the Helm Hill runners managed to complete the challenge in 18 hours and 59 seconds.

The fastest time known yet.

In 2013, Kendal man Nick Wharton and friend Brian Davidson were the first to attempt the challenge by running in between each climb and completed it in 19 hours and 38minutes. The idea was originally derived by Mike Van Gulik, Dave Willis and Tim Gould, in 1993 but they used a car in between certain crags.

The quickest record for a solo and unsupported mission is held by Chris Fisher, of Eskdale, who did it in April 2019, in 15 hours and 25.