Stephen Birkinshaw (born 1968) is an English fell runner and hydrologist. From 21 June 2014 until 20 June 2019 he held the record for the fastest run round the 214 Wainwright summits, at 6 days 13 hours.

Fell running

Birkinshaw was introduced to

orienteering Orienteering is a group of sports that involve using a map and compass to navigation, navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specia ...

by his family as a child. He competed in many long-distance

fell running Fell running, also sometimes known as hill running, is the sport of running and racing, off-road, over upland country where the gradient climbed is a significant component of the difficulty. The name arises from the origins of the English sport o ...

events, and completed the

Bob Graham Round The Bob Graham Round is a fell running (hill running) challenge in the English Lake District. It is named after Bob Graham (1889–1966), a Keswick guest-house owner, who in June 1932 broke the Lakeland Fell record by traversing 42 fells within a ...

in 2005 in a time of 17 hours 9 minutes. He won the

Original Mountain Marathon The Original Mountain Marathon (OMM), formerly known as the Karrimor International Mountain Marathon (or KIMM), and initially simply The Karrimor, is an annual two-day Mountain event, held in October in a different region across the UK each year. ...

, formerly known as the Karrimoor International Mountain Marathon, in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2009. In 1987

Joss Naylor Joseph Naylor (10 February 1936 – 28 June 2024) was an English Fell running, fell runner who set many long-distance records, and a sheep farmer, living in the Lake District. He became known as the "King of the Fells" or simply the "Iron Man" ...

set a record for a run around all 214

Wainwrights Wainwrights are the 214 English peaks (known locally as '' fells'') described in Alfred Wainwright's seven-volume '' Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells'' (1955–66). They all lie within the boundary of the Lake District National Park in Cu ...

, completing this in 7 days 1 hour 25 minutes, beating Alan Heaton's 1985 time of 9 days 16 hours 42 minutes. Birkinshaw broke this record on 21 June 2014 in a time of 6 days 12 hours 58 minutes. In doing so he raised over £22,000 for two

multiple sclerosis Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease resulting in damage to myelinthe insulating covers of nerve cellsin the brain and spinal cord. As a demyelinating disease, MS disrupts the nervous system's ability to Action potential, transmit ...

charities, the MS Society and the Samson Centre for MS in

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

, because his sister has MS. He described the run in his book ''There is No Map in Hell'', including full details of his route and timings, as well as the complex logistics of support runners, road support, and general planning involved in the operation, and the pain and psychological challenges he endured. The record was broken again when Paul Tierney completed the run in a time of 6 days 6 hours and 4 minutes, from 8am on 14 June to 2:04pm on 20 June 2019. After the Wainwrights run, Birkinshaw suffered health problems diagnosed as

chronic fatigue syndrome Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a disabling Chronic condition, chronic illness. People with ME/CFS experience profound fatigue that does not go away with rest, as well as sleep issues and problems with memory ...

, saying in an article in ''Fell Runner'' in 2017 that he "is not sure if he is fully recovered. 'Sometimes I have days when I feel completely normal. Other days I have some "brain fog" but it is nowhere near as bad as it was. ... I have done some longer harder runs and sometimes I have felt OK and sometimes I have really struggled. Basically I am happy with where I am. I might recover fully and be able to push it as hard and be as fast as before, but I might never get there. However, I can live a normal life and go out running every day.' " In July 2018 he accompanied

Kilian Jornet Killian or Kilian, as a given name, is an Anglicized version of the Irish name . The name was borne by several early Irish saints including missionaries to Artois (France) and Franconia (Germany) and the author of the life of St Brigid. The na ...

on a section of his record-breaking Bob Graham Round (Jornet completed in 12 hours 52 minutes, an hour below the previous record) and reported that "although I have recovered from my Wainwrights round – which is now four years ago – I am still five to ten per cent slower than I was then."

Academic career

Birkinshaw gained a Ph.D. in 1997, studying nitrate pollution modelling. He works as a research hydrologist at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...

, in the area of "physically based hydrological modelling of river basins".

Selected publications

References

External links

Steve Birkinshaw's Running Blog
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Birkinshaw, Steve 1968 births Living people English male long-distance runners British male long-distance runners British fell runners British ultramarathon runners British hydrologists Academics of Newcastle University Peak bagging in the United Kingdom People with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome