Women break record for pulling car up Lake District high pass

A group of women have become the fastest to pull a one-tonne (2,240lb) car up a Lake District pass.

Thirty women pulled the vehicle up Kirkstone Pass – which has an incline of 20% in places – on Sunday in a time of 56 minutes.

They have raised more than £7,000 for St Mary’s Hospice in Ulverston, smashing their previous 2019 record of one hour, two minutes and 27 seconds.

Organiser and trainer Ursula Brendling, 60, said it was a “really hard challenge, but nowhere near as hard as being terminally ill in a hospice”.

The group started at Ambleside Post Office and pulled the car along 3.1 miles (4.9km) of the road towards Patterdale.

Ms Brendling said most of the women on the team were mums who “wanted do something extraordinary on Mother’s Day”.

She said the women, aged from 24 to 64, were “on cloud nine” after becoming the quickest to complete the Kirkstone Pass car pull, which is a fitness charity event.

A group of 14 men also completed the challenge but in a slower time, and raised money for Ambleside and Langdale Mountain Rescue Team.