Numerical simulations are used to demonstrate parabolic pulse generation in a highly nonlinear, normally dispersive microstructured fibre Raman amplifier. The dependence of the parabolic pulse solution on the parameters of the microstructured fibre is discussed. In particular, it is shown that the effects of pump depletion can be reduced with the appropriate sign of the third order dispersion. Additional simulations are conducted to establish the input pulse parameters which allow for the most efficient convergence to the parabolic pulse regime. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.