Peak District Challenge by Wilderness Development event image

Peak District Challenge by Wilderness Development

Peak District Challenge by Wilderness Development event image Peak District Challenge by Wilderness Development event image Peak District Challenge by Wilderness Development event image Peak District Challenge by Wilderness Development event image Peak District Challenge by Wilderness Development event image Peak District Challenge by Wilderness Development event image

Peak District Challenge by Wilderness Development

Hathersage, Hope Valley, UK

Fri 13th September 2024 - Sat 14th September 2024

Starting at 21:00

4 races

£49.00 - £74.00

Organiser's Description

Featuring 3300m of ascent, the 100km Gold Ultra route is the ultimate Peak District Challenge, and should be attempted by teams of fit and experienced trekkers or runners who want to see the best that the Peak District has to offer. You’ll visit high points and viewpoints on your way between checkpoints, and there is a lot of climbing involved. You’ll leave Hathersage at 9pm on the Friday night. Night navigation experience is essential.

Take on 75km (47 miles) with a 24 hour target and 2,235m of ascent, the Silver Challenge is shown with silver lines on our route schematic. Not to be underestimated, this route follows the easiest and flattest routes between approximately 8 refreshment checkpoints, but still covers a huge mileage. During the initial overnight leg, you can chose to join a led group walking with a guide, or navigate yourself. During the daytime, you’ll navigate yourself.

Taking in the valleys of the dark peak, and the scenic trails of the southern peak district, the Bronze Challenge has a total ascent of 1200m and at its highest point reaches 464m.

Copper challenge is an achievable challenge, following a circular route from Hathersage to Baslow along riverside paths and back along a hilly route via Curbar and Frogatt edges, and some of the best views in the Peak!

Races

  • Gold Entry

    100 Km in 24hrs (Ages 21 - 130)

    £74.00

    Booking for more than 1?
  • Silver Entry

    75 Km in 24 Hrs (Ages 18 - 130)

    £69.00

    Booking for more than 1?
  • Bronze Entry

    50 Km in 12 Hrs (Ages 16 - 130)

    £54.00

    Booking for more than 1?
  • Copper Entry

    25km in 9 Hrs (Ages 12 - 130)

    £49.00

    Booking for more than 1?

Book

  • Gold Entry

    100 Km in 24hrs (Ages 21 - 130)

    £74.00

    Booking for more than 1?
  • Silver Entry

    75 Km in 24 Hrs (Ages 18 - 130)

    £69.00

    Booking for more than 1?
  • Bronze Entry

    50 Km in 12 Hrs (Ages 16 - 130)

    £54.00

    Booking for more than 1?
  • Copper Entry

    25km in 9 Hrs (Ages 12 - 130)

    £49.00

    Booking for more than 1?

Course Details

Detailed route information is be provided to entrants seven days before the event, but a broad overview of the provisional route is below. The terrain is a mixture of trails, grassy footpaths and under 15% tarmac minor roads.

Your challenge begins with a walk up on to the Dark Peak moors. You will cross Stanage edge, site of Robin Hood’s cave, and Moscar Cross Road to reach and start your climb over Derwent Moors. Next it’s a descent to Ladybower Valley and an easy flat section around Ladybower reservoirs where the Dambusters trained for their bombing missions in WWII.

Next is a climb to the geological oddity of Alport Castle, before descending into Edale and the next climb of Jacobs Ladder and stunning views over Hayfield. Turning back towards the Great Ridge, as dawn breaks, you’ll pass Mam Tor on your way to Hollins Cross and descend down to Castleton. You are given a short break in navigational difficulty as tracks and lanes lead to Peak Forest in the white Peak and the valley nature reserve at Hay Dale. Your map will come out again as a mixture of paths and tracks lead between a string of pretty villages in the undulating limestone landscape, finally leading to Calver on the river Derwent.

The final section of the challenge takes you past popular climbing venues on the eastern gritstone edges above Curbar, Froggatt and Burbage. Your challenge draws to a close with dusky views over the river Derwent and a final climb over Owler Tor before the final grassy slope down home to Hathersage.

What's Included

Fully qualified, professional Mountain Leaders supervising the event.
A GPS tracker for every team, tracking you continuously on the entire route
A modest prize pool of token prizes.
A goodie bag at the end of the event.
Water stations, Drinks and snacks from our friendly checkpoints every 10km on average.
A stew supper on arrival back in Hathersage on Saturday evening
Kit guidance and advice, along with a pre-walk registration and briefing.
Bag care, including drop-bags for 50-100km distances.
Printed route guides and GPX files for self-navigating teams
A scenic and challenging route, and all pre-event planning.

  • GPS tracking included
  • No minimum fundraising
  • Low entry fee (depending on distance chosen)
  • No cost to any charity, ever

How to Get There

Hathersage train station is under 10 minutes walk away

Parking

Car parking tickets (providing the cheapest parking option) can be pre-booked at the point of registration.

Location

Hathersage Memorial Hall, S32 1DU

Pre Entry Information

Need more details? Please check our full documentation for detailed information with everything you need to know about the Peak District Challenge™.

Here

Compulsory Kit

You should carry with you everything that you need to keep safe and comfortable during the event (with the exception of water, food, and for 50-100km challengers a “half way” bag). There are no indoor or undercover resting areas during the event, (only at the start and finish), so you need to prepare to be outdoors for the entire event.

Each participant must be equipped with:

Waterproof jacket with taped seams and hood. Softshell or “coated” products are not suitable.
Waterproof trousers with taped seams.
Footwear with a good tread and ideally with high ankle support. We advise boots are safer than trainers.
A warm jumper/fleece/primaloft, in addition to what you’re wearing to start the event, and initially carried in your bag. Real down not sufficient.
Any personal medication you need, eg Inhaler, Epipen.
A headtorch per person (Compulsory, for all challenges except Copper. Strongly recommended for Copper). A good quality headtorch will make a big difference to your speed and safety overnight, and we’d particularly recommend the Petzl Nao and Myo headtorches. Expensive, but really worth it. Sunset on 14 September 2024 is at 7.26pm.
Drink bottle and personal snacks (you can top-up with food and water every 2-3 hours on average)
Lightweight travel cup if you would like hot drinks at HQ or checkpoints. (We don’t provide single-use cups. Why?)
Warm gloves and hat.
Item(s) of reflective clothing. Armbands or clothing trim intended to enhance night-time visibility are adequate. (Compulsory, for all challenges except Copper).

Each self-navigating team (including teams of 1) must also carry:
Waterproofed physical maps of the Peak District eg British Mountaineering Council Dark Peak, or both Ordnance Survey Outdoor Leisure Dark Peak (known as “OL1”) and White Peak (“OL24”) (White peak not required for Back Before Dark 10km fell race). Electronic mapping and the route guide we provide are not sufficient on their own.
Minor first aid kit including blister and wound dressings. This can be self-assembled or shop-bought.
A spare headtorch and adequate spare batteries, including for Copper and solo challengers.
Separate, spare emergency food, not intended for consumption.
Whistle
Compass, for all teams on Bronze 50km and longer routes. We strongly recommend a “reputable” brand of compass (eg Silva)– in our experience, with compasses, you really do get what you pay for.
Charged and waterproofed mobile phone (such as this 65g option).
Emergency shelter large enough for the whole team

  • Survival bags are available to buy at registration for £5.

Event Video

Reviews

Verified Purchase

A 'verified' purchase review means that we've verified that the person writing the review purchased their entry to this race on findarace.com.

  • 5
  • 4
  • 3
  • 2
  • 1

4.2

4 reviews

PL
Pawel

·8 months ago

I was in 2022 on Silver Route (75km) and I will be in 2023 on Gold Route (100km). Plenty of distance to choose between 25 to 100km will fit to everyone who starting with trial running or want to set up more difficult challenge. 24h cut off time allow to finish comfortable even if you will walk. Recommend to try 👍
Thanks Pawel, we'll look forward to having you back! Will
Wilderness Development
TB
Thomas

·a year ago

I took part in the Back Before Dark 10k - great location, brilliant challenge(race the sun :-)) and generally a really well organised race
Thanks Tom, really glad you enjoyed the fell race
Wilderness Development
Kevin

·a year ago

A really enjoyable, well organised and friendly event. The whole thing ran very smoothly. Communication before the event, instructions, checkpoints, parking etc etc, all seamless. Peak District is stunning, this is a great way to experience it. Definitely recommend giving it i go.
Hi Kevin, Really glad you enjoyed it, thanks very much for your kind words! Will
Wilderness Development
IR
Ian

·a year ago

Not a bad event, the registration was easy and the route was nice; the overall set up was ok but it’s just so expensive. £40+ to enter (copper challenge) and then being asked to pay extra for a finishers medal or T-shirt is ridiculous, what does the entry fee actually cover? A GPS unit and two manned checkpoints? Seriously. I just can’t see why it was so much money - it would’ve been costly at half the price, so they could’ve at least included a medal. I won’t pay again. My advice is to map out a route of your own and enjoy it with friends, much better.
Hey Ian, really glad you liked the route and enjoyed the event overall! As well as the live GPS tracking and checkpoints with food, your entry fee also covered: Fully qualified, professional Mountain Leaders supervising the event. A goodie bag at the end of the event, with souvenir mug to keep, and prizes for the top 4 entrants A hot two-course stew supper on arrival back in Hathersage on Saturday evening. All the pre-event planning, including booking photographers, recovery masseurs, pickup taxi (free if required), event parking, bag care, safety signage, booking village halls, mapping a route and placing checkpoints etc... Printed route guides and GPX files The entry fee represents the real cost of putting on a great event to professional standards; we hope we might yet see you back in future years! Will
Wilderness Development

Who's In

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