Pre-Entry Factsheets
Need more details? Please check our full documentation for detailed printable information with everything you need to know about the Peak District Challenge.
The Peak District Challenge is a walking or running event, for individuals or teams.
2024 Peak District Challenge Event Date
The Peak District Challenge takes place overnight from the evening of Friday 13 September and the day of Saturday 14 September 2024, starting in Hathersage at postcode S32 1DU.
Timings
All events start and finish at Hathersage at postcode S32 1DU.
The Copper Challenge starts on Saturday morning. You can decide on the day when in the start window you’d like to start, between 8.30 and 9.30am. The 9 hour finishing target is 6.30pm.
The Bronze Challenge starts on Saturday morning. You can decide on the day when in the start window you’d like to start, between 7.30 and 8.30am. The 12 hour finishing target is 8.30pm.
The Silver and Gold Ultra routes start at 9.00pm on Friday evening. Their 24 hour finishing target is 9.00pm on Saturday.
Teams or solo entrants
Teams should have existing walking or navigation skills. This could be through experience or training you’ve received.
Solo or duo competitors are asked to provide evidence of their experience through a “qualifying event“. This does not have to be part of an organised event: All we ask is you can name a time when you previously tested your existing walking and navigation experience in a comparably-challenging run/walk.
Entrants are not permitted any additional external support, eg pacers or additional personal crews. We adopt the principle that you should only accept support that is available to every other entrant. So cafes which would serve any other entrant are ok; your mate who leaves after seeing you is not!
Navigate yourself or join a led group
If self-navigating, you’ll be met by our safety teams only at checkpoints.
You have the option of navigating yourself around the challenge route, or joining a led walking group with a guide. Mountain Leaders will lead groups on the Copper and Bronze challenges, and overnight section of the Silver challenge taking care of your navigation and safety on the hill. Silver challengers must navigate themselves during daylight hours.
Gold Ultra challengers must self-navigate throughout.
We publish more advice on “What level of navigation or map-reading ability do I need?” in our FAQs.
Navigate yourself or join a led group with a guide
All entries include a stew supper, goody bag on completion, bag care, and full safety support.
These are the whole entry fees - even if you're fundraising for charity. If you chose to fundraise, your charity will receive 100% of any sponsorship, with no deductions, and nothing for your charity to pay.
Self-Navigating
£49-74
- ...depending on distance chosen
- Route Guide booklet
- GPS tracker for your team
- Drinks and Snacks from checkpoints
- Hot meal and goody bag at the finish
Join a guided walking group
+ £22
- ...additional fee, to also receive:
- Mountain Leader qualified guide
- 12 People average group size
- Safety Equipment provided by us
- No Navigation skills required
Entry fee
The entry fee reflects the real cost of putting on an event to professional standards:
- Copper 25km, £49
- Bronze 50km, £54
- Silver 75km, £69
- Gold 100km, £74
No fundraising commitment
You are welcome to use the event as a sponsored challenge for your chosen charity, but there are no additional fundraising commitments, and your charity will not have to pay a fee for you to take part.
Your entry fee covers:
- 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 2-3 hours 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.
- Finishers Packs are available to pre-book at additional cost, which contain an event t-shirt and medal in addition to your goody bag.
Age limits
| Gold Ultra challenge | Minimum age 20 (to comply with UKA rules) 20-year olds must be part of a team including at least one person 21+. (on TRA guidance). 21-year-olds + can enter as solo entrants. |
| Silver challenge | Minimum age 18 |
| Bronze Challenge | Minimum age 16 16-17 year olds must be accompanied by their parent or legal guardian, they are not permitted as solo entrants. 18+ can enter as solo entrants. |
| Copper Challenges | Minimum age 12 12 – 15 year olds are permitted as part of a led group, but not in self-navigating teams. They must be accompanied by their parent or legal guardian. 16 – 17 year olds must be accompanied by their parent or legal guardian. Their team can be self-navigating or join a led group with a guide. They are not permitted as solo entrants. 18+ can enter as solo and/or self-navigating entrants. |
Travel and Access
If you want to take part in the event and use public transport, at the time of writing, the last trains home from Hathersage on Saturday evening were timetabled at 22:41 to Manchester, 23.15 to Sheffield (Do not rely on this timetable, please recheck train times for yourself)
Participants and their supporters are also encouraged to spend the night in Hathersage at any of the local accommodation and take advantage of the local facilities and our celebration day on Sunday before heading home the next day.