Peak District Challenge | Silver Challenge 75K

Corporate groups

Discounts for groups of 10 or more.

Are you and your colleagues looking for a challenge? Perhaps a new way of getting to know each other outside of the office? Or a way of making a contribution to a charity of your choice?

Thank you so much for all your help on this – it was a great day. [The instructors] were excellent – really helpful and supportive – please do pass on our thanks. I would absolutely recommend your team to anyone. I was very happy with the organisation and your patience. Please do keep me informed about activities and events – we all loved the Peak District and would certainly come up again. Paula

Kit list

A solo and team kit list will be readily available when you sign up.

Guided group pace

Guides will lead their group at “on-target” pace, (ie 9 hours for Copper, 12 hours for Bronze; the first 25km in 8 hours for Silver. If you chose to join a led group with a guide, you will need to walk at the group’s pace and stay together with your guide, so guided groups are not suitable for those looking for a fast time.

Dogs

Well-behaved dogs on leads, accompanied by responsible owners, are welcome however there is no support for dogs at all which includes the drop-out bus.

Event HQ

Hathersage Memorial Hall
Oddfellows Road
Hathersage
Hope Valley
Derbyshire
S32 1DU
UK

Drop bags

For 100-miles-in-24-hours, Gold, Silver and Bronze challengers, there will be a drop bag facility during the second half of the challenge at The Cressbrook Checkpoint.

Overview

Take on 75km (47 miles) with a 24 hour target and 2,235m of ascent, the Silver Peak District Challenge is shown with silver lines on our route schematic. Not to be underestimated, this route follows the easiest and flattest routes between 7 aid stations, 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. Completing the Silver Peak District Challenge earns you 3 ITRA points and is a UTMB(r) index race. You will need to maintain 4kph during the first 9 hours of the event to meet checkpoint cutoffs.

Description

Departing the Hope valley at 9pm on Friday evening, you trek east up on to the Dark Peak moors. You will cross Stanage edge, site of Robin Hood’s cave, and Foulstone Moor to reach Back Tor. 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.

You will climb to the geological oddity of Alport Castle, before descending to the vale of Edale through forests, Woodlands valley and the route of the Roman road.

As dawn breaks you re-enter the western end of the Hope valley and head to beautiful Castleton, from where you will join the Limestone Way past Peveril Castle and enjoy the valley nature reserves at Hay Dale.

Joining the Bronze route on the second half of their challenge, you’ll leave the Limestone way and meander through idyllic White Peak villages and the Derbyshire Dales nature reserves on your way up to Middleton Moor. A tracked section through the Peak District’s working landscape brings you to pretty Baslow.

The route home follows the river Derwent north along the Derwent Valley heritage trail through rolling fields and alongside the chattering river to Padley and Grindleford. Your challenge is to finish by 9pm on Saturday evening.

Cut off

The Silver, Gold Ultra 100km, and 100-miles-in-24-hours routes all start at 9.00pm on Friday evening, so their 24 hour finishing target is 9.00pm on Saturday.

Guiding through the night

It is possible to join a guided group on the Silver route.

The guide will take you through to dawn, typically that’s the first 25 or 30km. It will depend on the pace of the whole group, and when it gets light given the cloud cover on the day.

You should therefore plan to navigate yourself from the 25km mark to the end, under your own steam. Often, the guide will leave you at the first checkpoint reached after dawn.

NB The bag drop will be at the Cressbrook checkpoint, about 50km round the silver route. So while swapping footwear is possible on the Silver 75km distance, that is very unlikely to coincide with dawn.

All entries include a stew supper, goody bag on completion, bag care, and full safety support.

Self-navigating

• Route guide booklet
• GPS tracker for your team
• Drinks and snacks
• Hot meal and goody bag

Guided walking group

• Mountain Leader
• 12 people per group (approx.)
• Safety equipment
• No navigation
• Drinks and snacks
• Hot meal and goody bag

Support and refreshments

Motivation and encouragement are provided at Checkpoints with water top-ups and refreshments. Checkpoints are spread out every 10km around the course on average. The exact locations of checkpoints will be confirmed 7 days before the challenge. A stew supper on Saturday evening is all included in the price of your entry.

The professional, qualified safety teams monitor teams' safety throughout. Each team’s GPS tracker allows HQ to see each team’s exact location at any time, at any point around your challenge route, not just at checkpoints.

Entry fees

Organisers of the Original Peak District Challenge™ since 2013!

Wilderness Development is an adventure activity provider, offering Peak District adventures since 2013 - the original and best!

Highlights

• Safety

  Staff are qualified professionals, and a real-time GPS tracker covering the whole route is included for all entries. 2025 is the 13th year of organising the Peak District Challenge.

• Quality

  From guides, to food hygiene, to printed mapping, quality is everything. The drop-out bus is available to everyone, and all signage is removed within 24 hours.

• Fair and ethical

  Pricing is fair, transparent, and represents the real cost of putting on a great event to ethically-led; professional standards. Charities always keep all of their fundraising.

A brilliant event [...] The 50k was my first ultra distance event and I honestly loved every minute of it. Beautiful route, excellent organisation, friendly and helpful volunteers and tasty snacks - all the the ingredients for a superb day out. The lack of a mass start made it much more chilled, and helpfully, you managed to get perfect weather conditions too. Well done! Helen

I completed the 50km Bronze course last Saturday. What can I say? Such a lovely location and a well thought course options. There is a strong element of self navigation, and with 1,100m of ascent it's a fairly demanding event. The organisers and crew are all so friendly; It's impeccably organised, and there is a such a laid back attitude. Its an event and an adventure, not a mindless race! Seth

Exceptional check points in stunning locations, choice of supplies to help fuel along the route. Great public transport links, also off road parking for those that choose to drive. The ‘cafe’ gives you the option of a drink/food pre race and again at the end where a delicious hot meal was served, all included in the entry price. This race has a lovely calm feel about it, very friendly event with several distance options. Maggie