Peak District Challenge 2026, by Wilderness Development

Event date: 18-19 September 2026

The Peak District Challenge is a trail running or trekking challenge that offers five levels of difficulty:

• 25km (Copper)
• 50km (Bronze)
• 75km (Silver)
• 100km (Gold Ultra).
• 100 miles in 24 hours.

Each distance has a target time to try to beat, from 9 hours to hike 25km, up to 24 hours to walk or run the huge 100miles in 24hours Peak District Challenge.

Motivation and encouragement are provided at Checkpoints with water top ups and refreshments. Checkpoints are spread out every 10km around the course on average. A stew supper on Saturday evening is all included in the price of your entry.

Our 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.

Teams can self-navigate using our printed route-guides and GPX files, or join a led walking group accompanied by a fully qualified mountain leader.

The routes all start at Hathersage (starred) and are anticlockwise loops.

Visit http://goo.gl/maps/r6ulJ for a closer look at the provisional routes. Final routes are revealed to entrants 7 days before the event. You can self-navigate round the challenge using the provided route guide, or there is the option of joining a guided walking group on the 25-75km distances.

The Copper 25km Challenge follows the red line from Hathersage to Baslow. It can be walked or run, and is an achievable challenge for those who’ve done some walking before.

The Bronze 50km Challenge follows the orange line on this map past Castleton then Tideswell and Baslow. It can be walked or run, and is achievable by those who have done lots of walking (or some running) beforehand.

The Silver 75km Challenge takes the silver route shown, covering large distances over relatively less hilly terrain. Suitable for those who have spent significant time travelling on foot and navigating by night.

The Gold Ultra 100km Challenge follows mainly the outermost route, following the yellow line shown above between checkpoints. It’s suitable for experienced night runners with navigation skills.

The 100miles in 24hours distance is the longest and steepest route, with very tight cutoffs. You’ll need to maintain over 7kph to complete within cutoff. This is a lapped course, completing an extended 100km lap, followed by an extended 50km lap.

Full information and registration is at peak-district-challenge.com