High Peak Marathon

---

A Night In the High Peak

Rob Howard / 11.03.2008

The public car park by Edale Village Hall was unusually busy last Friday evening, and so was the hall itself, as 50 teams of four prepared for the start of the annual High Peak Marathon. A few walking teams set off from 10pm which eased some of the pressure in the packed hall, then with their headlamps blazing the running teams set off along the road at minute intervals from 11pm onwards.

As they began the climb to the first checkpoint at Hollins Cross they knew they had a long and difficult night ahead as they attempted to traverse the Derwent Watershed route, described as “a classic 40 mile bog-trot around the wildest part of the Peak District, first completed in 1918 by Eustace Thomas of Manchester’s Rucksack Club.�

The modern event was first staged in 1972 by members of Sheffield University's Youth Hostel Society whose idea of a challenge was to take the Peak District’s longest, toughest route and see who could complete it at night … and in winter. It is still organised by past and present members of what is now called The High Peak Club, backed up by a small army of volunteers who provide a cheery greeting at checkpoints in some exceptionally wild locations, and produce mountains of food over the weekend.

Given the difficult terrain, some of which is exceptionally hard to navigate over in daylight, let alone at night, and the winter conditions, you might think the event would struggle to attract teams - but that’s not so. It is heavily over-subscribed and there is a ballot to give out the 50 available places!

Many competitors come year after year, and most of those I spoke to in the hall before the start said they’d competed before, then added a comment along the lines of, “I’m not sure why I’m here again!� Since they knew what lay ahead they had no excuse; the HPM is obviously an addictive challenge. The main navigators on some teams, had made numerous recce trips, particularly to the more featureless sections of the Bleaklow moors, knowing a mistake when tired in the early hours there could cost them dear.

It seemed a high number of teams also included last minute replacements. This is not a challenge to take on with a niggling injury or fitness doubt and as a result of the pressure for places it seems there is a pool of available runners looking to join a team as a late replacement. Race favourites and last year’s winners, Team Vasque, switched personnel between their two teams at the last minute and were joined by Mark Richards of Goyt Valley Striders, who was only called at 13.00 on the Friday … but he wasn’t taken by surprise. He had his kit already packed and in the car! The North Downs Rescue team were all replacements!See All Event Posts