Peak District Challenge
Peak District Challenge 19-20 August 2016
Wilderness Development is proud to be providing Mountain Leaders and technical support to the annual Peak District Challenge, this year taking place on 19-20 August 2016.
Peak District Challenge, 18-19 September 2015
Wilderness Development are proud to provide technical and mountain leadership services to the annual Peak District Challenge, this year on 18-19 September 2015.
Visit Peak-District-Challenge.com to register now!
Putting in the miles- The Peak District Challenge 2013
On Sat 21st September, Chris Lennon and Colette and David Grundy set off to walk the peak district challenge, along with 64 other entrants. What followed was a tortuous 29km walk through the beautiful eastern edge of the peak district. Upon arrival at 8:30 they were greeted by the teams setting off at 8:30, including four women in Ponchos and Stetsons.
Their departure time was 9:30 and straightaway, as the map owner, David assumed point. Colette followed determinedly and Chris meandered behind on the lookout for birds he could point out to the others. His ID skills were let down by travelling light (no binoculars) and the grey skies but he managed to keep the pace down to a comfortable 3 mph as a result.
Around the course the support staff (of which Chris’ partner Sally was one) were excellent and kept everyone fed and watered at various checkpoints around the route. They showed amazing patience as these checkpoints sometimes had large time gaps between competitors and some had manned them overnight for the 24hr challenges.
Some of the way points and rocky Tors were challenging to navigate but we got there in the end and finished with a time of 8hr 20 mins. There was a forced detour for Chris when the sun came out in the early afternoon and an ice cream van was spotted.
Finally the end was in site and a quiet walk down into Hathersage (Chris and David had run out of jokes after 8 hrs) and a bowl of curry provided by Charity Abundance put a lovely end to a great day
The support for the walk, by family, friends and colleagues has been fantastic and at the moment has raised over £850 for the Pearl Trust for Uganda. This will increase as the gift aid pledges are processed in the forthcoming weeks and we are not averse to post event sponsorship or donations being made. These monies will go towards another much needed well in the Budondo region of Uganda, working with the charities Wilmslow Wells for Africa and the Busoga Trust. To see how successful the last well installation went in 2011 please take the time to read the attached report.
The peak district challenge is in a lovely part of the peaks and was very well run. It was the first time the event was put on and it is hoped to make it an annual. If you are looking for a challenge to raise money I would recommend bringing a team to this event. See peak-district-challenge.com
Sally and Chris and Colette and David would also like to thank NNL’s CSR team for their very generous donation of £250 in support of this cause.
Once Gift Aid has been processed the end total raised will be well over £1300 which, coupled with the monies raised from the last Ceilidh hosted in Manchester in 6th September, will be close to meeting the funds necessary for the well installation.
The Pearl Trust will be hosting another fundraising Ceilidh in South Manchester on Friday 6th December 2013. Friends and Families very welcome.
Peak District Challenge feedback
We received several nice emails over the last few weeks relating to the Peak District Challenge 2013, so I thought I’d blow my own trumpet and share a few:
Will allow me to thank you and your team again for the display of what I call empathetic professionalism from beginning to end. Words alone cannot do justice. […] You have chosen your people really well Will… So bring on 2014!!!. […] Keep up the good work most importantly the human touch. Warmest regards, Clementinah
A great day: you should be pleased. Best wishes, Ruth
Congratulations for the organisation. […] There were many a happy competitor (or as close to happy as you can be when you come across me in Baslow!) It was a cracking event, I thoroughly enjoyed it as did everyone else from what I saw. Thank you for everything and I can’t wait for next year! Regards, Mark
Just to say that David and I found the event to be a great experience and we would be happy to do it all again next year. It was a good route, nice views, good mix of hills and flat, well organised and with dedicated volunteers manning checkpoints who brought along home made biscuits, cakes etc and these were really appreciated by the walkers. […] Thanks for a great day, Colette
You can see a whole heap of photos at www.facebook.com/wildernessdevelopment