The first Saturday every August
August 3rd 2024 – 10th Birthday Bash!
Following the success of the event since 2014 – All sell-outs, the race is back. The Peak District is one of the most popular National Parks in the UK, split into the White and Dark Peak areas. White Peak for Limestone, Dark Peak for Gritstone. This Peak District Skyline takes place in the White Peak area, but the course crosses its fair share of gritstone and moorland. All events begin at 8am in 2024.
Download the 2024 event guidebook here
We also offer a 14.5 mile Half-Skyline as well as the usual full distance. This is designed to appeal to those who want a great trail running experience, but a comfortable mileage at a more relaxed pace. The full 50k race is very difficult with a challenging time limit, so we recommend the half-distance if you are wavering. It is not uncommon for 20+ full distance event runners to fail to make the timed cut-off’s – you have been warned! The longer race is fast and furious, and why it’s so popular!
New for 2024 is The Peak Yomp Weighted Tab! This takes place on the same Half-Skyline route. You must carry a backback (weighed at check-in) of between 8kg and 15kg (calculation based on your body weight). A yomp is a term used for soldiers marching over difficult terrain with equipment. The £5 additional entry price for this category is entirely donated to “Royal Marine’s Charity”.
The courses are fully marked; the full distance course is 29.7miles (48km) long and based around a notoriously tough Peak District challenge called The Five Trigs Round; those being.
- Axe Edge
- The Roaches
- Shutlingsloe
- Shining Tor
- Burbage Edge
The Ramshaw Rocks, Three Shires Head (the meeting point for the Cheshire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire County boundaries) and Gradbach Woods are also highlights of this picturesque route. The full distance course features 2000m of elevation, and the half-distance 900m; the course is at times quite technical underfoot. The courses are each a serious challenge, not to be underestimated, all with 8-hour time limit. The full-distance course features strict interim CP cut-offs.
For full distance runners, Shuttlingsloe is affectionately known as the Matterhorn of the Peak District. When you make your approach at Mile 18, you’ll understand why. The Race HQ is a Buxton Community School, which has over 150 on site car parking spaces, plus additional on-road parking. Participants will have available to them post-race shower and changing facilities, hot drinks, and refreshments.
If you are ready to face the exciting challenge of the Peak Skyline then once entries open you can enter the race here
The Peak Skyline team would like to welcome sponsors, Buff, Torq energy, and Ornua Foods
Also thank you to the Peak District National Park, Staffordshire Wildlife Trust and The Knowsley Estate, along with all other landowners, for their kind land access permissions for this event.
The event HQ is at Buxton Community School. This venue features a large car park, as well as post-race shower and change facilities. From 2018, there will be two courses. The usual full distance 29.5-mile with 2000m elevation , and also a 14.5-mile Half-Skyline with 900m of elevation.
The events each have an 7-hour (for the half, average 2.2mph) or 8-hour cut-off, (for the 50k – average of 3.7mph). Also, each of the three manned checkpoints (one CP on the half) has interim cut-off times which are also timed at 3.7mph (50k runners), though barely making 3.7mph at CP1 will almost certainly result in missing the cut at CP2 or CP3.
8 hours is a generous time limit, but means that it is you cannot walk much of the course. If you don’t think you are quite up to that average speed, or you are relatively new to trail running then you should take on the Half which is still very challenging, and has a time limit of 7 hours.
If you take on the full distance and do not make any cut-off, we will retire you from the course and bring you back for some early tea and cake! There are no medals for starting the Full, and dropping to the Half!
The route begins with an immediate ascent to Solomon’s Temple (SHuSh on the South side of Back Forest above Lud’s Church (a natural chasm), before turning North into Gradbach Woods. Descend further to the River Dane and reach the next manned checkpoint and refreshment station (CP2) nr Gradbach scout camp.
Now, climb out of the river valley to Burntcliff Top, and enjoy relatively easy 4×4 trail for 1.5km. Don’t get too comfortable as you will see The Peak District Matterhorn; Shutlingsloe ahead of you. The ascent of Shutlingsloe gets more severe as you reach the top, with a little scrambling required to gain the summit and claim trig point number three.
You descend Shutlingsloe on the same path initially, before heading North to Cumberland Cottage and a narrow technical ascent alongside the brook, up the re-entrant Danethorn Holllow to join the Main Danebower Hollow Path to the next manned refreshment point (CP3), opposite the well known Peak District landmark and 2nd highest pub in England; The Cat and Fiddle. It’s a 1.5 mile ascent of Shining Tor to the trig point four.
After Shining Tor, enjoy the rough but fast Stake-side descent through Stake Clough and Deep Clough to reach the Goyt Valley floor. The final ascent is Goyt’s Moss, on a narrow path moorland to reach Burbage Edge, passing about 200m from the 5th trig point. Then all that’s left is a descent into Burbage and Buxton back to the school to reach the finish line. The course has 2000m of elevation, which is 42m elevation per km. For comparison Grand Race Les Templiers (one of Frances most prestigious Trail races) has 46m per km, and the UK’s Lakeland 50 has 39m of elevation per km (over 50 miles). So, expect a tough day out in the Peak District!
