The High Peak 40 Mile Challenge was initiated in 1986 by a Buxton company called Otter Controls Ltd as a one-off event to celebrate the company’s 40^th anniversary. It proved so popular that “Otters” continued to sponsor the event until 1997.

From 1998 to 2004 the event was hosted by Buxton Community School and was organised by one of the staff, Jim Collis. Jim was assisted by a small committee and most of the volunteers who had been involved in the previous incarnation. The 2004 race was part of the Trail Running Association’s Championship.

2005 saw a further change for the High Peak 40 Mile Challenge in that it became a joint venture between Buxton and District Lions Club, Buxton Community School and the Trail Running Association. Things move on and after the 2006 race the Trail Running Association severed links with the HP40.

The 2006 HP40 had also featured in what was then the Montrail Ultra Running Championships and this association still exists although the name has changed twice since then. It is now the UK Ultra Running Championships

hosted by runfurther.com and full details about the series can be found here

The route remained the same apart from minor changes to reflect the alterations to the start and finish from 1998. A fairly major change had to be made in 2007 to accommodate the closure of what had been thought to be a right of way. An order has been made for this path to be added to the definitive map but the legal process doesn’t quite stop there. We wait and see when we might get back to the original.

For those of you who like statistics here are a few:

The record holders for the 1986 to 1997 route were Mick Reynolds (5.02.41) in 1997 and Sally Newman (6.31.15) in 1992. No information is available for the years from 1998 to 2005 but for 2006 the pre-diversion times were Jez Bragg (5.31.08) and Ulla Kurenjak (6.24.30). For more recent years the record holders are Duncan Harris (5.20.15) in 2010 and Lucy Colquhoun (6.13.06) in 2008. If more information comes to hand it will be published. As a final point on the statistics one person has completed every one of the twenty-five challenges – congratulations to Nigel Dean!