How far is the Signpost Challenge Hike?

The Signpost Challenge Hike offers 2 distances: 24 Mile (38.6 km), 17 Mile (27.4 km).

Is the Signpost Challenge Hike course marked?

No. The Signpost Challenge Hike is not a marked course. You are expected to navigate it yourself.

What are the cut-offs for the Signpost Challenge Hike?

Overall time limits — 24 Mile: 10h, 17 Mile: 10h. 10 hours.

LDWA South Manchester Signpost Challenge Hike

Marple Senior Citizens Hall, Memorial Park, MarpleNo date announced yet

A hilly twenty-four or seventeen miles from Marple over Werneth Low and Cown Edge, the long route going on over Lantern Pike and back by New Mills and the Goyt Valley. Breakfast before, hot meal after.

Distance	Ascent	Per km
24 Mile	—	—
17 Mile	—	—

hillmoorNavigation required

Nobody has reviewed this one yet

No reviews of the Signpost Challenge Hike, and nothing on what people wore. Both are things no organiser publishes and every runner wants before they enter — how it actually went, and what was on your feet.

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Pick your distance

10h cut-off, which needs 15:32/km

What you’re in for

A hilly twenty-four or seventeen miles from Marple over Werneth Low and Cown Edge, the long route going on over Lantern Pike and back by New Mills and the Goyt Valley. Ten hours, breakfast before and a hot meal after. Mid-October. An LDWA challenge event, which means walkers and runners together, a route description to navigate by rather than tape, checkpoints with food and drink, and a meal at the end. Entry is through the LDWA's own system, places are limited, and the ones in this list tend to fill early.

Terrain and trail

Gritstone-edge path, field and moor edge on the Peak fringe, with the climbs short and steep and the descents muddy in October. A trail shoe.

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Cut-offs

10 hours.

Train for it: routes near the start

Routes starting within 20 km of Marple Senior Citizens Hall, Memorial Park, Marple, nearest first. Each one has a free GPX file and a TRP grade, so you can rehearse the ground before race day.

VERY HARD

Kinder Scout from Hayfield

13.9km · 469m climb · Loop · 9.2km away

You get onto the highest ground in the Peak District on a route steeped in access history, with the plateau edges giving fast, airy running once you are up.

VERY HARD

Bleaklow Head and Torside Clough from Torside Reservoir

16.9km · 425m climb · Loop · 15km away

You get a flat 5km warm-up, one long honest climb onto some of the emptiest peat in England, and then four kilometres of clear, fast descending along the lip of Torside Clough with the reservoir laid out below you.

MODERATE

Torside to Woodhead Tunnels via the Longdendale Trail

10.2km · 51m climb · Out & back · 15km away

It is a rare flat, fast run in the Dark Peak - a traffic-free old railway line running dead level past four reservoirs to the great stone mouths of the Woodhead tunnels.

HARD

Black Hill and Crowden Little Brook Loop

14.4km · 426m climb · Loop · 16km away

Black Hill's peat-black plateau feels as remote as anywhere in the Peak, and the return along the edge above Laddow Rocks is some of the best moor-edge running in the north.

VERY HARD

Edale Skyline

29.5km · 861m climb · Loop · 17km away

You spend almost the whole loop on the skyline itself, linking gritstone edges and summits with the Edale valley dropping away below you the entire way round.

HARD

Mam Tor and the Great Ridge

12.6km · 502m climb · Loop · 17km away

You run the entire Great Ridge end to end, a paved skyline with the Hope and Edale valleys falling away on either side, then loop through Castleton beneath the caves and old road.

All Greater Manchester routes →

Other races near here

Greater Manchester races →

Races from other organisers starting within 30 km of Marple Senior Citizens Hall, Memorial Park, Marple, nearest first.

Jul

2027

Lyme Half Marathon

Lyme (National Trust), Disley, Stockport · BigFeat Events · 3 miles away

Gritstone Trail and Kerridge Ridge half marathon from Lyme, Cheshire

21.1 km

Not open yet

£38

Mar

2027

PB50km Ultra

Hayfield, Derbyshire · Ranger Ultras · 5 miles away

A grand loop of the Pennine Bridleway out of Hayfield, in a day.

50 km1,840 m climb

Navigation required

Entries open

Mar

2027

PB18km Trail

Hayfield, Derbyshire · Ranger Ultras · 5 miles away

Hayfield to Rushup Edge and back. Fast trail with a proper climb in it.

18 km806 m climb

Navigation required

Entries open

Sept

2027

Beyond Manchester

Cathedral Gardens Manchester · Wild Deer Events · 10 miles away

Fifty-five kilometres from Cathedral Gardens with barely two hundred and fifty metres of climb, or half the distance.

25 & 55 kmup to 245 m climb

HARD TO VERY HARD

Not open yet

How to enter

No date announced for the next running yet. LDWA South Manchester’s site ↗ is where it will show up first.

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Common questions

: The Signpost Challenge Hike offers 2 distances: 24 Mile (38.6 km), 17 Mile (27.4 km).
: No course file for the Signpost Challenge Hike yet, so there's no measured climb here. When LDWA South Manchester publish one, this fills in.
: Not graded yet. A TRP grade is worked out from distance and climb measured off the course file, and there isn't one for the Signpost Challenge Hike yet.
: No. The Signpost Challenge Hike is not a marked course. You are expected to navigate it yourself.
: We don't hold a compulsory kit list for the Signpost Challenge Hike. LDWA South Manchester confirm mandatory kit in their race information, usually in the final instructions.
: Overall time limits — 24 Mile: 10h, 17 Mile: 10h. 10 hours.
: We don't hold a checkpoint list for the Signpost Challenge Hike. What's on the table varies a lot between races, so check the LDWA South Manchester race information rather than turning up expecting food.
: Not yet — we don't hold a course file for the Signpost Challenge Hike. Some organisers only send the GPX to entrants. If we get one, it goes up free, with no sign-up.
: No date announced. When LDWA South Manchester confirm the next Signpost Challenge Hike, it appears here and on the race calendar.

Past runnings

2026Sun, 18 Oct 2026