Journeying further than you thought you could.

by Ciara Hargreaves 

Peak Divide 2026: journeying further than you thought you could.

I first heard about Peak Divide a few years ago when I’d probably just about started running again after many failed attempts at Couch to 5K and something about it really spoke to me — Manchester to Sheffield, Vimto to Hendos, all with the Peak in between. I thought about signing up then, but running even a small distance was still a real struggle so I hesitated and tickets sold out. Fast-forward a year or so, I’d survived the hills of Sheffield half marathon and heard Becky and Elle’s rave reviews of the 2025 Shuffle, so when tickets for 2026 went on sale I signed up in a moment of madness. After all, I had a year to train for it…

Training started well over the summer and I started getting out doing some longer trail runs but as the colder weather and darker nights drew in I was struggling with my motivation so, after week or two of putting it off, I sent a message to the Bird community asking if anyone would fancy joining me on a slow and steady trail run. My anxiety was telling me that nobody would reply but there were so many positive responses and suddenly my training was filled with new pals, post-run Portobello treats and pints, as well as advice and encouragement in bucketloads. In the times when I really thought that I should defer or just sack it off completely someone was there to keep me going. 

 

I’d decided that I wanted to make the most of the whole experience so I arrived at Track at  on the Friday night with my parents and auntie (elite support crew, good at cheering, putting up tents and washing your kit) to head out on a shakeout run, sign on and grab a few beers and a pizza. The vibes were high and it was really comforting to see some familiar faces including Bird’s founder, and new supermum, Hannah, some people who’d come with me on training runs and an unexpected face from a run club in Sheffield. After the shakeout shuffle with my dad it was time to go and get some rest before shuffling across the Peak back to Sheffield. 

That’s when the self-doubt really started to creep in… The highest mileage I’d done in my training block was 63km, how was I supposed to find another 15 km across the two runs? Would I be fast enough? Would my kit be too heavy or good enough? I imagined a million ways it could go wrong and showed up to Track the next morning feeling like I was going into the Hunger Games rather than an exciting event I’d chosen to do. We set off to depart from the Vimto statue and waved goodbye to Manchester and the family that had come to cheer us on and started shuffling and I wasn’t really prepared for what happened next… I had a bloody good time!

 

@clorroe_cam

Somewhere towards the end of the shuffle down the canals on day one, I found a smaller shuffle squad who I was lucky to share the rest of the journey with, a group of supportive strangers who kept each other going. Describing it now, a few weeks after the event, it just doesn’t seem real, there was gnocchi, kinder surprises and, the undisputed highlight of the day, Mount Malibu. Once I’d come to my senses enough to recognise Hannah and Elle, I felt so much joy I can’t really put it into words. Knowing you’ve just shuffled 41 km combined with excellent flag waving, glitter, big hugs and a couple of shots of Malibu is just the world’s best feeling and I shuffled the last (very steep downhill) section to camp with tears of joy in my eyes. The shuffling of day one was over. We’d made it to camp.

 

@clorroe_cam

Camp meant reuniting with other shufflers you’d met along the way, more big hugs from Bird pals, food and the egg & spork race. Unfortunately, the Bird Outdoors representatives did not make the final, could you represent Bird in 2027?

 

@clorroe_cam

After we’d sung ‘The Manchester Rambler’ to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Peak District National Park, we set off from Edale in the direction of Sheffield. After we’d made it up onto the Kinder plateau, we were treated to some of the weekend’s best and most runnable trails as we made our way to Win Hill and I was really surprised at how good I felt bobbing along in the sun. I will not lie though, somewhere between Bamford Edge and Stanage Edge things got hard, everything was hurting and the world seemed to be expanding beneath me, routes I thought I knew well seemed to be getting longer but it felt like we were too close to home to give up now.

Buoyed by the sight of a herd of stags on the moors, we shuffled down through Lady Cannings Plantation and I’d never been so happy to see the Norfolk Arms, get a quick hug and boost from my parents, and shuffle down the familiar home trails of the Porter Valley growing our group of shufflers as we moved through Sheffield. Here, I took it upon myself, as an adopted local, to navigate us through the steel city with a quick obligatory selfie at the Hendos Factory. Unfortunately, my local knowledge and navigation skills were no match for the streets of Kelham Island and I sincerely apologise to anyone who put their trust in me and ended up running round in circles following the noise of cowbells to find our final destination, The Victoria. We made it though, greeted by cheers and cowbells and more big hugs from friends and family. Big shout out to Lucy, Gillian and any other Bird crew for waiting at the finish line (sorry if I didn’t see you there, I’d truly lost the plot at this point).

What happened after I stopped moving becomes a bit blurry but there was a party atmosphere at the Victoria and everyone assembled on the streets outside to cheer in the last shufflers with Bird Beacon runner, Timna. We’d made it. Manchester to Sheffield, 78 km, and everything in between. I was prepared for it to be hard, a challenge but I didn’t expect the joy and sense of community to outweigh the hard times.