PEAKY BLINDERS! ACES Team conquers the Peak District - 5 September 2025
- Alan Richards
- Oct 28
- 3 min read
 | Alan Richards |
ACES President Dan Meek and Senior Vice President Alan Richards led a team of five this year for the Public Sector Challenge – Peak Pursuit 2025 – a full marathon length route taking in the five peaks of Mam Tor, Back Tor, Lose Hill, Bamford Edge and Winn Hill, before returning to the start point at Hope Showground. ACES has proudly supported the event as a Challenge Partner for a second year running.
Following a few days of rain, the early morning cloud broke during the first couple of hours of the walk and the team were spoilt with cracking walking weather: a gentle breeze, sunshine and a lovely dry day.
Dan, Alan, Daniella, Melvyn and Jason all completed the full route, each covering around 27 miles and 5,150 feet of climb – a total of over 130 miles with a combined climb of 25,750 feet – not far off the 28,521ft of K2 over the day. While there were plenty of aches and pains to go around, all were still sporting beaming smiles and a great sense of achievement at the end.
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This year is the 3rd year of the Public Sector Challenge and the biggest event so far, with over 800 people walking in the Peak District. The event continues to support Cancer Research UK and the British Heart Foundation and this year’s event has added around £100,000 to the overall funds raised, pushing the grand total up to over £342,000.
ACES funds raised
ACES has now supported teams for the Yorkshire Three Peaks in September 2024, London Bridges in January 2025 and Peak Pursuit in September 2025. Our team this year has added another £1,217 to the funds raised for the Yorkshire Three Peaks in 2024 and London Bridges in 2025, bringing the total raised to around £4,900; tantalisingly close to our £5,000 target.
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There is still time to support our team and these excellent causes. You can still donate via the givewheel page: https://gvwhl.com/KXKFI or this QR code.
Why the Public Sector Challenges?
Alan Richards is also a board member for the Public Sector Challenge. He explains that the Public Sector Challenge is, at its core, a wellbeing initiative which seeks to get more and more people across the sector active, outside and enjoying the great outdoors, while challenging themselves and meeting a wide range of others from across the public sector and the private sector partners we work closely with. Not only is the event a significant personal challenge to be proud of, but it’s also great fun and it presents an opportunity to walk and talk with a wide range of people along the way.
Give it a try – London Bridges 2026
ACES is keen to engage more members going forward. If you would like to get involved, why not start small and sign up for the London Bridges 2026 walk on Saturday 17 January where there are 15km or 25km route options which share a common finish line (The Dickens Inn) at St Katherine’s dock near Tower Bridge. Friends, colleagues, family and dogs are all welcome for the London Walk and full details are on the Public Sector Challenge website: London Bridges Walk - Public Sector Challenge . Details can also be found on the poster.
Events also need volunteers, so if you would like to get involved but don’t fancy the walk, there are plenty of options to support with registration, marshalling, wayfinding, and checkpoints along the way.
ACES Platinum sponsor, Norse Group also put a large team out for the Public Sector Challenge and continues to support the event.
If you would like to get involved with the ACES team for future events, please contact Alan Richards, Dan Meek or Daniella Barrow. The London Bridges Event is also open to friends and family.
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