When, where and what happens
Everything you need to know about the night itself, whether you are coming to watch, planning to walk the main route, or simply want to know when to check your phone for news.
Event summary
- What
- A 59 to 60 mile charity ultra run
- When it starts
- 6:00pm on Saturday 5 September 2026
- Expected finish
- around 1:00pm on Sunday 6 September 2026
- Goal time
- 19 to 20 hours of continuous movement
- Where
- Rossendale Sports Club, Marl Pits, Rawtenstall, BB4 7SU
- Format
- 3 laps of the 14 mile Limey Lane loop, then the 18 mile Marl Pits route
- Cost to attend
- Free. Come and watch, come and walk
- Beneficiary
- Rossendale and Pendle Mountain Rescue Team
The plan, hour by hour
Times after the start are approximate. Ultra running is not a timetable, it is a negotiation.
-
Off from Limey Lane
Tessa sets out on the first of three 14 mile loops while it is still light. Friends and club mates are expected to run sections alongside her.
-
Lap one done, head torches on
Sunset in Rossendale in early September is around 7:45pm. From here to sunrise, everything happens by torchlight.
-
Lap two, the quiet hours
The hardest section of any night run. Cold, dark, nobody about, and a long way still to go.
-
Lap three into first light
Forty two miles down. Sunrise is around 6:20am, and it changes everything about how the body feels.
-
The 18 mile route from Marl Pits
Tessa starts the big route from Rossendale Sports Club alongside the walkers of the Round the Hills Walk. This is the part of the day when the most people will see her.
-
Sixty miles
Home. If you can be anywhere on the day, be at the finish.
Where it happens
The challenge runs on the two established routes of the Rossendale Round the Hills Walk. The 14 mile loop runs from Limey Lane. The 18 mile route starts and finishes at Rossendale Sports Club, Marl Pits, Newchurch Road, Rawtenstall, BB4 7SU.
Both are hill routes on public rights of way across open Pennine moorland and farmland. Expect rough ground, stiles, gates and mud, and treat the weather as a factor rather than a detail.
How to be there on the day
Come and watch
The best time to see Tessa is the morning of Sunday 6 September, when the 18 mile route sets off from Marl Pits between 7:00am and 8:00am, and again at the finish in the early afternoon. Noise helps more than you think at mile 50.
Walk the Round the Hills Walk yourself
The Round the Hills Walk is open to everyone, with an 18 mile and a 14 mile option, and it is organised by the Rotary Club of Rossendale. Entry has traditionally been free with donations invited towards local Rotary causes. Check the Rossendale Rotary page for this year's arrangements and start times.
Run a section with her
Company through the night makes a genuine difference. If you would like to pace a loop or part of one, get in touch beforehand so it can be planned properly. Please do not simply turn up in the dark and join in.
What happens if the weather is bad
The challenge goes ahead in rain, wind and cold, which are all likely. It would only be altered for conditions that make the moorland genuinely unsafe, such as severe wind, lightning or thick fog on the tops. Any change will be posted on this page and on social media, and donations already made would simply be held for the rescheduled attempt.
Event facts
- Small loops
- 3 laps of the 14 mile Limey Lane loop
- Big route
- 1 lap of the 18 mile Marl Pits route
- Total distance
- 59 to 60 miles
- Start time
- 6:00pm, Saturday 5 September
- Big route starts
- 7:00am to 8:00am, Sunday 6 September
- Locations
- Limey Lane and Marl Pits, Rossendale
- Night running
- Roughly 9 hours in the dark
- Goal time
- 19 to 20 hours
