Sheffield man completes 95 peak challenge after health scare

Dan Cunningham, aged 39, started the challenge on June 10, 2021, and completed the inspirational challenge on January 23, meaning it has taken him just over seven months.

Since then, he has been called an inspiration, and has motivated others to take on the Ethel Challenge, either for fun or as fundraisers.

He said: “People have messaged me on YouTube, added me as a friend, found me on Facebook and sent me messages. Getting called an inspiration is not what an unfit, 40-year-old geezer expects. You usually think of inspirational people as movie and film stars, and I’m just an everyday bloke.”

The Logistics Coordinator went on a health kick when he was hospitalised in late 2020 for hereditary issues induced by poor lifestyle.

He said: “It just made sense when the doctors told me to improve my lifestyle, I thought, well how can I do that? I used to love walking, climbing, exploring when I was younger. I thought, I’m still under 40, why can’t I do it? And that led to me taking up hiking again.”

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He then joined Facebook groups for climbing and hiking, and discovered the Ethel Challenge, and decided he wanted do complete all 95 summits.

The challenge is named after Ethel Haythornthwaite, an environment campaigner and significant pioneer of the countryside movement. In 1924, she founded a group, now known as the Friends of the Peak District, which aimed to protecting the Peak District countryside from development.

Dan has since documented everything on his YouTube channel, where viewers can watch him complete his journey.

He saved the highest point in the peaks, which is Kinder Scout, as his last climb for the challenge. The route to reach the final three peaks was 12 miles long.

Dan said: “It was a sense of achievement when I climbed it, because when I first started, I didn’t have a great deal of self-belief, I didn’t believe I was going to see the end of the challenge. I felt a bit sad that it was over, but also a fear of thinking what am I going to do next?

“In terms of my health and weight loss and lifestyle changes, they’re going in the right direction and it’s for them [his children]. It’s so I stick around for them as they grow up and I can see where life takes them.”