Sport Hillwalking officially became a true sport in 2016 through the introduction of the first-ever All-Ireland hillwalking sports competition: the All-Ireland Highpointeering Individuals League. This ground-breaking points-based competition was delivered by High Point Ireland and has been run every year since. In 2017, we introduced the Clubs, Counties and Provinces Highpointeering Leagues.
In 2020, we created the All-Ireland Mountain Race for experienced challenge hillwalkers wishing to introduce a time-based person-versus-person competitive element. The Highpointeering Leagues and the Mountain Race ran in parallel as two separate competitions between the Spring Equinox and Autumn Equinox of 2020. At the end of the season, the combined results of these two competitions allowed us to identify the individual, club team, county team and province team champions in the first-ever annual All-Ireland Hillwalking Championships: the ultimate achievement in Irish sport hillwalking. The Mountain Race was dropped in 2021 due to lack of interest. In 2022, the current competition format was introduced.
Our All-Ireland Sports Competitions are the first-ever national hillwalking contests to be hosted anywhere in the world. As such, they provide the perfect template for other countries to replicate. In time, if other countries choose to follow our example, we could even look at the possibility of setting up the first-ever Hillwalking World Championships.
On 10th May 2021, High Point Ireland became the All-Ireland governing body for Sport Hillwalking. As such, High Point Ireland delivers all official hillwalking competitions at national level across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
High Point Ireland operates on a not-for-profit basis. Although we host a limited amount of advertising space, this does not cover the running costs of the website. We do not ask the Sport Hillwalking community for donations (we are not a charity) nor do we require them to pay any annual subscription, membership or participation fees. We do not produce branded merchandise for the purpose of generating income, nor do we receive any government funding.
Although we are the first and only All-Ireland governing body actively involved in developing and promoting hillwalking as a competitive sport (i.e. Sport Hillwalking), High Point Ireland has not received government recognition through Sport Ireland (SI) or Sport Northern Ireland (SNI). Please note that this lack of government recognition does not make us any less official. We believe that recognition from the small but growing Sport Hillwalking community is far more important than government recognition. SI / SNI are only in a position to give recognition to one body from each sport. For the informal, non-competitive pastime of hillwalking SI and SNI have already selected their respective voice bodies. Unfortunately, SI / SNI are both unable to see the very obvious differences between the pastime of hillwalking and competitive Sport Hillwalking. For High Point Ireland, the benefits of having SI / SNI recognition would be minimal. The main reasons for pursuing it would only be to qualify for some external funding handouts and to have a thin layer of officialness painted on (two things High Point Ireland does not require). With or without SI / SNI recognition, High Point Ireland is the official All-Ireland governing body for Sport Hillwalking.
In 2020, we created the All-Ireland Mountain Race for experienced challenge hillwalkers wishing to introduce a time-based person-versus-person competitive element. The Highpointeering Leagues and the Mountain Race ran in parallel as two separate competitions between the Spring Equinox and Autumn Equinox of 2020. At the end of the season, the combined results of these two competitions allowed us to identify the individual, club team, county team and province team champions in the first-ever annual All-Ireland Hillwalking Championships: the ultimate achievement in Irish sport hillwalking. The Mountain Race was dropped in 2021 due to lack of interest. In 2022, the current competition format was introduced.
Our All-Ireland Sports Competitions are the first-ever national hillwalking contests to be hosted anywhere in the world. As such, they provide the perfect template for other countries to replicate. In time, if other countries choose to follow our example, we could even look at the possibility of setting up the first-ever Hillwalking World Championships.
On 10th May 2021, High Point Ireland became the All-Ireland governing body for Sport Hillwalking. As such, High Point Ireland delivers all official hillwalking competitions at national level across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
High Point Ireland operates on a not-for-profit basis. Although we host a limited amount of advertising space, this does not cover the running costs of the website. We do not ask the Sport Hillwalking community for donations (we are not a charity) nor do we require them to pay any annual subscription, membership or participation fees. We do not produce branded merchandise for the purpose of generating income, nor do we receive any government funding.
Although we are the first and only All-Ireland governing body actively involved in developing and promoting hillwalking as a competitive sport (i.e. Sport Hillwalking), High Point Ireland has not received government recognition through Sport Ireland (SI) or Sport Northern Ireland (SNI). Please note that this lack of government recognition does not make us any less official. We believe that recognition from the small but growing Sport Hillwalking community is far more important than government recognition. SI / SNI are only in a position to give recognition to one body from each sport. For the informal, non-competitive pastime of hillwalking SI and SNI have already selected their respective voice bodies. Unfortunately, SI / SNI are both unable to see the very obvious differences between the pastime of hillwalking and competitive Sport Hillwalking. For High Point Ireland, the benefits of having SI / SNI recognition would be minimal. The main reasons for pursuing it would only be to qualify for some external funding handouts and to have a thin layer of officialness painted on (two things High Point Ireland does not require). With or without SI / SNI recognition, High Point Ireland is the official All-Ireland governing body for Sport Hillwalking.
