Do you have what it takes to become an Irish hill running champion? If so, we are delighted to offer you that chance. The All-Ireland Hill Running Championship is a unique outdoor sports competition contested in the Irish uplands. It is free to enter and is open to all experienced hill runners. At the end of each competition season, the 3 highest-scoring men and women will be announced.
This flexible competition requires individual participants to log their visits to Irish Championship Summits while on location using the Peakhunter smartphone app. Competitors are also required to officially register their participation in the All-Ireland Hill Running Championship. The registration process is detailed below.
The competition season starts on 1st May and finishes four months later on 31st August.
Please note that the All-Ireland Running Championship is a flexible points-based competition which lasts 4 months. It is not a timed race, but points can be scored while competing in third-party set-date races which feature Irish Championship Summits, however it is not necessary to enter set-date races. Personal training runs can also be used for scoring competition points.
Take part
To compete in the All-Ireland Hill Running Championship, each participating hill runner is required to:
Each year's competition season is scheduled to start on 1st May and finish four months later on 31st August. The season is split equally into four consecutive month-long rounds of competition.
A participant can earn points for each Irish Championship Summit once per round. Revisits within the same round will not count. This means each location can be counted up to four times within a full competition season.
Participants are not permitted to score points at the same location more than once during any single 24-hour period. This is to prevent scoring double points from a single visit before and after midnight when one round ends and the next round begins. Points scored through an illegal duplicate log will be subtracted from the participant's score. In addition, the participant will be unable to score points at that same location in the new round.
Please note that the All-Ireland Running Championship is a flexible points-based competition which lasts 4 months. It is not a timed race, but points can be scored while taking part in third-party set-date races which feature Irish Championship Summits.
Instructions
To compete in the All-Ireland Hill Running Championship, each participating hill runner is required to:
- Have an account on the Peakhunter platform (this is free to set up).
- Register to compete in the Championship (again, this is free). The 2-stage registration process needs to be completed between 1st January and 30th June. This enables participants to score competition points.
- Log visits to Irish Championship Summits while on location using the Peakhunter smartphone app.
- Score at least 1 point in one of the 4 rounds of competition.
Each year's competition season is scheduled to start on 1st May and finish four months later on 31st August. The season is split equally into four consecutive month-long rounds of competition.
- Round 1: May
- Round 2: June
- Round 3: July
- Round 4: August
A participant can earn points for each Irish Championship Summit once per round. Revisits within the same round will not count. This means each location can be counted up to four times within a full competition season.
Participants are not permitted to score points at the same location more than once during any single 24-hour period. This is to prevent scoring double points from a single visit before and after midnight when one round ends and the next round begins. Points scored through an illegal duplicate log will be subtracted from the participant's score. In addition, the participant will be unable to score points at that same location in the new round.
Please note that the All-Ireland Running Championship is a flexible points-based competition which lasts 4 months. It is not a timed race, but points can be scored while taking part in third-party set-date races which feature Irish Championship Summits.
Instructions
- Install the Peakhunter app on your smartphone and create a profile (you only need to do this once).
- Sign into your Peakhunter account on the smartphone app (if not already signed in).
- In the app's settings, download all the Ireland and United Kingdom locations. We recommend that you do this every few months to ensure that you have the most up-to-date set of locations.
- Register to compete in the Championship. The 2-stage registration process needs to be completed between 1st January and 30th June. This enables participants to score competition points. We strongly recommend registering for all 4 rounds on Peakhunter. Each round's dedicated challenge page on Peakhunter features its own month-long leaderboard. At the end of each round, all participants' individual scores will be extracted from the leaderboard and added to their cumulative totals on the overall Championship leaderboard. The Championships comprise 4 consecutive month-long rounds of competition. It is not necessary to score points in all 4, but it is recommended.
- Log visits to Irish Championship Summits while on location using the Peakhunter smartphone app.
- Each Championship summit in Ireland has been assigned a point-score value based on its elevation and prominence. When you score your first point in a round it will appear in the respective round's real-time leader board.
- We aim to announce all results by mid-September.
Disclaimer
The All-Ireland Hill Running Championship is intended only for experienced and well-equipped hill runners who are physically fit and can navigate themselves confidently through rugged and exposed terrain in any weather. If you are planning to compete, please be aware that hill running is a high risk activity. High Point Ireland, The Ireland Walking Guide and Donard Media (the websites' publisher) accept no responsibility for any injury, loss or inconvenience sustained by anyone competing in the Championship. Personal safety is entirely the participant's own responsibility. We will not support any legal action taken against any third-party individual, group or organisation as a result of any injury, loss or inconvenience sustained by anyone competing in the Championship. We encourage each participant to have adequate insurance to cover any injury, loss or inconvenience that may result from their hill running activities.
The inclusion of each mountain summit in the Irish Championship Summits list is based entirely on it having been officially classified as a mountain. This classification is reserved exclusively for summits higher than 2,000 feet with a topographical prominence of at least 30m (see 'What is an Irish mountain?'). Summits which do not meet these two requirements do not qualify as mountains, even if the word 'mountain' appears in their names. The inclusion of each High Point summit in the Irish Championship Summits list is based entirely on it having met the criteria for at least one of the eight primary High Point lists and having a topographical prominence of at least 30m. It should not be assumed that access is permitted to any of the Irish Championship Summits. High Point Ireland, The Ireland Walking Guide and Donard Media recommend that anyone planning to visit any of the mountain summits and High Points as part of their Championship efforts should check for potential access restrictions and to request permission from the relevant landowner(s) in advance.
Register
Registering to take part in the All-Ireland Hill Running Championship is a quick and easy 2-stage process:
- Complete and submit a Hill Running Entry Form. This quick and easy online form is required from each participant to formally register as a competitor in the Championship. The form can be completed and submitted at any time between 1st January and 30th June. During this period, the form can be accessed via the green button below. To complete the form, you must be logged into your Peakhunter account. After submitting this form, each newly-registered participant will be given access to the four competition rounds on Peakhunter. This will be in the form of a link posted via the Peakhunter messaging system. Please allow a couple of days for this message to appear.
- Register for the relevant competition round(s) on Peakhunter. The All-Ireland Hill Running Championship consists of four consecutive month-long rounds of competition. To take part, individual hill runners are advised to register for all four rounds on the Peakhunter platform. This is a simple process for each round which takes only a few seconds. Once registered for a round, a participant's score will automatically update with each location logged. When a participant scores their first point in a round, their score will appear on the real-time leader board for that round.
Once a round has ended, it will be impossible to register for that round. We would therefore encourage all potential participants to go through the full 2-stage registration process as early as possible in the season in order to maximise their point score.
To officially compete in the Championships, a participant must score at least 1 point in one of the four rounds.
Links to register for the competition rounds on Peakhunter and to view their respective live leaderboards will be provided to each participant after they submit a Hill Running Entry Form. This will be in the form of a link posted via the Peakhunter messaging system. Please allow a couple of days for this message to appear.
Leader boards
Competitors who log a visit to at least 1 Irish Championship Summit in a round of the All-Ireland Hill Running Championship will appear on that round's respective leader board. Depending on the mobile network coverage at the time of logging, it should be possible for scores to update instantly on the current round's leaderboard. This requires the competitor to submit their logs to Peakhunter while in the app and should be done as soon as possible to avoid an accidental loss of points.
To officially compete in the Championships, a participant must score at least 1 point in one of the four rounds.
Links to the leaderboards will be provided to each participant after they submit a Hill Running Entry Form.
Winner selection
The following process is used to decide all competitor placings in the All-Ireland Hill Running Championship:
- All submitted Hill Running Entry Forms are checked as we receive them between 1st January and 30th June.
- Each competitor's overall score is tallied in early September (i.e. Rounds 1 - 4 combined).
- Competitors are placed in order according to their overall score, from the highest scorer to the lowest.
- The highest-scoring man and woman are the Champions.
- We aim to announce the results by mid-September.
