Sport Hillwalking officially became a true sport in 2016. This came about 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 have been run every year since. 2017 saw the introduction of the clubs, counties and provinces 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 Race also has club, county and province team categories. The Highpointeering Leagues and the Mountain Race now run in parallel as two separate competitions between the Spring Equinox and Autumn Equinox each year. At the end of the 2020 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 All-Ireland Hillwalking Championships: the ultimate achievement in Irish sport hillwalking. In 2021, due to the Mountain Race being cancelled due to lack of interest, the Championship results were based exclusively on the Highpointeering Leagues. As a result, it was decided to abandon the Highpointeering Leagues in favour of a new Hillwalking Championships format.
From 2022, the All-Ireland Hillwalking Championships have a new format based on an expanded list of 355 Irish locations which includes all 209 mountain and all 187 major geographical High Points. The new eight-month-long Sport Hillwalking season starts on 1st March and ends on 31st October.
High Point Ireland is the All-Ireland governing body for sport hillwalking. Our All-Ireland Sports Competitions are the first-ever national hillwalking competitions 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.
From 2022, the All-Ireland Hillwalking Championships have a new format based on an expanded list of 355 Irish locations which includes all 209 mountain and all 187 major geographical High Points. The new eight-month-long Sport Hillwalking season starts on 1st March and ends on 31st October.
High Point Ireland is the All-Ireland governing body for sport hillwalking. Our All-Ireland Sports Competitions are the first-ever national hillwalking competitions 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.
