Take part
Does your county have what it takes to become an Irish hillwalking champion? If so, we are delighted to offer you that chance. The All-Ireland Hillwalking Counties Championship is a unique outdoor sports competition contested in the Irish uplands. It is free to enter and is open to all experienced hillwalkers.
To take part, hillwalkers must participate as individuals in the All-Ireland Mountain Race and in our Highpointeer of the Year awards competition. Both of these initiatives require participants to visit specified upland locations throughout Ireland, log them using the Peakhunter smartphone app, and register them with us via simple forms hosted on our websites.
During the year, the All-Ireland Mountain Race and Highpointeer of the Year competitions are run as two separate initiatives, each with its own winners. The All-Ireland Mountain race season starts on the day of the Spring Equinox and finishes six months later on the Autumn Equinox. The year-long Highpointeering competition season starts on 1st January and finishes on 31st December.
For full details of the All-Ireland Mountain Race and Highpointeering competitions (including specific rules), please follow the links below.
Every individual hillwalker who takes part in BOTH the All-Ireland Mountain Race AND Highpointeer of the Year competitions (and submits the relevant online forms for each) during the same year is automatically entered into the All-Ireland Hillwalking Championships for that year. Hillwalkers who only take part in one of the two competitions will not qualify for that year's Individuals Championship but their efforts can still help to boost their club's, county's and province's chances in the team championships.
Winner selection
One county will be selected as the All-Ireland Hillwalking Counties Champion each year. The selection process is as follows:
- Counties can be represented by up to five hillwalkers in the All-Ireland Mountain Race and Counties League. Counties not represented in both initiatives will not qualify for that year's championship. Each initiative can have its own specialist sub-team. This means that a county team can comprise up to ten individuals in total if five members represent it in the All-Ireland Mountain Race and a different five represent it in the Counties League.
- The top ten counties represented in BOTH the All-Ireland Mountain Race AND Counties League during the same year will be shortlisted. They will be ranked from 10 to 1 in each of the two competitions based on their overall placings (10 being the highest placing and 1 being the lowest placing among the shortlisted ten).
- Each shortlisted county's final score will be the sum of its two rankings.
- The county with the highest final score will be announced as the Champion for that year.
- In the event of a draw, the Champion will be the county whose team members counted most Peakhunter logs towards that year's All-Ireland Mountain Race and Counties League combined.
- If there is still a draw for first place, the Champion will be the county whose Peakhunter logs for that year's All-Ireland Mountain Race and Counties League were all recorded within the shortest time period.
Previous champions
2021
- The 2021 All-Ireland Hillwalking Counties Championship will start on 20th March. Click here to find out how you can take part.
- CHAMPION: to be announced in January 2022
2020
- CHAMPION: Team County Cork
