British Championships: The Mourne HighLine
BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIP 2019
The Mourne Highline strikes back.
Last year NIMRA put on a feature presentation of the Mourne Mountains. This cinematic epic started in the west and traversed a series of grandiose granite peaks before sweeping down to the Irish Sea. The feature director, Ricky Cowan, spent hours piecing together the body of work to ensure that start to finish each shot framed a chromatically rich picture. The cinematography was a precise study of the splendour of the Irish landscape which included the Mournes and the Cooleys.
How come I didn’t see The Mourne Highline win on the award circuit I hear you cry; well unfortunately, someone left the cap on the projector which meant that participants were unable bath in the beauty of this rich work; but don’t despair, this April we plan on re-running the feature so stock up on popcorn and get ready for the ride of a lifetime
Roll up, roll up for the mystery tour
That’s right folks. This year the Northern Ireland leg of the British Championship will once again be taking you on a magical mystery tour of the Kingdom of Mourne. We are pretty sure you will all be keen to make a reservation for a trip on our bus, which is dying to take you to the start of our point-to-point race.
The race in question is The Mourne Highline. It has been designed as a journey through some of the high places in our local mountain range. The course has something for everyone from grassy climbs, to rocky descents, to airy ridges we offer to you a real slice of adventure wrapped in this medium length race.
So roll up, roll up for the mystery tour!
ENTRIES.
Entry Fee. £20.00.
Pre-entry only. This event will have a limited entry cap of 300. Entries will open on the 20thJanuary 2019 at 8.00pm and close on the 1st April 2019 or when entry limit is reached. Enter at Here. A list of race entries will be published on the web site. Fee includes – Bus transport, light refreshments, showers, car parking, use of Sportident (Si ) race management/results system. All Si cards are provided and pre-logged onto the system; no personal Si cards can be used. Substitutions are not allowed. Min. age 18. Teams free.
COURSE
The bus drop off will be at Spelga Dam car park (Map ref 267274) from here you will be directed a few hundred meters to the Start (inside gate. Map ref 268274) After a short grassy climb to the summit of Slievenamuck and a quick descent to the road crossing at Map ref 281279 get ready for a leg sapping climb to the summit of Slieve Meelbeg Checkpoint 1. The route then follows the Mourne Wall in an clockwise direction, the roller coaster section of the course starts by first dropping down Slieve Meelbeg then straight up to Slieve Meelmore Tower Checkpoint 2 crossing the Mourne wall using the stile. There then follows a steep rocky technical descent before another steep climb to the Summit of Slieve Bearnagh Checkpoint 3 and a long descent into the Hare’s Gap. Climb the granite steps on route to Slievenaglogh Summit Checkpoint 4 then continue over Slieve Corragh before beginning to climb Slieve Commedaghs steep grassy slopes. You should cross the Mourne wall once again using the stile next to the stone tower near the summit of Slieve Commedagh as Checkpoint 5 is 150m North East of the tower across the flattish summit. All the climbing is over now. The route is then downhill all the way to the finish at sea level almost 2,200ft in 4km. First descending from the summit in a Northerly direction before swinging east over Shan Slieve. The next section to Checkpoint 6 at the stile on the edge of the forest is a mixture of grass and short heather with stony patches becoming steeper with some rock when approaching the forest. Take care on the descent if conditions are misty you will need a compass bearingas the ridge is both broad and deceptive. From the stile a firebreak leads to a forest road and descends on small paths through Donard Wood to the finish in Donard Park. This section of the course from the stile at Checkpoint 6 to the finish will be marked.
Note that all checkpoints must be visited in the following order: –
| Description | Map Ref | |
| Start | Inside Gate | 268274 |
| Slievenamuck Summit | 275279 | |
| Stile/Road crossing | 281279 | |
| CP1 | Slieve Meelbeg Summit | 301279 |
| CP2 | Slieve Meelmore (Tower) | 306287 |
| CP3 | Slieve Bearnagh (wall corner) Summit | 313281 |
| CP4 | Slievenaglogh – Summit Cairn | 327291 |
| CP5 | Slieve Commedagh – Summit Cairn. | 347288 |
| CP6 | Stile/Fire Break | 362296 |
| Finish | Donard Park | 373306 |
Maps covering the area of the race route are The Mourne Country Outdoor Pursuits Map (LPS) and the Harvey Mourne Mountains Map 1:25,000
