Official Announcement re Mourne Skyline MTR:

After eight years of our Mourne Skyline Mountain-Trail Race, we are absolutely gutted to announce that the race will no longer exist.

After months of discussions, consideration, and reflection, we believe, as hard as it is, that the race is no longer sustainable in its current format; a running community and volunteer driven, not-for-profit event.

This is for a number of reasons, including the continual rise in cost of essential materials and services required to deliver a safe and memorable event, all of which has contributed to financial losses suffered over several years. It is also down to difficulty in developing pro-active working relationships with a number of key stakeholders (despite our best efforts). In addition to this, the sheer amount of time required to work around the aforementioned issues has put an unsustainable workload onto our small volunteer core team.

We started the event in 2014, with the aim of bringing something different to the local running community, something that was not already offered on the fantastic race calendar that already existed. We wanted to bring Skyrunning to Northern Ireland. We wanted the world to see our amazing country, meet our amazing people and experience the thriving mountain, trail, and fell running scene we had here.

We did our best to deliver this and hope that everyone enjoyed being part of the event, as a runner or as a race team member – or whatever your involvement!

On the subject of our race team, the Mourne Skyline Mountain-Trail Race would never have been possible without a huge team of volunteers and knowing their disappointment in this announcement makes it all the harder. Our amazing team were the heart and soul of the event, and we want to publicly take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to every single one of them – nothing we can write here will express our true gratitude enough.

To the runners who supported the event, thank you for everything – especially your smiles and enthusiasm (even in the most horrible weather conditions); thank you also for the fun and the memories you have brought us.

To our sponsors, thank you so, so much. When our headline sponsor withdrew in 2018 at late notice, several local sponsors stepped in and helped the best they could. Without this, in all honesty, the race would not have continued. It will always be remembered and appreciated!

To our race partners and stakeholders, many of whom have become friends – thank you for being part of our team! Also, to Ian at Skyrunning UK, thank you for your support over the years.

Although it is the end for our Mourne Skyline Mountain-Trail Race, our team will continue to volunteer in the local athletics scene and will be part of many events and projects in the community – this is something we are incredibly passionate about!

Thank you for everything!

Mourne Skyline MTR Team