The Wicklow mountains are the reason Dublin has a serious trail scene. They start immediately behind the city's southern suburbs, they are big enough to be genuinely remote within an hour of the capital, and they carry Ireland's oldest waymarked long-distance trail down their spine.
The Wicklow Way
127km from Marlay Park in Rathfarnham to Clonegal in County Carlow, opened in 1980 and the first waymarked trail in the country. It climbs out of the city almost immediately, crosses the high ground past Djouce and above Glendalough, then runs south through forest and farmland into Carlow.
The northern half is the mountain half and the part most people run. From Marlay it goes over Kilmashogue and Fairy Castle, drops to Glencullen, climbs again over Djouce with the Powerscourt waterfall below, and continues past Lough Tay — the black lake with the white beach that most people have seen on television without knowing where it is.
What the ground is actually like
This is the part that catches British visitors out. Wicklow is not the Lake District and it is not the Peak District, and assuming it will behave like either is how people get into trouble.
- Long stretches are forest fire road — wide, firm, fast and dull. You can cover ground here quickly.
- The high sections are blanket bog. Boardwalk has been laid over the worst of it on the Djouce section, but off the boards it is deep, wet peat that will take a leg to the knee.
- Navigation is easy on the Way itself, which is well waymarked. It becomes hard immediately if you leave it, because the high ground is featureless and the weather closes in fast.
- The climbs are moderate — nothing in Wicklow is Lakeland-steep — but they are frequent, and the cumulative total over a long day is substantial.
The real risk
Wicklow's danger is not gradient, it is exposure and navigation on the tops in poor visibility. Mountain rescue callouts here are overwhelmingly people who left the trail in cloud. Carry a map and compass and know where the escape routes drop to a road.
The races
Art O'Neill Challenge — January
The most distinctive race in Ireland. 62km from Dublin Castle over the Wicklow mountains to Glenmalure, starting on a Friday night in January, retracing the 1592 winter escape of Art O'Neill and Red Hugh O'Donnell from the castle. It runs out of the city on road to Kippure Estate, then crosses open mountain via Art's Cross. Capped at 200 across the Challenge and the shorter 25km Pursuit, fully supported, with Dublin and Wicklow Mountain Rescue in attendance — which tells you what the organisers expect.
Maurice Mullins Ultra — March
50.5km with 1,900m of climb along the northern Wicklow Way, run by IMRA as an Irish Ultra Championship race. The competitive one, and the standard way into Wicklow ultra running.
Wicklow Way Race — July
The full 127km, Marlay Park to Clonegal, with a 21-hour limit and a Friday evening start that puts the whole field on the mountains through the night. Also IMRA, also volunteer-run, and correspondingly cheap for what it is.
Ultra Trail na mBan — April
A 56km trail ultra founded specifically to grow female participation in Irish ultra running, an area where the numbers have historically been very thin.
IMRA, and why the races are cheap
Most Wicklow racing is run by the Irish Mountain Running Association, which is a volunteer organisation rather than an events company. Entry fees are a fraction of the commercial equivalent, the organisation is minimal in the best sense, and the culture is closer to British fell racing than to trail-race branding. If you are used to paying three figures for a 50K, IMRA will be a pleasant shock.
Getting there without a car
Marlay Park is on the Luas Green Line, which makes the northern end of the Way genuinely accessible from central Dublin by public transport. Beyond that it gets harder — Glendalough and Glenmalure need a car or the St Kevin's Bus, and the southern half of the trail is effectively car-only.