Series set for a showdown at Seven Sisters Skyline!
This weekend, the Skyrunner® UK and Ireland Series will travel across the water to Donegal, in the northwest of Ireland, for the penultimate showdown – for the Seven Sisters Skyline and Sky Challenge races. The event features three distance options in the Derryveagh Mountains, all culminating in a hard climb and nail-biting descent of Errigal – the highest mountain in the region.
55km Skyline: 55km with 4,000m+ (fourth race of the SkyUltra® Series)
30km Sky Challenge: 30km with 2,100m+ (third race in the U23 Series)
16km Altan Castle: 16km with 800m+
The 55K race will act as this year’s Series Championship race, with +50% bonus series points up for grabs. It will also act as a qualifier for the international SkyMasters race, which takes place at the end of the season. Furthermore, the Seven Sisters Sky Challenge and next month's Mourne Skyline will make up this year’s Irish Skyrunning Championships.
And last but not least – the event carries a total prize purse of €10,000 across the 30K and 55K. Lots to play for!
The technical ridges of Errigal await at the end of both races © Ian Corless
Seven Sisters Skyline
Setting off at 6:30am, the 55km Seven Sisters Skyline is an iconic out-and-back traverse of the entire Derryveagh range. On the way out, racers will summit six mountains – Mackoght (555m), Aghla Mór (584m), Aghla Bheag South (602m), Aghla Bheag North (564m), Leargacha (470m), and Muckish (666m). The way back takes in all of these again in reverse order, and a further summit of Errigal (751m). If racers have anything left in their legs, the race culminates with a flat and fast 5K run to the finish – which many have found more punishing than the mountains themselves!
A stunning route, notorious for it’s underfoot conditions! © Ian Corless
The standard has been high in the SkyUltra division of this year’s series and this race is no exception. Looking hard to beat after taking a whopping 32 minutes off his own course record in last month’s Snowdon SkyRace, is England’s Ed Brewer. Brewer also won the Scafell Sky Race earlier in the season and is currently leading the series overall. He looks to have a good chance of bettering his second-place finish in last year’s series.
Ed Brewer breaks the tape at last month’s Snowdon SkyRace © Evan Davies
Among the locals to challenge Brewer for the win will be Ireland’s Enda Cloake, who placed third at last month's Copper SkyTrail. He’s had success at this event before, having won the 30K Sky Challenge in 2024, and placed third in the 55K in 2023. More recently, he also won the 2025 Granite Peaks Ultra in the Mournes, and has represented Ireland on numerous occasions.
Enda Cloake at last month’s Copper SkyTrail in Eryri, North Wales © Evan Davies
Scottish hill runner Sam Fisher is also one to watch. He recently took third at the Ochil 2000s long fell race and fourth in the Slioch Horseshoe. More internationally, he won the 23k Trail Automnal Des Hautes Alpes in France last year. Also in the mix, Switzerland’s Roman Kralya was ninth at this year’s UTS 100K at Ultra-Trail Snowdonia and has plenty of form in mountainous ultras.
In the women’s 55K race, surely no one has more experience on the podium than Ireland’s Ellen Vitting. She won the 2022 edition, placed second in 2020 and 2023, and third in 2021. She’s on form this year too, having represented Ireland at the European Athletics Off-Road Running Championships in June.
Ellen Vitting at the Quest Ireland triathlon © Quest Triathlon
Rivalling Vitting for race finishes, however, is Ireland’s Rachel Burgess. She has five top ten finishes to her name, the best being second in 2025. This year she also placed 14th at the internationally competitive UTS 50K at Ultra-Trail Snowdonia.
Known to Vitting from Ireland’s adventure racing scene, Ruth Candon placed sixth in the recent 14 Peaks Ultra and will be looking to improve on that here. She’s previously finished eighth here in both the 30K and the 55K, in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
Also with good form in the women’s race, Ireland’s Nicola Cleary won this year’s Wicklow Glacier Lakes – a challenging open mountain, marathon distance race in Wicklow. She also took second in the 2024 131km Wicklow Way Race.
Be sure to follow along online via Primal Tracking HERE.
Seven Sisters Sky Challenge
The 30K Sky Challenge is a point-to-point run, starting at the Miners Path at the foot of Muckish. Runners will be bused out in advance of an 8:15am start, and as they make their way across the summits, they will meet runners on the 55K race on their outward journey. The 30K race goes over each of the tops, Muckish (666m), Leargacha (470m), Aghla Bheag North (564m), Aghla Bheag South (602m), Aghla Mór (584m), Mackoght (555m), and Errigal (751m). It then follows the same flat 5K section as the 55k to the finish, and the race really isn’t over ‘til it’s over!
Forecast conditions for tomorrow look to be challenging as usual! © Excel Sports
Headlining the women’s field is defending champion and top Northern Ireland mountain runner, Karen Wilton. Wilton is having a great year this year, having won the competitive Hill and Dale Series of mountain races in the Mournes and recently represented Northern Ireland in the Snowdon International Mountain Race. Last year, she also took third in the 69K Summer Spine Sprint North on the Pennine Way.
Second in the 2024 55K, up from fourth the year before, Ireland’s Rosy Temple should also be well up the women’s field. She also won the technical Reeks Skyline in the MacGillycuddy's Reeks in 2021 and has had plenty of success in shorter mountain races too.
Seriously steep climbing awaits on both routes tomorrow! © Ian Corless
Ireland’s Rebecca Carolan also looks strong in the 30K. She placed fifth in the 55K in 2024 and is trying her hand at the shorter distance. She also placed seventh in a big field of women at the 2025 EcoTrail Wicklow 30K and could be in with a shot at the podium.
In the men’s 30K race, Northern Ireland’s Mark Stephens has done well in strong fields with tenth at the 2025 Mourne SkyTrail and second at the 2025 Granite Peaks 25K. He’s raced well this year at Northern Irish mountain racing, taking the win at the Spelga Skyline in July and second at the Loughshannagh race in June.
Mark Stephens finishing last year’s Mourne SkyTrail © Evan Davies
Northern Ireland’s James Millar is another runner who’s done well in some of the most competitive Northern Irish mountain races this year. He placed fourth at the Spelga Skyline and the Cairncastle Classic and second in Flagstaff to Carlingford. Further from home, he took 10th in the half marathon at this year’s Istria 100 by UTMB.
Also worth a punt is Poland’s Piotr Bergel, who was tenth in this race last year, and Ireland’s Adrian Farell, who was in the top 20 at the Mourne SkyTrail last year and placed sixth at EcoTrail Wicklow 31K in 2023.
Be sure to follow the racing as it unfolds online via Primal Tracking HERE.
Not part of the Skyrunner National Series, but deserving honourable mention, the Altan Trail 16K kicks off at 10am. An introduction to more technical mountain running, it takes in Errigal and Mackoght in a loop around Altan Castle. Sure to be a great race in its own right!
The best of legs to all runners across all tomorrow’s three events. See you in Donegal!
