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Mountaineering
About
NUIG Mountaineering Club is actively involved in Hiking, Walking, Mountain Navigation Skills and Rock Climbing. Membership is open to all members of NUI, Galway; undergraduates, postgraduates, staff and alumni. HOW TO JOIN: It's never too late to join! If you want to join the club please check out the "Getting Started" section on our website Joining the Mountaineering Club <-- Click me! Don't forget to sign up with the club on yourspace aswell! yourspace.nuigalway.ie
History
NUIGMC has been in existence since 1970, which makes it one of the oldest mountaineering clubs in Ireland (a.k.a UCGMC until 1998). The club is one of the most popular in the college, and is becoming even more so, growing from 200 members in 1999/2000 to just under 1000 new members in 2005/06. Membership is open to all members of NUI, Galway; undergraduates, postgraduates and staff. This variety of membership gives the Club an interesting social mixture and a wide-ranging appeal. Everybody has a different idea of what they want from the mountains and the Club itself. The club simply aspires to enable members to enjoy the mountains with all types of walkers and climbers, while the more experienced help the newer members to savour new heights and views.
On Saturday, 30th April, 2011, the NUI Galway Mountaineering Club organized the 36th annual Maamturks Challenge. The walk covers 24.3 Km over tough, mountainous terrain and has a total ascent of over 2336 m. It starts in Maum and ends in Leenaun. It is the “toughest challenge walk in Ireland” according the Irish Examiner, 06.05.2010.
In total 206 people attended the walk out of which 185 walkers finished it. It was the highest number of recorded walkers in the past five years despite the fact that the Leenane and Ballyhoura walking festival were on the same day. This happened partially due to the good weather and partially to the proper advertising of the event and that it was well organized in the previous years. The challenge walk has become during the years both a national and international event, with people coming from Dublin, Cork, Waterford, Belfast and the UK.
A new record was set on the day, of 5 hours and 51 minutes. The slowest people finished the walk in a bit under 14 hours. The person who currently holds the record is Mr. Miko Kane, a local farmer from Cornamona, Co. Galway. The following two people in the order of their arrival were Martin Cooney, 7 hours and 15 minutes and Grodek Bartolomiej, 7 hours and 40 minutes. Many of the participants stayed one or two nights locally, which had a significant impact on the local economy.
The Galway Radio Experimenters Club had people at each checkpoint and we were communicating with our stewards all the time. The Galway Mountain Rescue Team was also on standby with more than 30 people in two shifts.
40 members of the club acted as stewards manning 11 mountaintop checkpoints and finishes, ensuring the safety of the walkers and the orderly conduct of the walk.
The skills acquired by club members acting as stewards and organisers on the day will be very much transferable to the club's everyday events next year, and indeed to the organisation of any major outdoor sporting event
The main organizing committee was: Aengus Finnegan (Secretary), Istvan Andorko (Captain), Alicja BarczyDska (Hiking Training and Safety Officer) and Rhodri Ceredig (Hiking Vice-Captain).
National University of Ireland, Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland.
This page was last updated Tuesday, May 21, 2013.