Famous for starring in the movie Braveheart as the place where William Wallace fought the bloody Battle of Stirling, this hill offers the perfect setting for some fun hill repeats.
Semaphore Hill, as is the real name for the hill, “towers” at about 150m over the plains of the Curragh. This vast area stretches to almost 5000 acres. The name “Curragh” comes from the Irish word Cuirreach, meaning “place of the running horse”, so it’s quite fitting that it also doubles as an excellent place for running.
Those who have watched the movie Braveheart, will be familiar with the famous (and quite brutal) Battle of Stirling scene: fearless Scots sprinting up the hill to fight, and ultimately defeat the English army.
In that sense, one could argue: running up the hill means channelling the ‘inner William Wallace’.
The hill isn’t overly steep. Ideal for hill sprints or some longer reps that spike the heartrate. The hill is about 400-600m long, depending on where one counts it to start and finish. There’re a bunch of different ways to get up to the forest, with those from east to west the most prominent. A bunch of Strava segments exist as well, for those keen to chase the crown!
Even if it rained heavily, the land has excellent drainage characteristics and the hill is always runnable. It’s a place certainly exposed to the elements, though, so can be quite blustery – adding some extra spice, if needed.
What I like about this area in particular: opposite to Braveheart Hill you can find another selection of small and sharp hills. They vary in grade and generally tend to be 60-150m in lengths.
I love using Braveheart Hill for the longer 400m reps, running up hard without going completely into the red, with a jog down as recovery, turn around and go up again. Before moving over to the hills on the other side for a few quick, powerful sprints.
This is a great place for a proper hill workout. The difficulty can be adjusted through the number of reps, rep lengths, recovery time and actual speed. The plains around the hill offer additional k’s to get into the legs, if one wishes to do so.
Getting here is easy: the hill is only a few minutes off the M7 behind the Curragh Camp. A small road runs past it and parking is available anywhere left and right on the grass:
If I don’t want to drive all the way to the Wicklow Mountains but crave some solid hill work, I’ll drive down to this area. It builds strengths, speed and mental fortitude.
Uphill Runner 