WHO WE ARE
Knockmealdown Active is an award-winning, volunteer-led community organisation promoting outdoor recreation and activity tourism across the Knockmealdown Mountains of South Tipperary and West Waterford.
Run entirely by volunteers from ten communities on both sides of the range, we build and maintain walking trails, run some of the region’s best-loved outdoor events, and reinvest what we raise straight back into the place and the people who live here.
In 2024 that work was recognised nationally: Knockmealdown Active won the IPB Pride of Place award in the Community Wellbeing category — an all-island honour for outstanding volunteer-led community development. Today our events bring close to 5,000 people a year into the region.
Our story
From forest trails to a national way
The group grew out of the wooded northern slopes of the Knockmealdowns, where our first chairperson, Kevin O’Donnell, had been walking with groups since the mid-2000s. In 2012, working with the South Tipperary LEADER company’s Rural Recreation Officer, those walkers formally became Knockmealdown Active, building on an earlier recreational strategy for the mountains.
One of our first projects was the Knockmealdown Trail — a 32 km linear walk from Newcastle to Ballyporeen with eight looped walks branching off it. Today we maintain and upgrade around 100 km of tracks and trails across the range.
We also took on the ancient pilgrim route over the mountains. After years of walking, assessing and agreeing the way with landowners and both county councils, the 115 km St Declan’s Way was approved as a national waymarked trail in 2022 — delivered, through community effort, for a fraction of what such infrastructure usually costs.
HOW WE WORK
Visitors fund a better place
Our income comes from bringing people into the area, and every surplus becomes “rolling capital” for the next project.
When we spot a need — better access, a safer car park, an upgraded track — we cost it, seek tenders, and use our own funds to unlock and multiply state grants, often turning a 10% contribution into a fully funded amenity. The upgraded path down to Bay Lough, now smooth enough for a buggy or a wheelchair, came about exactly this way. Our visitors give us the means to make this a better place to live and to visit.
Behind the volunteers
Since 2011 we’ve put our people and our funds behind the wider community. Among other things, we’ve:
- Built and now maintain around 100 km of walking trails.
- Helped start Ardfinnan Kayaking Club and South Tipperary Cycling Club.
- Backed mental-health initiatives, including the PSST/UMatter group and the Clogheen Dawn of Hope walk.
- Recorded five local graveyards with Historic Graves.
- Produced a heritage StoryMap of the mountains with the Irish Uplands Foundation.
- Paid over €18,000 to local community groups, and donated €5,000 to Mount Melleray’s “Trails to the Cross”.
- Trained mountain guides and created maps and videos promoting the area.
- Helped form Goatenbridge Tidy Towns and a local heritage association.
A multi-community effort
Knockmealdown Active draws its committee and volunteers from around 8,500 people across ten communities on both sides of the range. Older neighbours still remember the meitheal, where communities came together to help one another, our outdoor events are a modern version of the same idea.
Araglin | Ardfinnan | Ballyporeen | Burncourt | Cappoquin | Clogheen | Goatenbridge | Lismore | Mitchelstown | Newcastle
Our events
A 6 stage walking route from Cashel to Ardmore, crossing the Knockmealdowns and linking coastal and inland landscapes. Suitable for walkers of all levels.
A seasonal kayaking experience on one of the region’s most distinctive natural features. Suitable for beginners, with equipment and guidance provided.
An annual multi-discipline race combining cycling, trail running, and Kayaking. Open to a range of fitness levels with 2 race formats available.
EVENT MANAGEMENT
Need a hand running an event?
We’ve been organising activity events since 2012, walks, pilgrimages, boating, cycling and festivals, and we offer that experience as consultancy. We can advise on planning and layout, timing and results, websites and social media, booking and online payments, live result feeds, insurance and compliance, grants and funding, and merchandising.
Walk it. Visit it. Be part of it.
Walk it.
Visit it.
Be part of it.
Walk it. Visit it.
Be part of it.
Knockmealdown Active helps connect people with the region and the communities around it.
If you want help planing your visit, to sign up for an event, or if you would like help us by to supporting Knockmealdown Active as a volunteer, please get in touch.
Knockmealdown Active helps connect people with the region and the communities around it.
If you want help planing your visit, to sign up for an event, or if you would like help us by to supporting Knockmealdown Active as a volunteer, please get in touch.