Tag Archives: Trail racing

I hadn’t been running much during Europe’s sweltering 2022 summer, and so I liked the looks of the UTMB Wildstrubel® Wild 25 course. It was the shortest distance of the options 110, 70, 50 kilometers.

Run the Alps guides, ambassadors, elite trail runners and staff, have collected a few tips on how to run your first trail race in the Alps.

Ivan Parasacco is the voice of ultra trail running in northern Italy, including the internationally known Tor des Géants trail race around Aosta Valley.

Run the Alps photographer, Sam Hill, captured the lesser seen side of UTMB Mont-Blanc®: Quiet moments away from cheering crowds, and the aftermath in Chamonix.

The Swiss Alps 100 takes place in Fiesch, a Swiss ski town near Brig, that’s below the Aletsch Glacier. The event is a festival of trail running with many different challenges for mountain athletes.

In mid-July under window boxes full of geraniums in the Swiss mountain resort of Grindelwald, my partner and I toed the line at the Eiger Ultra Trail by UTMB.

The Austrian city of Salzburg is both old and incredibly beautiful. It does not, on initial investigation, imbue you with thoughts of a trail running demi-mecca. That is until you focus your gaze past the turrets of the Hohensalzburg Fortress…

While small in size, races like Argentrail have everything you would find at a bigger event: a giant blow-up start line, a well-marked route with stocked aid stations, photographers and crowds cheering along the route, and wrapped up with an award ceremony and prizes.

Taking place near to the Grand St Bernard pass, at the southern tip of the Valais canton, the Trail du Vélan is one of the longest-running trail races in the Alps. The local support and pride in the race is clear, and not surprising given the poignant story behind its creation.

It’s my first ever trail race: Italy’s Gran Trail Courmayeur 30km. The race starts in Courmayeur, climbs approximately 2,000 meters (6561 feet), and winds along the Val Ferret balcony.