Ultrarunning in Switzerland: An overview of Ultra Runs, Ultra Marathons and Ultra Trails in Switzerland.
The dates for all Ultra Races in Switzerland, including registration, course, schedule, results and more details.
More than 40ultra runs take place in Switzerland every year. Most of these events are trails, with a distance of 45 km or longer. But there are also one or two exciting ultra runs away from the mountains.
Basically, an ultra run is described as a running event that is longer than a marathon. The marathon has a length of 42.195 km. This means that if the distance of a race is longer than 42.195 km, it is an ultra race. There are no upper limits. There are also ultra runs with distances of well over 100 kilometers. The usual distances on the road, however, are 50 km and 100 km as well as ultra runs over 12 hours and 24 hours.
What are ultratrails?
Off-road ultratrails take place in the mountains. The length of these runs depends entirely on the route. However, there is another challenge with ultratrails: the altitude. Ultratrails not only involve running long distances, but also climbing several 1,000 meters in altitude. In addition to a large portion of endurance, some mountain experience and caution are also expected from the athletes.
The most famous ultras in Switzerland
The "non plus ultra" in the Swiss ultra running calendar is the Bieler Lauftage (Biel Running Days), in which around 4,000 athletes take part every year. The supreme discipline is the 100 km run in Biel. Alternatively, participants can also run 56 km.
Otherwise, the ultratrails dominate in Switzerland. The offer is overwhelming. One of the biggest challenges is definitely the Scenic Trail in Tesserete (Ticino), which has only been held since 2013, but has made a big name for itself among trail runners. For example, the event has won the Swiss Ultra Trail Award several times. The main competition covers 113 km and 7,400 meters of altitude.
Other well-known ultra runs in the mountains are the Swiss International Mountain Marathon, the Swissalpine Marathon, the Gondo Marathon, the Swiss Irontrail, the Montreux Trail Festival, the Eiger Ultra Trail and the Swiss Canyon Trail. Now you are spoilt for choice as to which of these breathtaking ultra trails you would like to start on.
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