Category Archives: Races

At some point during the winter or spring, one’s attention invariably turns towards the upcoming trail running season. For me, it happened recently when I received one of the best trail running guides to the Swiss Alps racing scene, the Swiss Athletics Guide des courses for all the 2016 races. This year promises some new events

Autumn is my favorite time of year in the Alps. The busyness of summer has subsided. Cowbells echo over frost-covered hills. Désalpe, the annual celebration when herds of cows move down from summer pastures, is starting to take place throughout the region. In the mountains, a thin mantle of snow comes and goes with each

Sierre-Zinal is a 31-kilometer mountain race that climbs over 2,200 meters from Sierre in Switzerland’s Valais region to Zinal.

In 1976, just two years into the now long and storied history of Sierre-Zinal, five members of a family took part in the new mountain race that was one of Europe’s first. The youngest, Daniel, needed cajoling to cross the finish—his mom Trudi promised there would be a medal awaiting him, and a chance to

This past Sunday was the 42nd running of Sierre-Zinal. The race is both legendary and, often, a true epic. Here’s why. For more than four decades, there have been famously tough competitors present—many of the world’s strongest mountain runners put Sierre-Zinal first in their summer plans. Second, the course includes a sharp, steep climb, an alpine traverse, and finally a

In the world of trail running, the vertical kilometer has quickly developed a well-deserved reputation for being as challenging as it is short. “Thirty-seven minutes in the pain cave,” as US mountain runner Max King rightfully concluded, after last month’s Chamonix’s Vertical Kilometer, or “VK.” Climbing 1,000 meters in 5 kilometers or less (and often

I am on a glacier, crawling across a ladder, a gaping abyss of a crevasse below, when the thought occurs. Ice Trail Tarentaise has got to be one of the most extreme trail races in all the Alps. This race, founded in 2011, has quickly garnered attention in the Alps, where there is no shortage of

Mira Rai, the young Nepali runner, is being interviewed. Her gentle face is radiating an infectious smile. She looks incomprehensibly fresh after winning Chamonix’s 80-km Continental Skyrunning Championships just moments ago with a new course record of 12:32:12. Her nearest competitor, Spain’s Anna Comet Pascua, didn’t see the finish line for another 22 minutes. Place

“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked. “Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.” “How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice. “You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.” ― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland The Vertical

Can you imagine running a half-marathon with aid stations offering wine? Such a race exists here in Switzerland, which I had the pleasure of running last Saturday. If you’re looking for picturesque landscapes, a festive atmosphere and the opportunity to wear a ridiculous costume during a race (a sporty dirndl, perhaps?), then I recommend signing