Europe is Racing Too This Month

A friendly – and almost annual – reminder that there are three massive trail running events that are happening in the coming weekends in the Alps. While America’s eyes, and the trail media’s, and mine this year are on Broken Arrow and Western States, Europe is embracing the mountains trails melted out by the early summer sun:

• 18 – 20 June 2026: The Zugspitz Ultratrail in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. For the first time a UTMB event and Germany’s largest ultra event with over 5,000 participants for the seven different distances.
• 24 – 28 June 2026: Lavaredo Ultra Trail in Cortina d’Ampezzo with over 5,300 starters (2025 numbers) for the five distances.
• 25 – 28 June 2026: Mont-Blanc Marathon in Chamonix has 10,000 runners over eight distances. Everyone outside Chamonix talks about UTMB week, but Mont-Blanc Marathon is basically on par in terms of frenzied activity in the valley.

These three events are just a couple hundred miles apart from each other, one in Germany on the Northern side of the Alps, one in Italy on the Southern side, and one in France, on the southeastern side. All three in breathtaking locations – Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Chamonix are all previous host locations of the Winter Olympics. Lavaredo, which I ran last year and is an absolutely incredible event with races in the most beautiful location = the Dolomites but this event will always be in competition for global trail media attention. Garmisch’s Zugspitz is finding itself in the same place now. Chamonix does need no introduction. All three events would be talked about and covered, if they’d happen on a weekend with no competition for attention. All three events are the biggest in their respective countries and regions and proof that while trail running is global sports media is largely regional and limited.