GRAND RAID DES PYRÉNÉES 2026 PREVIEW: FIVE DAYS IN THE HIGH PYRENEES
Close to 8,000 runners will arrive in Vielle-Aure, a village of 304 people in the Hautes-Pyrénées, for five days of racing beginning August 19. The 2026 Grand Raid des Pyrénées runs through August 23 with eight races on the program, from 40 kilometers up to the 160-kilometer Ultra Tour.
The event has grown from 420 entries at its first edition in 2008 to one of the largest trail festivals in France, a story told in our history of the Grand Raid des Pyrénées. It has done so without changing hands or joining a global series, and more than 800 volunteers from the surrounding communes still run the operation.
The Ultra Tour
The flagship race covers 160 kilometers with 10,000 meters of climbing and starts from Vielle-Aure on Friday, August 21. It runs as one large loop, which remains unusual at this distance in European mountain racing. No section is covered twice, and no runner sees the same aid station on the way out and the way back.
The route passes the Tourmalet, Barèges and the Pic du Midi de Bigorre, and links the cirques of Gavarnie, Estaubé and Troumouse, the glacial amphitheaters that define the French Pyrenees. The high point sits at 2,502 meters, the low point at 498, and the course crosses that vertical range repeatedly.
The terrain alternates between trail, ski runs, rock and high mountain paths. Long stretches demand hiking with poles rather than running, and the race has historically rewarded runners who can move uphill for hours without a runnable break.
The Benchmarks From 2025
Gwendal Moysan of France won last year's Ultra Tour in 21:49:07, the fastest winning time in the race's recorded results. Before that, men's winners had typically needed 24 to 25 hours. Jocelyne Pauly, also of France, won the women's race in 27:40:39, well inside the 30 to 32 hours that had been standard.
Both marks reset expectations for what the course allows. Whether 2025 was a product of favorable weather, a deep front pack, or a faster style of racing arriving at the event, this edition will show if those times represent a new normal or an outlier year.
What to Watch
The Grand Raid des Pyrénées does not publish an international elite list the way the biggest alpine races do, and its winners are often revealed by the race itself rather than the start sheet. Four of the last six Ultra Tour titles have gone to French runners, and the home advantage of knowing Pyrenean terrain has proven real.
Weather is the other variable. The course spends long periods above 2,000 meters, and late-August storms in the Pyrenees can turn a fast year into a survival exercise. The 2008 original saw fewer than one in five starters finish its long race.
Racing begins Wednesday, August 19 and continues through Sunday, August 23, with the Ultra Tour decided over the weekend in Vielle-Aure.