Trail du Saint-Jacques by UTMB®

There are races run on a perfectly clean course, with tape markers and spectators every two kilometers. There are others that follow a real path, with its rocks, roots, and surprises. And then there’s the Trail du Saint-Jacques by UTMB®, which is literally run on a legend 📖. Not some small local tale forgotten: the GR65, the great medieval highway of pilgrims on the way to Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle 🛣️. Since the Middle Ages, millions of people have passed it. At a time when “going for a walk” also meant “maybe never coming back.” Beautiful atmosphere, right? 😇 Except here, a little twist 🔄: we go the opposite direction along the path against the grain. Where pilgrims descend calmly toward Spain with their shell hanging from their bag, trail runners instead wind the map backward at full speed, with carbon poles and a waterproof jacket mandatory 🗺️. The wooden drone has been replaced by technical gear… but the spirit of adventure hasn’t moved an inch 📏.

It all starts at the Puy-en-Velay, and frankly, it’s hard to imagine a cooler backdrop to begin 🏛️. The town sits on improbable volcanic formations, with jagged rocks jutting out everywhere. On one of them stands the Saint Michael d’Aiguilhe Chapel perched like in a movie, and above all, a giant statue watching over the valley. Fun fact: it was made from cannons melted down after the Crimean War. Yes, a religious statue forged from weapons of war. The irony isn’t lost 🙃. And then there’s the Cathédrale Notre-Dame du Puy. Pilgrims, for more than a thousand years, descend a grand staircase before heading off for 1,500 km. Trail runners, meanwhile, arrive completely spent at the bottom of those steps, often at night 🌙, in “OK, I’ve made it.” An inversion of roles, and that’s what’s amazing. The race has existed “only” since 2012, but it’s already gained real scope. It’s now part of the UTMB World Series, hosting runners from around the world.

On formats, there’s plenty to choose from... or plenty to sweat 🫠. The Ultra du Saint-Jacques is the big chunk: 139 km and 6 000 mD+. An entire night outdoors, with all the highs and lows that entails. The "Grand Trail" (86 kmgorges de l’Allier with a runnable, sometimes quite rugged terrain. The "Monistrail" (55 km) condenses the experience without making it easy. And the "Chibottes" (28 km) let you taste the vibe, with, as a bonus, those famous small dry-stone huts that give the race its name (back then, they were shelter). The "12 km of the Dolaizon" is there to enjoy without too much suffering (well… it’s all relative), and the hike 28 km lets you experience the course the pilgrim way, relaxed 😌. By the way, it isn’t rare to run into real walkers en route to Compostelle.

Les Running Stones, it’s like the “currency” of the circuit UTMB World Series. A trail runner earns them by finishing certain races, and they’re then used to enter the big events on the circuit, notably the UTMB around Mont-Blanc. On the Trail du Saint-Jacquesthey depend on distance: the Ultra (139 km) yields 4, the 86 km yields 3, the 55 km yields 2, and the 28 km yields 1. The longer it is, the more you accumulate. In short, they’re not just points: they’re the “capital trail” to access the next races on the circuit UTMB.

The terrain itself is raw. No alpine postcard here. Runners trek open plateaus where the wind reminds you who’s boss 💨, through gorges that erase any sense of civilization, and stone villages that light up at night 🏡. In the Allier Gorges, for example, pilgrims sometimes avoided passing alone in the old days—too isolated, too risky. And the path, above all, has a certain something. It isn’t mystical in a cliché way, but close. It has been trodden so much that it exudes a particular atmosphere 🤓. Some runners swear that in the dead of night, in total silence, they feel they’re not entirely alone. Sure, it could be fatigue… but still 👀. The finish, though, is a real moment. Always at night. Always at the foot of the cathedral ⛪. Runners spend hours in the dark, in the mud, in the wind… and suddenly they find the light again, the city, the people. It’s a bit like emerging from a tunnel. Many finishers say those last meters stay etched more than anything else. Some even touch the stone of the cathedral on arrival, like pilgrims. A small symbolic gesture, huge emotion 🤲.

The organizers call it the “spiritrail