Classic Up&Down

Race strategy

Short race: go all out.

• Hold your race pace up to 2.9km, but stay in control.
• The finish is runnable. Save your legs to run it all the way.
• Control your HR on the first climb, then run your race pace.
• Start · 0.0km–2.9km · Race-day nerves push your heart rate up: don't follow the crowd, find your own rhythm.
• Work · 2.9km–2.9km · Plus 1 more climb. This is where the race is built: steady, solid effort. Climb by heart rate or breathing, not pace.
• Home · 2.9km–11.9km · 9.0km of runnable trail, high point 819m. Kick for the line: give it everything you've got. Running pays off here: run wherever you can.

Course

The course climbs 400m+. With 33m/km of climbing, this is a rolling, mostly runnable course. By gradient, 27% of the distance is uphill, 30% downhill and 43% flat. The longest climb runs 2.9km at an average 3.9% grade (113m of vertical). The steepest climb averages 22.8% over 0.2km. Surface: 58% trail, 37% road, and 6% smooth. Flat-equivalent effort: 13.7 FlatKM.

Poles

The course is runnable enough that trekking poles are not needed.

Quad damage

There is too little runnable descent to damage the quads: plan the race around climbing and fuelling.

Weather

On race day, start temperatures have historically ranged from 10°C to 19°C, with around 16°C at the highest point; the chance of precipitation is about 26%. Heavy rain of 10.0mm or more falls on about 4% of days around this date.

Results

245 finishers completed the 2026 edition. Men's winner: Ionut Alin Zinca (Romania) in 46:27. Women's winner: Paula Claudia Todoran (Romania) in 56:56.