ESD 20K is the 22.0km trail race at Ultra-Trail Shudao by UTMB 2026 (Zhaohua Ancient Town, China). The race starts on November 8, 2026 at 07:30 AM. It starts and finishes in Zhaohua Ancient Town. The time limit is 7 h.
Run the climb at race pace, build your speed on the downhill, and go all out at the finish.
The course climbs 900m+. With 41m/km of climbing, this is a rolling, mostly runnable course. By gradient, 40% of the distance is uphill, 26% downhill and 34% flat. The longest climb runs 11.4km at an average 6.4% grade (728m of vertical). The longest descent runs 10.7km at an average 7.2% grade (773m of vertical). The steepest climb averages 23.8% over 0.7km. The steepest descent drops at 37.8% over 0.5km. Surface: 52% trail and 29% road. Flat-equivalent effort: 30.7 FlatKM.
Poles bring little benefit here: only about 2.6km of pole-friendly terrain.
Quad damage risk is low (index 12 of 100): a few descents worth noting, none of them decisive.
On race day, start temperatures have historically ranged from 6°C to 13°C, with around 10°C at the highest point; the chance of precipitation is about 23%. Heavy rain of 10.0mm or more falls on about 2% of days around this date.
This page has a pacing and nutrition planner, a gradient matrix, an interactive elevation profile and historical weather for ESD 20K.
Other distances of Ultra-Trail Shudao by UTMB 2026DSD 100K (92.0km)·CSD 70K (70.5km)·MSD 50K (42.0km)
Other editions of ESD 20K2025
Official websiteshudao.utmb.world
