Mountain Marathon

The Mountain Marathon is a two-day navigation race in hilly terrain, with a night in a tent between day 1 and day 2. There is no marked course. You are given a topographical map with checkpoints on it and you decide for yourself which route to run or walk. Your team carries its own food, drink and kit.

No. There is a ranking for each format, but treating it as a race is entirely optional. There is no mass start and no required pace: every team sets off at its own start time. Many participants come for the adventure and the atmosphere rather than for the podium. For a lot of them the campfire at the overnight camp is the best moment of the weekend.

All three are DE24 navigation races, but the formats differ considerably. In the Mountain Marathon (2 days) you visit compulsory checkpoints in a fixed order and spend the night in a tent along the way. In the Rogaining Checkpoint Challenge (6, 12 or 24 hours) you choose which checkpoints to look for and in which order, with a basecamp you are free to return to. The Topotrail lasts a maximum of 6 hours and is the easiest way in.

No. "Mountain marathon" is the international name for a multi-day navigation race in hilly terrain, after the British example of the Original Mountain Marathon. The distance depends on your format and on the route you choose yourself: around 40 km per day for the Long run, around 25 km per day for the Short run and for the Walk. Navigate well and you will cover fewer kilometres than someone who takes detours.

There are two limits, one on day 1 and one on day 2.

Arriving late on day 1 carries no time penalty.
There is, however, a buffer with a cut-off time on day 1. Anyone arriving after it drops out of the final ranking but may still continue on day 2 if they wish. This is mainly to protect the team in question against overreaching.

At the end of day 2 your total race time (day 1 plus day 2) is measured against the official limit, with a buffer. Go over the limit but stay within the buffer and penalty minutes build up on a sliding scale.
Anyone who exceeds the limit by more than the buffer period is excluded from the ranking.

More information in the competition rules

Always notify the organisation first, on the emergency number printed on your map, even if you think it is not that serious. Never leave the course without telling us, because we will come looking for you. Anyone who cannot continue is picked up by the organisation at a suitable location if necessary.
The team is recorded as DNF and does not appear in the final ranking, but safety always comes first!

Each team is given one GPS tracker from Legends Tracking at registration. It is attached to one of the team members and stays switched on for the whole race, so we always know where you are. You hand it back in as soon as you finish.

Navigating with a phone, a watch or a GPS. Using maps other than the race map. Travelling by vehicle. Deliberate damage to nature or to private property. Leaving litter or equipment behind. Passing checkpoint answers to another team or accepting them. Failing to follow the safety instructions. Use of drugs or doping.

Then you help. That is not a matter of courtesy but an expectation, and the time you spend on it is credited back to your finishing time. Sportsmanship counts for more with us than a place in the ranking.

Yes, always. Both team members travel together, reach every checkpoint together and arrive together at the campsite and at the finish. At night you sleep in the same tent, for safety and for warmth. Splitting up to collect checkpoints faster is not allowed.

Your finishing time is your day 1 time plus your day 2 time, plus penalty minutes for arriving late and for missed compulsory checkpoints, minus the bonus minutes from the bonus checkpoints you found. The team with the lowest finishing time wins its category. If two teams are level, we look first at who found the most checkpoints, then at who found the most bonus checkpoints, then at who had the shortest actual running time.

All entries go through the Njuko platform. You select your format and your team composition (solo or pair) and pay securely online straight away.

A night at the start/finish is not included in the entry fee. There are, however, plenty of campsites, motorhome pitches, hotels and B&Bs nearby. The exact start location is sent to participants by e-mail 2 weeks in advance.

Information about the Mountain Marathon cancellation terms can be found on the relevant page.

Yes. Every participant is responsible for their own safety and must have their own personal accident insurance. The organisation is not liable for accidents during the race. If you are a member of a running or walking club, that insurance is often already included. If not, you can take out temporary sports insurance.

Do not train the distance alone, train the conditions as well. Three things make the difference: run or walk two long days back to back at least once, do that a few times with your pack fully loaded, and sleep at least one night in the tent you are bringing. Anyone using their kit for the first time on the start line discovers the problems at the worst possible moment.

You enter as a solo (1 person) or as a pair (2 people). Solo means two days of navigating and deciding entirely on your own, which is mentally harder but also more intense. Most first-time participants go as a pair. A team of 3 is possible, but outside the ranking: with three pairs of eyes on the map you have a navigational advantage, and that would not keep the ranking fair. Send us a message if that is what you want. Friends, colleagues or family can also enter as separate teams and simply travel together.

As long as the dog has no nose for finding checkpoints, your four-legged friend is more than welcome to run along. Do bear in mind that your dog goes through two full days and spends the night at the campsite: bring food and a warm spot in the tent.

Individual participants must be 18 or older. If you are younger, you can take part in a team with at least one responsible adult. Bear in mind that a multi-day effort with a night outdoors weighs more heavily on young people.

We rate this race 5 out of 5 for physical demand, 4 out of 5 for enjoyment and 2 out of 5 for navigation technique. Put differently: it is the toughest race in our programme, but not the most technically difficult. The challenge lies in two days back to back, in the weight on your back and in sleeping outdoors, not in complicated map reading.

No. The Mountain Marathon scores 2 out of 5 for navigation technique: all checkpoints are marked on your map from the start and lie along passable paths. You get a briefing beforehand. If you would still like a head start, you can take a map and compass workshop.

Look at what you can comfortably manage today, not at what you hope to manage. Do you regularly run trails of 30 km or more, and does a long day sit well in the legs? Then the Long run is within reach. Do you run 15 to 20 km comfortably and want some margin for navigation errors and a 7 kg pack? Choose the Short run. Do you enjoy long days of walking? Choose the Walk. Do not forget: you do it two days back to back, carrying a pack, and you always cover a little more ground than the theoretical route.

All teams spend the night together at one campsite between day 1 and day 2. There are washing facilities, a first aid post and a campfire. Your tent, sleeping bag and sleeping mat are already there, because they are transported for you. Pairs sleep together in the same tent, for safety and for warmth. In the evening the campfire is where the day gets talked over.

Count on an evening meal, a breakfast and enough food for two days on the move. Freeze-dried meals are popular because they are light and only need hot water. If you would rather not carry a stove, go for cold meals you prepare in advance. On the move, what you are used to works best: this is not the weekend to try out new gels.

No, and that is deliberate. At the campsite we sell drinks only: soft drinks and other non-alcoholic drinks in the evening, coffee and tea from Coffee Crusader in the morning. You bring and prepare your own dinner and breakfast yourself. Drinking water is available, so you can get going with your own cooking kit. Providing for yourself is part of the bivouac experience.

Toilets and showers, a hot pasta meal (pasta party) and one drink per participant, included in your entry. After that come the ranking calculations and the prize ceremony. Extra drinks can be bought on site. At the campsite between day 1 and day 2 there are washing facilities, but expect basic comfort there: it remains a bivouac in nature.

Yes. On each race day we provide one feed station on the course, with fruit, something sweet, something salty, sports drink and water. Beyond that you are self-sufficient. Outside support, leaving drop bags along the route, pacers and stopping off at a café or a shop are not allowed.

Every checkpoint lies along a passable path and comes with a short description on the map, for example "confluence of a stream" or "small bridge". On site you will find an A5 slip with a code on it. You write that code on your team card next to the matching letter, as proof that you were there.

Each team member receives one Topo25 map from the Belgian National Geographic Institute (NGI), scale 1:25,000, for each race day. That map shows all of that day's checkpoints with a letter, the places where drinking water is available, dangerous passages or out-of-bounds areas, and the emergency numbers. Every team gets exactly the same map. There is one copy per participant per day: if it gets damaged there is no replacement, so a plastic map case is not a luxury.

Only immediately after your own start. There is therefore no preparation time to plan your route in advance. You plan while you are on the move, and that is deliberate: it turns the first kilometres straight into a tactical choice. Standing behind the start line to plan is not allowed, we expect every team to be a few hundred metres clear of the start first.

Mistakes are part of it and happen to everyone. A missed compulsory checkpoint costs you penalty minutes, not disqualification, and your race simply carries on. Navigation is learned by doing. If you are truly lost: stand still, get your map out and look for a recognisable feature in the landscape, such as a stream, a road or the edge of a wood. If need be, walk back to the last point you recognised for certain. If you cannot work it out, call the organisation on the number printed on your map. Every team carries a GPS tracker, so we know where you are.

Yes and no. All checkpoints are marked on the map from the start, so map reading alone will get you round. But if you are hesitating between two paths, want to be certain of your direction of travel, or find yourself in mist, rain or fading light, a compass quickly wins you back several minutes. A compass is recommended, not compulsory. We sell a Silva Ranger 3 compass if you would like one.

Navigating with digital aids is forbidden and leads to disqualification. That covers handheld GPS units, GPS navigation on a sports watch or phone, and altimeters and pedometers. Maps other than the official race map are forbidden as well. You may wear a GPS watch, but it has to be set to "Adventure mode". Your phone stays switched on throughout the race, but only to take photographs, to call the emergency services in the event of a serious accident, or to notify the organisation of a problem. A compass, a scale rule, a pen and a map case are allowed.

The compulsory checkpoints, yes: those you visit in the fixed order shown on the map. The bonus checkpoints, no: those you can look for in whatever order suits you, or skip altogether. Every missed compulsory checkpoint costs penalty minutes, every bonus checkpoint you find earns bonus minutes. Exactly how many is shown per checkpoint on the map, because harder checkpoints are worth more.

No. The organisation transports the complete sleeping set-up to the campsite for each participant: tent, sleeping bag and sleeping mat. For a pair we take one tent. That is included in your entry. All your other kit, clothing, cooking gear and food you carry yourself on both days.

Pack uncompromisingly light and you end up around 5 kg. The average race weight is somewhere between 6 and 8 kg without water. Ten kilos or more is not unusual for anyone bringing a little extra comfort. Add your water on top of that: 1 litre weighs 1 kilo. There is one feed station per day on the course, so you do not have to haul everything with you from the start.

A compass, a pen or pencil, a scale rule, a plastic map case and toilet paper. And cooking kit, if you want a hot meal at the campsite. That last one is a real trade-off: a hot meal after day 1 does a great deal for your morale, but it costs you a stove, a pot and fuel in your pack. The full compulsory list is further up this page.

The race goes ahead in rain and in cold, and at the end of September in the Eifel it can be either. That is why a waterproof jacket, a warm mid layer, hat, gloves and a survival blanket are on the compulsory list. Also bring dry sleeping clothes, kept separately in a waterproof bag: arriving in wet clothing is unpleasant, getting into a wet sleeping bag is dangerous.

No, but it helps. A 20 to 30 litre pack that sits well on your back matters more than the brand. What you really want to avoid: a pack that bounces, shoes you have never worn for two long days back to back, and a waterproof you have never tested in real rain. Kit that is good on paper and bad on your back weighs double.