Discover Trail Running

Do you want to explore your abilities in the great outdoors? Trail running is a sport that takes place amid nature, and with respect for the environment, a sense of humility, shared community, and a strong sense of sports ethics. Trail running benefits from a definition that is shared internationally by all participants.

A trail race is a pedestrian competition open to everyone, which takes place in a natural environment, with the minimum possible of paved roads (20% maximum). The course can range from a few kilometers for short distances all the way to 80 kilometers and beyond for ultra-trail races.

Mountains or forests, countryside or desert, this endurance race takes place on naturally variable terrain, including very often significant climbs and descents, which result in elevation gain and loss between the start and finish line. The distance isn’t the only thing that matters! Together, the unique features of the terrain and the relationship between distance and elevation changes all work together to create the overall level of difficulty for a given race.

This sport, which became popular in the mid-1990s, has been recognized by as an official athletics discipline by the World Athletics and ITRA has been nominated World Athletics technical partner for the development of Trail Running.
Discover more here https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/trail-running/trail-running.

Born of the pleasure of running amid nature, trail running is above all a communion with our environment. The runner, liberated from the trappings of our modern world, practices his or her sport amid a demanding environment for both mind and body. As a physical and mental challenge, trail running encourages each of us to explore our capabilities with an abiding sense of humility, in contact with both wild and fragile spaces. While trail running, we pay attention to our senses, without just focusing on performance. In these moments, we can also work develop our physical and mental abilities. In the end, what ultimately drives us as runners, after all, is to simply to cross the finish line.

Authenticity, humility, fair play, equality, respect, and teamwork make trail running a sport with a strong sense of shared values that form the basis of ITRA’s charter.

World Ranking & Performance assesment

The ITRA Performance Index (PI) is a tool that measures the level of trail runners worldwide. It uses a scale with a maximum of 1,000 points. The PI is determined by calculating a weighted mean of a runner's 5 best race scores over the past 36 months (for the general index or the index by race category).

A lack of an active Performance Index indicates that the runner has not registered any results in the past 36 months.

To learn more, please read our FAQ.

Race score explained

Each completed race is given a "Race Score". This score represents a runner's performance level in a race, on a scale from 0 to 1,000 (1,000 being the best possible score).

The calculation of each score is done using an algorithm that takes into account all factors that have a direct influence on the runners' performance: distance, elevation gain, altitude, race conditions, technical difficulty, and the runner's time. For each race, the score varies based on these data.

To learn more, please consult our FAQ.

When it comes to trail racing, there is something for everyone!
ITRA categorizes trail races according to their level of difficulty.

Knowing the difficulty of a trail race allows runners to select the race that best suits their needs as well as to prepare for it to the best of their ability.
ITRA race evaluation provides runners and organizers with a consistent measure all around the world.
ITRA uses a validated method to calculate the level of difficulty of a race and this method is based on the notion of ‘Km-effort’.
The total “Km-effort” of a race are calculated by taking into account both the distance and the elevation gain as follows:

Based on the number of Km-effort, each race is then classified according with its level of difficulty with ITRA Points ranging from 0 to 6 as follows:

ITRA organizes trail races into familiar distance-based categories, helping runners to identify events that match their goals and endurance level.
While elevation gain plays a role in ITRA Endurance point calculations, the distance category is determined solely by course length.