Four days before the Ultra 105K gun fires in Ordino, the trail running world is quietly watching.
Trail 100 Andorra by UTMB has grown into one of the UTMB World Series' most architecturally ambitious races — not because of its scale (the Principality of Andorra fits inside Greater London) but because of what its terrain demands. One hundred and five kilometres through a country that exists almost entirely above 1,500 metres. Six thousand nine hundred metres of vertical gain. A maximum time limit of 34 hours that, for a significant proportion of the field, will be tested fully. The route does not offer relief.
The race begins on Saturday, June 13 at 06:00 from Ordino, a small village in the northern parish of the same name. At that elevation, in June, sunrise comes early and warm. The first runners will leave in the blue pre-dawn light, headlamps lit, heading immediately into the mountains that have been visible from their hotel windows since they arrived.
What Makes This Course Different
Most UTMB World Series events take place in regions with centuries of trail-running tradition — the Alps, the Pacific Northwest, the Andes. Andorra is something else. A micro-nation of 468 square kilometres that has been defined by mountains since its founding — the Pyrenees are not a backdrop here, they are the entire country. There are no low-altitude sections to recover on. There are no flat valley floors that extend for more than a few kilometres before the ground rises again. The Ultra 105K is designed around this reality: it is an uninterrupted tour of the Principality's highest terrain.
The Pico del Comapedrosa ascent is the race's defining moment. At 2,942 metres, it is the highest point in Andorra, and the course climbs to within metres of the summit from the western approach. On a clear June morning, with the field spread across the mountain's upper flank and the Pyrenees visible for 100 kilometres in each direction, it is the kind of moment that trail runners travel for. On a cloudy or stormy June morning — and the Pyrenees generate both with the speed of an alpine weather system — it is exposed, technical, and demands the navigation and physical reserves that separate prepared runners from overambitious ones.
The course also passes through the Estanys de Tristaina, a chain of glacial lakes above Ordino at approximately 2,300 metres. The lakes are among Andorra's most-photographed landscapes — turquoise water set against granite and late-season snowfields — and the race section through them runs in the night hours for the elite field, reducing the visual reward but not the physical challenge of the terrain above.
High passes and remote valleys define the course's middle section. The Pyrenean ridge that forms Andorra's border with Spain and France is crossed multiple times, each crossing requiring significant gain and loss of altitude on trails that range from wide mountain paths to narrow, rocky ridgelines. The route is marked and supported, but the exposure between aid stations in this section is significant — the race's mandatory gear list (emergency bivy, waterproof jacket, headlamp, minimum nutrition) is a genuine requirement, not a formality.
The Field
Trail 100 Andorra by UTMB sold out. That is the most immediate indicator of a race that has established itself within the UTMB World Series ecosystem. The UTMB Index points attached to the Ultra 105K make it a meaningful qualifier for the Chamonix grand finale, and the course's difficulty provides a credible test for the points awarded.
The field is international and deep — a mix of European mountain runners for whom the Pyrenees are home terrain, and visiting runners from North America, Asia, and elsewhere who have come specifically for the UTMB qualification opportunity. The Trail 80K, starting Friday morning, will have its own competitive dynamic and serves as an accessible entry point for runners who want to experience Andorra's mountains at a race level without committing to the full night-and-day ordeal of the 105K.
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Check-in and registration ran through Wednesday and Thursday in Ordino, with the village showing the particular energy of a small place that has embraced a large event. The trail running community's tendency toward camaraderie — which scales with the difficulty of what everyone has signed up for — fills the bars and restaurants of the village through the evenings.
The Trail 80K runners have their race briefing Thursday evening. The Ultra 105K briefing follows at a later hour. By early Saturday morning, the village square in Ordino will hold a few hundred runners, their support crews, and the quiet specificity of athletes who have committed to a very long, very serious day in the mountains. The gun goes at 06:00.
Weather
June in the Andorran Pyrenees is warm in the valleys and variable on the ridges. The forecast for race weekend as of Tuesday showed temperatures of 18-22°C in Ordino during the day, dropping to 5-8°C on the high passes overnight. Afternoon thunderstorms are possible on Saturday — the standard Pyrenean summer pattern — and the mandatory gear list is calibrated for exactly this eventuality. Runners who have prepared correctly will manage. Those who have not will visit the medical tent.
What Comes Next
The Trail 80K starts Friday at 08:00. The Ultra 105K starts Saturday at 06:00. Both races end in Ordino at the finish arch in the village centre.
For the destination guide to running the Ultra 105K course — access, gear, training, and the logistics of arriving in Andorra — see our Trail 100 Andorra race-the-route guide. For today's coverage from Punta Roca and the WSL El Salvador Pro quarterfinals, see our El Salvador Day 5 report. For the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Stage 3 TTT report from today's racing, see our Stage 3 field report.
