Tor des Géants race guide

How to get a place

These were the rules for 2026; the 2027 regulations had not been published in October 2026. There are 1,100 places. Some go to finishers of partner races in the TORX eXperience circuit. Everyone else pre-registers in February for a €10 fee that is not refunded, and if there are more applicants than places, a lottery decides. In 2026 more than 1,900 runners from 86 countries pre-registered for 766 places.

The lottery gives each country at least two places and shares the rest according to demand, and Italian runners are capped at 30% of the field. If you are drawn, you pay the fee in March: €990 in 2026. Twenty charity places and ten eco places, at €2,000 each, go on sale in April.

You must be at least 20. There is no qualifying race and no ITRA points requirement, but the race strongly recommends experience of multi-day races of 100 km or more. You need a competitive-sport medical certificate, uploaded by 1 August. Places cannot be transferred or deferred.

• How race entry systems work

The course

The race follows the Alte Vie, the high routes of the Aosta Valley, through 34 municipalities, at the foot of the Alps' highest four-thousanders and through the Gran Paradiso and Mont Avic parks. From Courmayeur it goes south and east over high cols such as Entrelor and Loson, at 3,295 metres the highest point, down to Donnas at 323 metres, then back north and west through Gressoney, Valtournenche and Ollomont to finish in Courmayeur.

You cross more than 20 named passes above 2,000 metres, several of them close to 3,000 metres, and many refreshment points are mountain huts. Official GPX files are published for each section.

• Choose trekking poles

Life bases and time barriers

Six life bases divide the course, at Valgrisenche, Cogne, Donnas, Gressoney-Saint-Jean, Valtournenche and Ollomont. Each has a hot meal, showers and space to sleep, and the organiser moves your bag between them. Some refreshment points also have rest areas, with a two-hour limit. Sleeping anywhere else, including in a hut or a car, means disqualification.

• Plan your splits in the pace planner

Main time barriers from the 2026 timetable, for the first wave, which started at 10:00 on Sunday. The second wave started two hours later and its barriers were two hours later. Life bases have a barrier in and out; other barriers apply when you leave. There are also refreshment points every 7 to 10 km. Source: official race website, checked 19 October 2026.

Rules and kit

Pacing is banned, even for 50 metres. One assistant with a pass can help you at refreshment points and life bases, in set areas, but assistants cannot enter the runner areas of life bases. There is no prize money.

You must always carry a cup, a charged phone, ID, two survival blankets, food, water and two working head torches. Other kit can wait in your bag, but the race can make you carry it in bad weather: waterproof and insulated jackets, waterproof trousers, a warm layer, a hat, gloves, crampons, a first-aid kit, a power bank, an altimeter, a knife and a GPS device with the route.

• Check the ultra kit list

Records and results

Both records fell in 2026. Jia-Ju Zhao won in 65:55:22, the first winner from outside Europe, and Katharina Hartmuth ran 67:10:09 to finish third overall, the first woman on the overall podium. She said she slept for 15 minutes in total. In 2026, 694 runners finished.

The course changes a little each year, so records are only a rough comparison. Franco Collé has won four times.

• Results history on DUV

Source: official race website, checked 19 October 2026.

History

The first Tor des Géants started on 12 September 2010, organised by the local club VDA Trailers. In 2012 the race was stopped on the fourth night at Saint-Rhémy-en-Bosses. In 2013 the Chinese runner Yang Yuan died on the Col de la Crosatie on the first night, and the organisers raised a fund for his family. In 2015 bad weather stopped the race twice, and only six runners completed the full course. The 2020 race was cancelled because of COVID-19, and in 2022 heavy snow stopped the race before the end.

The event is now branded TORX, and the old tordesgeants.it address redirects to torxtrail.com.

Tor des Glaciers and the other TORX races

The same week includes the Tor des Glaciers, about 450 km on the less-used Alte Vie 3 and 4 with 190 hours, which only TOR330 finishers under 130 hours can enter. There are also the 130 km Tot Dret, the 100 km Cervino-Monte Bianco and the 30 km Passage au Malatrà. Franco Collé won the 2026 Tor des Glaciers at his first attempt.

Running for good at the Tor

More than 2,500 volunteers help across the ten days of TORX races. The EcoloTor project tackles waste, energy and food waste, no plastic cups are supplied, and littering by a runner or their assistant means disqualification. Half the price of each eco place funds work to reduce the race's environmental impact.

• EcoloTor

Getting to Courmayeur

The nearest airports are Geneva, Turin and Milan, with buses to Courmayeur. There is no railway to Courmayeur itself; trains run to Aosta, with buses on from there. If you drive through the Mont Blanc tunnel, check for closures. Runners who withdraw are brought back to Courmayeur.

Questions people ask