Course de Noël et Trail des Châteaux: Course, Elevation & Route Profile

Course & Elevation

The start is on the Place de la Planta in the middle of Sion, at 512 metres. The first climb begins after a kilometre and a half, 1.25 kilometres averaging 14 per cent, and from there the course barely relents until kilometre 15: a 650 metre ramp at 19 per cent to the Château de Montorge, a 1.75 kilometre section at 14 per cent from kilometre 8.5, then the shallower rise to the Château de la Soie at kilometre 10.6. From kilometre 12.9 comes the centrepiece, 2.55 kilometres at 25 per cent on average with pitches beyond 50, up to the Mayens-de-la-Zour and the high point at around 1,600 metres.

After that the route runs downhill for fourteen kilometres, through Grimisuat at kilometre 23.9 and Champlan at kilometre 26.6, back towards the valley floor. Anyone who thinks the race is over there is wrong: at kilometre 29.8 there is still a 570 metre climb at 23 per cent up to the Tourbillon castle, then the traverse to the church of Valère, and only then the drop to the finish.

The two castle rocks of Tourbillon and Valère above Sion are the landmark of the Valais, and on the way there the trail collects the castles of Montorge and La Soie and the communes of Savièse, Arbaz and Grimisuat. It is run in mid December, so possibly on snow above 1,300 metres, with mandatory kit of phone, survival blanket and cup, and with cut-offs at Grimisuat and shortly before the finish. The finish sits on the Place de la Planta in the middle of the Course de Noël afternoon programme: the trail runners come off the mountain and run straight into a city-running festival with more than 5,000 starters. The path up to Tourbillon past the cemetery is protected ground and may only be used on race day.

Pacing Strategy

Only eight per cent of this loop is flat; almost half of it is steep, up or down. There is no held race pace here, and trying to run one is the most expensive mistake of the day. Ration the first thirteen kilometres so that you walk the ramps above twelve per cent briskly rather than running them as soon as the heart rate climbs out of your endurance range: the time lost is small and the muscle saved decides the second half.

The race is settled between kilometres 12.9 and 15.5. Two and a half kilometres at 25 per cent on average is a climb rather than a run, and because fourteen kilometres of descent follow, you do not pay for going too hard on the mountain but on the way down, with quadriceps that stop braking somewhere around Grimisuat. Take the section deliberately evenly and eat while you still can chew.

The real trap comes at kilometre 29.8. After fourteen kilometres of descending there is a 570 metre climb at 23 per cent to Tourbillon, and the legs are set up for braking, not for climbing. Plan it as its own section with its own effort, not as an afterthought. Then the conditions: a ten o'clock start in December, cold, damp and possibly snow high up, short daylight below; the stations at La Soie, the Mayens-de-la-Zour and Grimisuat are six to seven kilometres apart, so drink on the climb rather than at the top of it.

Training plan for Course de Noël et Trail des Châteaux: 12-week build

For a well trained age-group runner the Trail des Châteaux takes roughly four to six hours; the organiser's cut-offs allow a good seven. The demand splits in two and both halves are hard: thirteen kilometres of mostly steep climbing, so a long strength-endurance effort with short anaerobic spikes on the ramps beyond twenty per cent, followed by fourteen kilometres of descent in which the cardiovascular load drops and the muscles work eccentrically.

Two sections decide the race. The 2.55 kilometre climb at 25 per cent from kilometre 12.9 asks for an hour of even uphill work without a collapse; prepare it with long ascents of 40 to 70 minutes run as a deliberate alternation of running and fast hiking, because that alternation is the technique of choice on the day. The second is the Tourbillon climb at kilometre 29.8: short, very steep and arriving after more than four hours of racing. It is not trained fresh but as a steep finish tacked onto the end of a long run.

The second emphasis is downhill running under fatigue. Seventeen hundred metres of descent, fourteen kilometres of it almost unbroken on tracks and paths, is why the closing ten kilometres hurt for most people. Build in one long descent a week over several weeks, run it with a high cadence and short ground contact, and make the last one of each session happen when the legs are already tired.

Among the conditions, December and altitude count. The high point is at 1,600 metres, snow or frozen ground is possible above 1,300, and a ten o'clock start means slower runners cover the last kilometres in fading light. So do part of your long sessions outdoors on real terrain in winter, test gloves, hat and a thin windproof under load, and run at least once with the full mandatory kit of phone, survival blanket and cup so the vest is not a surprise on race day.