FUGA Penyagolosa Trails: Course, Elevation & Route Profile

Course & Elevation

The start is on the athletics track of the Universitat Jaume I in Castelló, 66 metres above the sea and in the dark. The first climb begins as early as kilometre 1.2, 3.5 kilometres at 7.5 percent. The second, from kilometre 7.7, is the steepest of the whole first half: 3.3 kilometres averaging 12.3 percent with ramps of up to 42 percent, lifting you to just over 540 metres above Borriol. After that the course spends some 25 kilometres between 200 and 550 metres, rolling through Vilafamés and Les Useres without ever really flattening out.

The race is settled late. From kilometre 33.2 the route climbs 245 metres in one go, two short ramps follow, and at kilometre 42.1 the ascent to Xodos begins: 2.9 kilometres at 12.3 percent. From there you never properly come back down. At kilometre 50.6 another 2.5 kilometres at 14.7 percent are waiting, and the high point sits at close to 1,500 metres shortly after kilometre 56. The closing kilometres give back around 200 metres until the sanctuary appears in the basin below.

The race did not invent this line. Climbers from Castelló revived the pilgrimage to the sanctuary in the 1950s and in doing so cleared the GR-33, the Sender de la Lluna Plena; in 1996 it became a one day march, and in 1999 the first Marató i Mitja. The finish is the courtyard of Sant Joan de Penyagolosa at 1,280 metres, directly under the 1,814 metre Penyagolosa. The race is run in semi-autonomy: everyone carries their own cup, because none are handed out at the aid stations. The 1,500 places are drawn by lot.

Pacing Strategy

Nine percent of the course is flat and almost 30 percent is steep climbing. There is no continuous rhythm to hold here, and your watch tells you less about your state than the question of whether you can still eat at the top of a climb. Treat the first 33 kilometres as the approach. Running the 12 percent ascent from kilometre 7.7 because your legs are fresh and the group is pulling is a bill that arrives four hours later.

The race is decided between kilometre 42 and kilometre 57. Two climbs totalling around 720 metres sit there, the second averaging 14.7 percent, with rolling ground above 900 metres in between. That is the stretch you need reserves for, and the only one where caution earlier in the morning pays off. Expect to hike it, and hike it fast rather than run it badly.

The real trap is that this course gives nothing back. Against 3,257 metres of climbing there are only 2,044 of descent, so there are hardly any long downhills on which your heart rate recovers. Add the change of weather: you start in the dark on the warm coastal plain and stand at 1,400 metres in the wind by the afternoon, where April can be wet and cold. Personal support is allowed only at Borriol, Les Useres and Xodos, so plan your food and clothing for everything in between yourself.

Training plan for FUGA Penyagolosa Trails: 12-week build

For 60 kilometres with 3,257 metres of climbing on mountain paths, plan on seven to twelve hours depending on your level; the limit is 15 hours. The demand is not evenly aerobic but comes in bursts: eight listed climbs of one to three and a half kilometres, with rolling ground between them that rarely settles into a calm base effort.

The course is back loaded. More than a thousand of the 3,257 metres sit beyond kilometre 42, which is to say in the part of the day where your carbohydrate stores have already run low once. Build that in: long sessions whose vertical sits in the second half, with the steepest climb in the final hour. A long run with 1,500 metres of climbing up front and a flat finish does not prepare you for this race.

The main emphasis belongs to fast hiking. You will not be running 14 to 15 percent for two and a half kilometres, and efficiency on foot up there is worth half an hour. Add steep climbs with poles, strength endurance work uphill and, since 17 percent of the course drops steeply, technical descending on gravel and rock.

The conditions span coast to mountain in a single day. You start before sunrise at sea level, run through the dry, sun exposed Maestrat around midday and finish at nearly 1,500 metres, where late April can bring wind, rain and single digit temperatures. Train with the mandatory kit in your pack, get used to drinking from your own cup at aid stations, and factor in how places are allocated: they go by draw, and pre-registering for the MiM rules you out of the CSP draw in the same year.