Transruinaulta / Transviamala: Course, Elevation & Route Profile

Course & Elevation

The start is in Ilanz, the first town on the Rhine, and the field is on narrow trail beside the young Vorderrhein almost immediately. The first eleven kilometres run in the middle of the Ruinaulta, runnable and quick. Then the course tips: hard climbs up to Versam, through the Versamertobel to Scardanal and on to Rhäzüns. The section between kilometre 12 and 24 holds the sharpest ramps of the day, among them seven hundred and fifty metres at a good twenty-six percent and a two-kilometre climb at almost ten.

At Rhäzüns the second marathon begins. The route turns towards the Heinzenberg, follows the Hinterrhein and climbs for three kilometres at close to twelve percent to the height of Präz. From up there the view opens across the whole Domleschg to the finish town. From the roof of the marathon it works slowly downhill on singletrails along the Heinzenberg, but not continuously: two more climbs wait at kilometre 37 and 39.5, shortly before the finish in Thusis.

The result is a distinctly restless profile. Only sixteen percent of the course is level, almost fifty percent lies in steep ascent or descent, and the route collects 1,710 metres of climbing over a good forty-two kilometres. Starts are individual, in waves between 09:15 and 09:40 so that the singletrails do not clog, and the race is run in partial autonomy: a mobile phone, a survival blanket and your own drinking cup are part of the recommended kit, because the aid stations hand out no cups.

Pacing Strategy

The first eleven kilometres in the gorge are the day's biggest temptation. They are flat, quick and effortless to run, and they are the only section on which you can overspend without noticing. Run them considerably more conservatively than the terrain allows, because what follows is no longer a marathon but mountaineering against a clock.

The race is decided in the block between kilometre 24 and 30. The three-kilometre climb at close to twelve percent up to the height of Präz arrives after more than two thirds of the distance and is followed by a shorter ramp at kilometre 28.6. Anyone still able to hike there rather than stand has saved the race. Hiking is the right technique on those steep pitches in any case, quick runners included: an even walking stride at high cadence is more efficient at twenty-six percent than any attempt to run.

Two traps remain. The first is the 14:15 cut-off at Rhäzüns at kilometre 24, which forces a realistic plan for the first half and must not be worked out for the first time on the climb. The second is the pair of rises at kilometre 37 and 39.5. They look harmless on the profile but come after the long descent off the Heinzenberg, on wrecked quadriceps. Hold something back for them deliberately, and run the singletrail descent before them under control rather than flat out, because that descent is where the damage that stops you at the end gets done.

Training plan for Transruinaulta / Transviamala: 12-week build

For a well-prepared age-group runner the Transruinaulta takes roughly five to eight hours, and the cut-off in Thusis at 18:00 sits almost nine hours after the first start. The demand is aerobic and low-intensity over long stretches but constantly interrupted: only sixteen percent of the course is level, almost half of it falls into steep ascent or descent, and that means switching between running, hiking and technical descending for many hours.

Volume is the foundation. Long runs of three to five hours off-road, with climbing rather than on the flat, are the key session, and at least two or three of them in the final two months should have rehearsed race nutrition. Since no cups are handed out on course, drinking from your own bottle or vest belongs in that rehearsal too.

There are two course-specific sessions. First, steep uphill hiking: repetitions of ten to twenty minutes on gradients above twenty percent, deliberately walked, with or without poles, because the ramps at kilometre 12.6 and 14.2 are not runnable. Second, downhill running under fatigue, on singletrail and at the end of a long run, because the descent off the Heinzenberg lasts for kilometres and decides what is left in the legs for the final two climbs.

Conditions are late-autumn and alpine. In late October Ilanz sits at around seven hundred metres and the high point of the course well above a thousand, and the gorges stay cold and damp all day. Reckon with wet leaves, slick roots and a change of weather en route, and train with the kit you will actually carry: a rain jacket, gloves and a hat are not a precaution here but part of the recommended minimum equipment for a race run in partial autonomy.