The world’s big races, and how to watch them from Australia
Every major trail race, when it’s on, where to stream it, and what time to be awake for it in Australian time. Kept current through the season. Times updated when they become available.
Times are Sydney time, AEDT from October to early April, otherwise AEST.
When one of these races teaches me something about my own, I write about it in Unfinished.
The nearest races to your armchair
Val d’Aran by UTMB
Hardrock 100
Sierre-Zinal
Then the big one, UTMB Mont-Blanc, late August.
The calendar, month by month
It runs top to bottom, month by month. Not the entire running calendar. Selected events and majors, times will be updated when confirmed.
July 2026
2 racesVal d’Aran by UTMB
The European Major, and the closest thing to watching your own race, since UTA runs the same series.
Hardrock 100
A hundred miles through the San Juans that ends with a kiss on the rock. Thin coverage is part of the myth.
August 2026
5 racesUTMB Mont-Blanc
The one everyone watches, a hundred miles around the massif through a full night and day.
Sierre-Zinal
The race of the five 4000ers, eighty years old and still the purest test of mountain speed.
Matterhorn Ultraks Extreme
Skyrunning under the most famous mountain on earth, on knife-edge terrain.
Trofeo Kima
The legendary biennial, back in 2026, a brutal high traverse of the Sentiero Roma.
Leadville Trail 100
The Race Across the Sky. A hundred miles of thin air over Hope Pass, and one of the oldest, most storied hundreds in America. It completes the American classics set alongside Western States and Hardrock.
October 2026
1 raceGTWS Grand Finale, Muju Trail
The season decider, one race, the title on the line, in Korea for the first time.
November 2026
4 racesRMB Ultra-Trail Cape Town
Table Mountain and two oceans, the season’s stunning near-final act.
Ultra-Trail Kosciuszko by UTMB
Australia’s alpine hundred through the snow gums, on the same circuit as UTA.
Javelina Jundred
The original costumed party ultra, a flat, fast Halloween hundred through the Sonoran Desert that doubles as a Western States Golden Ticket race, so the fields run deep and hard.
Skyrunner SkyMasters Final
The season’s technical showdown for the Skyrunner crown.
Looking ahead, 2027
3 racesUltra-Trail Australia (UTA)
The reason this journal exists.
Black Canyon Ultras
The season’s first big battle, a fast Sonoran Desert 100 km that is both a World Trail Majors race and a Western States Golden Ticket, so the early-season form and the ticket-chasing make for a loaded field.
Tarawera by UTMB
Across the ditch and almost in your time zone, the southern hemisphere’s big summer ultra.
Earlier this season
Watch the replaysAlready run in 2026. Next editions flagged where known.
Zegama-Aizkorri
The loudest, steepest mountain marathon in the sport.
Western States 100
The oldest hundred-miler in the world, won and lost in the canyon heat.
Marathon du Mont-Blanc
Chamonix, the spiritual home of the sport, and a sky-marathon to the roof of the valley.
Anta Hong Kong 100
A brutal, humid hundred through Hong Kong’s back-country hills, the season’s opener.
Transgrancanaria
A volcanic night-start crossing of the island.
Mt Fuji 100
Japan’s biggest hundred-miler, a full loop of Fuji. Formerly Ultra-Trail Mt Fuji, and not a UTMB race despite the old name.
A few notes for the armchair
Time zones
Every window here is Sydney time, AEDT from October to early April, otherwise AEST. Europe sits eight to ten hours behind us, North America fourteen to eighteen, so most big races land late night into early morning.
Geo-blocks and paywalls
UTMB.TV needs a subscription for full live. Warner Bros Discovery coverage (Eurosport, HBO Max) can be geo-blocked and its Australian availability shifts season to season, so we mark those AU: confirm.
Where the free streams live
The Golden Trail, Skyrunner and World Trail Majors series put a lot on YouTube for free, replays included. Start there before you pay for anything.
No shame in the replay
Missed the overnight window? Almost everything is up as a replay within a day. The armchair keeps its own hours.
Times marked [confirm] are our best estimate and get pinned down in race week. All times Sydney unless noted.