Gauja Trail by UTMB, live.

A bobsleigh track, sandstone cliffs and the square in Cēsis

Gauja Trail by UTMB is a UTMB World Series weekend in Gauja National Park in Latvia, from 6 to 8 August 2027, with every main race finishing in Cēsis.

The long race is a journey down the Gauja valley rather than a loop. The 100 K, which measures 91 km with 2,200 m of ascent, starts at Sigulda New Castle at 07:30 on Saturday 7 August, takes in the trails around Sigulda including a run up the town’s bobsleigh track, and continues to Līgatne, where the organiser promises sandstone cliffs and deep forest valleys around the Gauja river. After a loop there it heads to Cēsis, over and down a couple of ski slopes, and finishes on Rozu laukums in the centre of town, with 18 hours allowed.

The 50 K (53 km, 1,200 m) starts on Sunday at 09:00 in Ratnieki, a 19th-century paper-mill town that still works, and joins the Līgatne trails on the way to Cēsis, with 11 hours. The 20 K (21 km, 500 m) starts in Cēsis at 16:00 on Saturday and follows the Gauja before returning to town, with six hours, and the 10 K (13.5 km, 300 m) starts in Cēsis at 14:00 on Sunday, with three. Around them sit the Sigulda Three Castles Trail Run (12 km, Friday), a 6 km youth race and a 1.6 km kids’ race.

For family in Cēsis, a point-to-point race is hard to follow: the runner is somewhere in a forest valley between Sigulda and the finish for most of the day. On Livebib the runner shares a link to their own broadcast, and family open it in a browser, with no account and no app. They see the position on the course line, the distance covered and a finish estimate for Rozu laukums that updates as the race goes. Where the phone loses signal deep in the valley, the position is carried forward along the course and marked as estimated, never frozen and never shown as measured.