Gauja Trail 50 K

Gauja Trail 50 K

The start is unusual: Ratnieki is a 19th-century paper-mill town that is still working, with its own wooden architecture and, the organiser notes, a secret Soviet bunker nearby. From there the 53 kilometres and 1,200 metres of ascent take a loop on the trails around Līgatne before continuing to Cēsis, where several ski slopes near the town come before the finish on Rozu laukums.

Bibs are collected at the expo in Cēsis from 6 August, or in Ratnieki on race morning between 06:30 and 08:30, no later than 30 minutes before the start. The race is a UTMB World Series 50K event and earns two Running Stones. The organiser’s page gives the start as 09:00. Our catalogue previously listed 08:30, and the organiser’s time is the one used here. Eleven hours for 53 km leaves room to walk the climbs.

This page covers the 2027 edition. On Livebib the runner shares a link to their own broadcast, and friends in Cēsis open it without an account or an app to see the position on the course line, the distance covered and a finish estimate that updates as the race goes. Stretches without signal are carried forward along the course and marked as estimated.