Kaçkar by UTMB, live.

Over a 3,200 m pass on the shepherds’ paths

Kaçkar by UTMB starts and finishes in Ayder, in Türkiye’s Kaçkar Mountains, and follows what the organiser calls the ancient shepherds’ paths between high plateaus.

The 2026 edition was run on Saturday 12 September from Ayder, and the organiser has already announced the next one for Saturday 11 September 2027. There are four races. The 100K, which is in fact 82 km with 5,600 m of ascent, starts at 04:00 with a 24-hour limit. The 50K (44 km, 3,000 m) starts at 08:00 with 12 hours 30 minutes, the 20K (20 km, 1,400 m) at 10:00 with 6 hours, and the Ayder 4K (4 km, 230 m) at 11:00 on forest trails, with 1 hour 15 minutes.

What sets the long course apart is height and stone. The organiser describes the 100K passing through twelve mountain villages and over Samistal, a remote stone-house plateau, before Mezovit Pass, a rocky scramble to 3,200 m. A technical, rocky lakes area lies between the Serdal and Ceymakcur passes, the Palakçur Pass and Avusor Lake section is a long traverse at 2,700 m, and Dadala Pass is crossed at nearly 2,900 m on the way back down through Huser to Ayder. The 50K takes in the Hazindak and Samistal plateaus, where the organiser points to 300-year-old stone houses.

A course like this goes quiet for hours between villages. A runner can share a link to their own Livebib broadcast, and family open it in a browser with no app and no account: position on the course line, distance covered and a finish estimate that updates as the race goes. When the phone loses signal behind a ridge or in a high valley, the position is carried forward along the course and marked as estimated rather than frozen at the last fix. The runner decides who gets the link.