Madeira Island Ultra-Trail, live.

The length of a volcanic island

MIUT runs the whole spine of Madeira, from the cliffs of the north-west coast over Pico Ruivo to the sea on the other side.

The Madeira Island Ultra-Trail crosses the island end to end. The Legend leaves Porto Moniz at a minute to midnight and covers 110 kilometres with 7,200 metres of ascent — a climbing ratio matched by almost nothing in Europe — through the laurel forest of the Laurissilva, over Pico Ruivo at 1,862 metres and Pico do Areeiro, and down the ridges to the Fórum Machico on the south-east coast. The Advanced, Discover, Marathon and Starter take shorter bites of the same terrain and all finish in the same square.

Madeira’s trails are levada paths, stone staircases and exposed ridge lines, and the weather at 1,800 metres has nothing to do with the weather at the beach. That is what makes the race hard to follow from a hotel and easy to follow on Livebib: the runner’s live position on the real course line, the aid stations in order, distance covered and an arrival estimate for the finish that updates as the ridges take their toll.