The North Face Transgrancanaria, live.

An island crossed from beach to beach

The Classic starts on the sand at Las Canteras a minute before midnight and finishes on the sand at Maspalomas, with the whole island in between.

Transgrancanaria opens the European mountain ultra season. The Classic runs 126 kilometres and roughly 7,000 metres of ascent from the north coast to the south, over the volcanic spine of Gran Canaria past Roque Nublo and beneath Pico de las Nieves, and it does the first half of that in the dark. The Advanced covers 81.5 kilometres from Teror, the Marathon 46 from Tejeda, and the Half 23 from Santa Lucía de Tirajana — four races that all end at the Parque Sur in Maspalomas or in the mountains above it.

February and March on Gran Canaria mean cold nights at altitude and heat in the barrancos before noon, which is why the race breaks people who read only the elevation profile. On Livebib the course is drawn as it really is, with the runner on it, the aid stations in order, distance covered and an arrival estimate for the next one. One link for everyone following from home, and it costs nothing to watch.