Ultra-Trail Shudao by UTMB®, live.

Flagstones a thousand years old

Four trail races on the old Shu Roads of northern Sichuan, every one of them ending in Zhaohua Ancient Town.

Ultra-Trail Shudao by UTMB runs from Friday 6 to Sunday 8 November 2026 around Guangyuan. The organiser publishes four distances: the DSD 100K at 92 km and 3,500 m of ascent, the CSD 70K at 71 km and 3,100 m, the MSD 50K at 42 km and 2,000 m, and the ESD 20K at 22 km and 900 m. The 100K is the only point-to-point race, starting at Dashudao Buye Sanguo Town at 21:00 on Friday and running from Jiange to Zhaohua. The three shorter races start and finish in Zhaohua Ancient Town.

The thread through all of it is the Shu Road, the old post road over the mountains of northern Sichuan. The organiser describes moss-covered flagstone roads dating to the Qin Dynasty, slabs polished smooth by feet and hooves, centuries-old cypresses, bamboo forest trails, the twin peaks of Jianmen Pass and the old post station at Dazhao. The highest point on the 100K is the summit of Daping Mountain at 1,073 metres. The climbing comes from the repeated rise and fall of the road rather than from altitude.

For family and friends far from Sichuan, Livebib turns the weekend into one link. The runner shares their own broadcast, and anyone with the link opens it in a browser, no account and no app, to see the position on the course line, the distance covered and a finish estimate that updates as the race goes. Under the cypresses and in the bamboo the phone can lose its signal. The position is then carried forward along the course and marked as estimated, never shown as measured, instead of freezing on the last fix.