Salomon EcoTrail Paris 80 km 2027: preparation, logistics and gear guide

The Trail 80 km has been the historic distance of the Salomon EcoTrail Paris Printemps since 2008, and the official page calls it the event's flagship distance.

The start is given at the Colline d'Élancourt, in the Yvelines, and the finish is judged on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower. The route crosses the western Paris region, which the organisers present as an adventure between nature, heritage and sporting challenge, and which they recommend for opening an ultra season.

The published figures are 81.8 kilometres for 1,200 metres of climbing, with a time limit of 13 hours 15 minutes. The ratio is 15 metres of ascent per kilometre: this is a lowland ultra, without any of what defines a mountain race.

The organisers announce 92% off-road on the course and a finisher rate of 78%. The field is limited to 3,000 starters, and the race carries the Silver FFA Label.

The start is run in waves, between 10:30 and 10:55: the race therefore begins in late morning, and a large part of the field finishes in the dark, which the compulsory head torch and reflective armband confirm.

The 2027 spring edition is run over two days, 2027-03-20 and 2027-03-21, and offers seven distances: 120, 80, 45, 35, 30, 20 and 10 km. The 80 km, the 120 km, the 45 km and the 30 km start on Saturday 2027-03-20; the 35 km, the 20 km and the 10 km on Sunday 2027-03-21.

The trap in this race is its profile. Fifteen metres of climbing per kilometre means you run almost all of it: there is no hill long enough to force walking, and therefore no natural recovery. A runner used to the mountains discovers here that runnable flat wears you down faster than gradient.

The session that prepares best is therefore the long run at sustained pace, on soft, barely rolling ground, between three and five hours, rehearsing the planned nutrition. Weekly mileage counts more here than climbing volume, the opposite of what an alpine race demands.

The time limit is 13 h 15 for 81.8 km, that is an average of 6.2 km/h to be held from start to finish, aid stations included. That is not a generous barrier for a back-of-the-field runner on ground which, lacking gradient, never allows a fast descent to claw time back.

Since the start is given between 10:30 and 10:55 in March, night falls before the finish for most of the field. Training with a head torch, and above all eating and dressing with a head torch, is as much part of preparation as the long run.

One last specific point: the finish is on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower. Ending an ultra with a flight of stairs is not trivial on thirteen-hour-old legs; a few stair sessions at the end of long runs are better than discovering it on the day.

The start of the Trail 80 km Printemps is at the Colline d'Élancourt, in the Yvelines, in waves from 10:30 to 10:55 on Saturday 2027-03-20.

Bibs are handed out at the Centre sportif Emile Anthoine, in Paris, on Thursday 2027-03-18 or Friday 2027-03-19, from 11:00 to 20:30. A 2026-2027 FFA licence or a Pass Prévention Santé certificate must be shown.

To reach the start on the day, the organisers indicate the RER C to Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines station, then a free shuttle from the station to the start area. Detailed timetables are announced in the road book.

The finish is judged on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower, which places the end of the race in central Paris, far from the transport used for the start: the way back is best arranged in advance, especially for a runner finishing late.

A post-race meal is provided, announced on the race page with no detail of time or place.

The organisers put car-sharing forward as a way in, and announce an arrangement for posting and finding offers, marked as forthcoming at the time of reading.

The runner road book, which carries the detailed timetable and the following points for supporters, is not published: the `/roadbook` page shows "Le roadbook arrive très prochainement !". Aid stations and any intermediate cut-offs depend on it, and are therefore not known.

The GPX track is not downloadable either: the button exists on the race page but is linked to no file.

The field is limited to 3,000 starters, and the organisers announce a finisher rate of 78%.

The organisers give a single route for race day: RER C to Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines station, then a free shuttle from the station to the start area. Detailed timetables are referred to the road book, unpublished at the time this guide was written.

They explicitly encourage the train to reach the start, and offer car-sharing as an alternative for those who cannot use public transport, with the arguments they put forward: cutting costs, limiting the carbon footprint, easing access and meeting other runners.

The way back is the other half of the problem, and the organisers say nothing about it: the race finishes on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower, some thirty kilometres from the start, and for part of the field after nightfall. The post-race bag and the journey home are planned around an estimated finish time, not the start time.

The race page publishes no accommodation list and no hotel partnership: this guide invents none.

The real constraint comes from the timetable: bib collection happens in Paris, at the Centre sportif Emile Anthoine, on Thursday 2027-03-18 or Friday 2027-03-19 from 11:00 to 20:30, and the start is in the far western suburbs on Saturday morning. A runner coming from a distance must therefore pass through Paris before the race, then reach Élancourt the next morning.

Since the start is given between 10:30 and 10:55, the night before the race does not require a pre-dawn alarm: it is the journey home, after a possibly night-time finish at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, that is worth booking in advance.

The EcoTrail Paris 80 km is an ultra without mountains: 1,200 metres of climbing in 81.8 kilometres, a late-morning start, thirteen and a quarter hours to reach the Eiffel Tower. The difficulty is complete, it is simply of another kind — it lies in consistency, not in gradient.

Two pieces of information are still missing and will arrive before race day: the road book, which will carry the aid stations, the detailed timetable and the following points, and the GPX track, whose button already exists on the race page. Both will be read on the official site, and it is the site that counts.