Ultramarathons in Belgium

Belgium packs two completely different running countries into one small territory. North of the language border, Flanders is flat to gently rolling: canal towpaths, farm tracks, forest fragments and the occasional short, sharp cobbled climb familiar from cycling’s spring classics. South of it, Wallonia rises into the Ardennes — and this is the true heartland of Benelux trail ultrarunning.

The Ardennes never climb much above 690 metres, but the numbers deceive. Rivers like the Ourthe, la Lesse, the Amblève and the Semois have cut deep, steep-sided wooded valleys into the plateau, so an Ardennes ultra is a constant sawtooth of 100 to 200 metre climbs and technical, rocky descents. Races routinely accumulate more climbing per kilometre than events in far more famous mountain regions, and long-distance GR footpaths such as the GR57 along the Ourthe provide ready-made, well-marked routes through the most rugged sections.

Around Spa and the German border lies the Hautes Fagnes, Belgium’s high moorland plateau — exposed, boggy, often traversed on wooden boardwalks, and notorious for weather that changes in minutes. Expect wind and rain here even when the valleys below are calm.