Great Benasque Mountains Marathon 2027: date and courses

Plan your race pace

The Gran Maratón Montañas de Benasque 2027 will be held on Saturday 12 June, starting and finishing on Avenida de los Tilos in Benasque (Huesca). The organisers announced the date on 14 October 2026, eight months before the race, and are already preparing the twelfth edition of one of the most sought-after mountain races in the Pyrenees. Registration is not open yet.

The event keeps its three courses through the Posets-Maladeta Natural Park: 42, 28 and 19 kilometres. The news is in the number of places: the organisers have set 1,900 bibs in total, 750 for the marathon, 650 for the 28 km and 500 for the 19 km, fifty more than in 2026 in the shortest race. With the last edition selling out three months before the start, the key question for anyone who wants to run it is when registration will open.

Three races with their own names

Each distance has its own identity and profile, and the difference between them goes well beyond the kilometres. These are the courses and the places announced for the twelfth edition:

La Gran Maratón, 42 kilometres with 2,640 metres of elevation gain, links five valleys of the Aragonese Pyrenees: Estós, Literola, Vallibierna, Ardonés and Benasque. It is the race for runners with high-mountain experience, able to sustain many hours of effort with long climbs, technical descents and sections above 2,600 metres. Road marathon pacing is no guide here: time is measured by climbing and terrain, not by kilometres.

The 28 km race, known as the direct route to Pico Estivafreda, packs 1,550 metres of climbing into a shorter but equally mountainous course, with a main ascent to the summit that gives the race its name. The 19 km, the loop of the Estós valley, adds up to 800 metres of climbing and is the entry point for first-timers, although it is still a mountain race in every sense.

Snow and rivers at the peak of the thaw

The June date gives the race a character few Spanish events share. At that point in the season it is still common to find snowfields on the highest passes, and the rivers run at their highest flow with the thaw. The organisers present that mix of snow, rock and water as the race’s signature, and it is also what makes preparing for it different.

Running on soft or hard snow, crossing swollen streams and descending scree demands technique and caution as well as fitness. Snow conditions cannot be known months in advance and change every year, so the final course may be adjusted for safety in the weeks before the race. Official notices and the forecast the day before take precedence over any map from previous editions.

That setting explains much of the race’s reputation. The GMMB has won awards as the best regional and national race, and the German magazine HDsports included it among the 24 most beautiful running events in Spain, the only one from Aragon on the list.

Registration: what is known and how it has gone

The organisers have not yet announced the registration date or the 2027 prices. What they have said is that they are working to have everything ready, and they warn that places for the last edition sold out very quickly.

Last year’s timeline is a useful guide. For 2026, registration opened on 28 November 2025, and by March 2026 the race was full, three months before the 13 June start. If the organisers follow a similar schedule, 2027 registration could open in late November, but that date is not confirmed and the safest approach is to follow the race’s official channels.

All three distances have awarded points for the last two editions, according to the organisers, an incentive for runners who compete in mountain circuits and rankings. The 2026 requirements included a minimum age depending on the distance, a federation licence or day insurance, and a list of mandatory kit with a thermal blanket, windproof jacket, reusable cup, water, whistle and charged phone. The 2027 rules will say whether they stay the same, although similar kit is sensible for a race like this.

An international race in a small valley

The race draws runners from more than 28 countries, with a strong presence of French and Portuguese runners in all three distances. Behind it there is a committee led by Ángel Lledó and Carlos Carmona and more than 200 volunteers at aid stations, checkpoints and tricky sections of the course, together with clubs and organisations from the valley.

That turnout has a practical consequence for travellers: Benasque is a mountain village with limited accommodation, and on race weekend beds in the valley fill up well in advance. In 2026 bib collection took place on Friday afternoon at the sports centre, so arriving the day before is the norm. The race box on this page lists accommodation near the start so you can compare options in good time.

Benasque is about two hours by car from Huesca and around three from Zaragoza, along the Ésera valley road. From Valencia or Barcelona the drive is over four hours, another reason to plan the race as a weekend trip rather than a day out.

Where it fits in the mountain calendar

June opens the high-mountain racing season in the Pyrenees, and Benasque is one of the first big events of the summer. For another race in the same valley there is the Trail 2 Heaven in September, and the popular races calendar lists the rest of the races in the area by date and distance.

Preparing for a race like this means building up climbing on real terrain through the spring and training the descents, which is where legs suffer most in the mountains. The routes in the Aragonese Pyrenees show the kind of trail runners will find, and the guides to the 2026 edition and the 28 km race describe how last year’s event was organised.

Eight months to earn a bib in the Pyrenees

The twelfth edition arrives with the date set, the usual courses and fifty more places in the short race. What is still to come, the registration date, the prices and the rules, will decide who makes it to Avenida de los Tilos on 12 June. With a race that fills up in weeks, preparation starts long before lacing up: by watching for the official announcement and by booking somewhere to stay.

Official race website: granmaratonbenasque.com.