S1 Bora Ultra 116 km
New for 2027! A brand-new course!
The S1 Bora Ultra is the Bora in full: long, varied and built like a journey in two acts, first the night and then the day, with sensations that change completely yet fit together into a single story. It is made for runners who want an ultra with real character rather than monotony, who can handle two different phases without falling apart, and who are after a lasting memory, not just a result. If you want to experience the Corsa della Bora from the inside, this is the race that tells you the whole story, right to the end. Halfway through, you can stop and be ranked in the Trieste Ultra!
📍 Logistics
🧳 Bag storage
🚧 Time barriers, refreshment points and checkpoints
- 🥤🍴🍲 ⏱️🚧 Bagnoli, km 13.2 22.00
- 🥤🍴 ⏱️🚧 Basovizza, km 25.6 01.00
- 🥤🍴 ⏱️🚧 Obelisk, km 35.3 03.00
- 🥤🍴 ⏱️🚧 Contovello, km 46.7 05.15
- 🥤🍴🍲 ⏱️🚧 PortoPiccolo — Life Base, km 61.2 08.15
- 🥤🍴 ⏱️ Medeazza, km 71
- 🥤🍴 ⏱️🚧 Sela na Krasu, km 88.6 14.30
- 🥤🍴 ⏱️🚧 San Pelagio, km 101.7 17.00
- 🥤🍴 ⏱️🚧 Santa Croce, km 107.4 18.00
🎒 Mandatory kit
- Enough food and water to run 18 km
- Your own cup or mug for drinking at the refreshment points
- Head torch and a way to recharge it
- Long trousers and a long-sleeved top, or any combination that fully covers arms and legs when needed
- Survival blanket (emergency foil blanket)
- Gloves, hat and jacket
- Mobile phone + power bank
🚌 Shuttles
💶 Entry fees
- €116 up to and including 1 June
- €130 up to and including 1 September
- €150 up to and including 1 November
- €170 up to and including 15 December
- €190 up to and including 10 January
🏅 Awards
MAXIMUM TIMES: GENEROUS OR TIGHT?
The Karst is hard to run on: stony ground, frequent changes of direction, short ups and downs and hardly ever a truly flat stretch. If you want to run the whole way, that means constant effort: your pace, line and footing keep changing.
For walkers, on the other hand, the relatively modest elevation gain makes it easier to keep up a good rate of progress. The maximum times set for every distance are generous and mean you can complete the course at a brisk hiking pace.
The boredom factor is zero, for fast and slow runners alike: even without big climbs, the courses keep your mind busy all the way — with technical ground and views that never stop changing. If you have any questions or want more information, contact us!
Not ready to sign up yet?
If now’s not the moment, let’s stay in touch — we’ll keep you posted on race news. One email a month, at most.
Course and elevation profile
Time barriers and refreshment points
Can’t find the GPS track?
Everything you need to prepare for the race is already on this page: the map, with the ITRA-certified distance and elevation gain, and the point-by-point checkpoint table, showing the kilometre mark, the ascent and descent of each section, the refreshment points and, where there are any, the time barriers and their closing times. These are the official race figures — the ones that count under the regulations and for ITRA points — and they are final: with that table you can plan your pacing, your split times, what to carry and where to refuel.
We hold the GPX back for two reasons, and neither is an oversight.
The first is your safety. People who download the track weeks in advance don’t go back and check it, and in exceptional cases the course can change at the last minute: a road closed, a path no longer passable, extreme weather. Set off with an old track on your device and you’ll find yourself following a line that no longer exists — and that’s where the risk becomes very real.
The second is that some sections cross private land. They are open for the race under agreements made for that day: they aren’t routes you can go out and do whenever you like.
Holding the track back for now isn’t a shortcoming: it’s how we make sure you have the right course on race day. The official GPX is released in the week before the race, in its final version, ready for you to load onto your device. On the day, the course is marked in any case: GPS is an extra check, not what you navigate by.
We often publish training loops and segments covering the stretches that are open all year round, so you can get to know the terrain before the race.
In the meantime, we recommend:
- looking at previous years’ tracks online, which help you get to know the terrain — though the course changes from year to year and some sections are only open on race day;
- consulting the interactive map to plan your recces;
- checking our Facebook page and the articles on the site for updates and recce loops.
CAI trail network
This course takes in CAI trails on the Karst
The race alternates trails listed in the CAI FVG trail register — Sector 0, Karst — with connecting sections specific to the course, waymarked by the organisers.
- CAI 015
- CAI 046
- CAI 001
- CAI 039
- CAI 044 · Ressel
- CAI 012 · Cobolli
- CAI 009
- CAI 023 · Tiziana Weiss
- CAI 001a · Sentiero del Mitreo
- CAI 033
- CAI 003a
- CAI 003 · Alta Via del Carso
- CAI 075
- CAI 079 · Abramo Schmid
- CAI 032
- CAI 010
- CAI 035
The course
A journey in two acts. First, the night: from Trieste, through Val Rosandra and along the Karst escarpment, down to the sea at PortoPiccolo. At km 61.2 you reach the Life Base: you can stop there and be ranked in the S1 Trieste Ultra, or head back out.
Head back out and you pick up the course of the S1 TransKarst Ultra: the Sentiero Rilke and Duino in full daylight, the long leg out towards Jamiano, the border path on the Kremenjak, the Slovenian Karst around Sela na Krasu and the long run back to the sea via San Pelagio and Santa Croce.
City, plateau, border, Slovenia and back: 116 kilometres you will remember as a story, not as a distance.
Who this race is for
The S1 Bora Ultra is the Corsa della Bora in its entirety: long, varied and built like a journey in two acts — first the night, then the day — with sensations that change completely yet remain a single story. It suits runners who want an ultra with real character, can handle two different phases without falling apart, and are after a lasting memory more than a performance.
Non-stop format, with the option of a break. The clock starts at 19:00 on Saturday and never stops until the finish, but the course is designed to let you rest: at the PortoPiccolo Life Base (km 61.2) there are hot showers, a hot meal and camp beds, provided you head back out by the 08:15 time barrier on Sunday. This flexibility is meant for those acting in good faith — race management reserves the right not to recognise a ranking in the shorter race for anyone who deliberately stops for strategic reasons despite being able to continue.
A Trieste Ultra ranking at halfway. At PortoPiccolo (km 61.2) you can decide to stop and be ranked in the S1 Trieste Ultra instead of completing the full 116.2 km: the two races share the same course up to that point.
Medical certificate. Mandatory: a valid certificate of fitness for competitive sport (athletics, cross-country skiing, triathlon, cycling or swimming). Competitors who are not Italian citizens and are not members of an Italian sports club recognised by CONI are exempt.
The right pace. At a brisk walking pace (around 5 km/h), you would cover the 116.2 km in about 23h 14min, within the 25-hour maximum time. On paper, fast hiking works, but the multiple time barriers are binding and leave no room for long stops other than at the refreshment points and the Life Base.
Dogs. Not permitted: the S1 Bora Ultra is a competitive race.
Weather and the Bora. January on the Karst can mean the Bora (a north-easterly wind), sometimes very strong — winds of 130 km/h were recorded in the 2021 edition — and low temperatures, especially during the night hours of the first part of the race. The mandatory kit (thermal layer, gloves, windproof jacket) is not a formality: it is what keeps you safe on a course that crosses the most exposed stretches of the Karst.
Sister races — the flagship distances. In effort and distance, the S1 Bora Ultra sits in the top tier of our family of events, alongside the Alpe Adria Ultra (118 km) at the Alpe Adria Ultra Trail, Summer edition. Please note: the Alpe Adria Ultra is a high-mountain race and has much longer finishing times than the Bora Ultra, despite a similar distance in kilometres — the two races are not directly comparable in terms of duration.
Want to train on the S1 Bora Ultra trails outside the race weekend too? The guide Trail Running in Trieste brings together Karst routes you can run or walk all year round.
In Trieste, you never know.
One year in short sleeves drinking beer by the sea after the race. The next year, wrapped up to the eyeballs. The weather changes; the fun doesn’t. Check 10 editions’ worth of stats, then decide at the last minute what to wear.
Gallery
PortoPiccolo — Bora Village
Start and finish for almost every race. The Bora Village at PortoPiccolo is the event’s base: a fully covered, heated venue overlooking the Gulf of Trieste, with everything you need before, during and after the race.
One place for bibs, expo, showers, food and prize-giving — no moving from place to place, nothing spread out. Arrive, run, celebrate.
Accommodation
Apartment or hotel: book it yourself or straight from your Runner Profile. At the Corsa della Bora you can share an apartment with other runners — we’ll take care of matching you up with flatmates.
PortoPiccolo and Sistiana have places to stay just a short walk from the start. Trieste is 20 minutes away by bus.
Shuttles
Dedicated shuttles run from Trieste Central Station to the Bora Village and back: the outward trip costs €4 and the return is free. Each distance has its own timetable — check the page for your race.
The Bora Village is also on the regular Airport–Trieste bus route, so you can get there by public transport without the shuttle.
Getting to Trieste
The Bora Village is ideally located: two minutes from the motorway exit, 15 minutes from Trieste Central Station and 20 minutes from Friuli Venezia Giulia Airport.
By car, train, bus or plane — Trieste is closer than you think. It’s 90 minutes from Ljubljana and less than two hours from Venice.
PortoPiccolo, Sistiana · Duino-Aurisina (TS) · 2 min from the A4 motorway · 45.7633° N, 13.6350° E
🩺 Medical certificate: competitive and non-competitive races
✅ No medical certificate needed
🚧 Medical certificate required
- NOT an Italian citizen and
- NOT a member of an Italian sports club recognised by CONI