The CAI trails of the Karst — the network behind the Corsa della Bora

The Trieste Karst is criss-crossed by a dense network of trails, numbered and maintained by the Club Alpino Italiano (CAI), through its Trieste sections. Each trail is identified by a three-digit number (sometimes followed by a letter, e.g. CAI 001a) and marked on the ground with the classic white-red-white waymark, painted on trees, rocks and posts together with the trail number; at the main junctions, signposts show destinations and walking times. The official, up-to-date list of trails, with routes and technical data sheets, is published in the CAI FVG trail register — Sector 0 Karst.

The Corsa della Bora courses are largely built on this network, alternating stretches of CAI trail with short race-specific connecting sections — links with no CAI number, marked out at race time by the organisers with tape and dedicated signage. A trail never ‘becomes’ another one: the course joins it, leaves it, crosses it or follows it for a stretch, before continuing on a connecting section or a different trail.

The CAI trails used by the 2027 races

The table lists the CAI trails in Sector 0 (Karst) covered by the Corsa della Bora 2027 distances, with the places they pass through and the races that use them. Only some trails have a proper name: where the CAI register does not give one, the trail is identified by its number alone.

S1 Bora Ultra (116 km) links the two longest courses end to end — the S1 Trieste Ultra (61 km) for the first part and the S1 TransKarst Ultra (55 km) for the second — so it takes in practically every trail in the table except CAI 008, which is reserved for the Family and Half variants.

Non-CAI routes crossed by the course

Along the way, the Corsa della Bora also crosses some of the area’s best-known routes that are not part of the CAI numbering system: they are routes in their own right, with their own waymarking and their own history, and in places they simply run along the same path as the CAI trails listed above. They are not alternative names or synonyms for the CAI trails: sharing a stretch does not make two routes one and the same.

• Rilke Path — the panoramic walk between Sistiana and Duino; the race course shares it for a stretch along the cliffs, on CAI 001.
• Alpe Adria Trail — an international trail that also crosses the Trieste Karst; it briefly overlaps with the race course at several points, notably around Crogole and on CAI 001.
• Vertikala SPDT — shares some connecting sections with the race course, from Val Rosandra to the Bottazzo sector and, further on, along CAI 003 towards Bosco Flondar.
• Sentiero dei Pescatori/Ribiška pot — its upper section, between Miramare and Contovello, overlaps with CAI 009, but the two routes do not coincide over the whole segment.
• Percorso didattico di Aurisina/Učna pot Nabrežina — shares only part of its route with CAI 001, on the stretch towards the Strada della Salvia/Žajbljeva pot.
• Walk of Peace/Pot miru — the cross-border route linking First World War memorial sites from the Alps to the Adriatic: on the Karst it passes the open-air museum on Monte Ermada/Grmada, restored as part of the project itself, which the races pass through in the cross-border sector.

This description is for information only, intended to help you understand how the course is put together, trail by trail. When you are actually following the route, in training or during the race, the only references that count are the official GPS track and the race signage put in place by the organisers. The distance, elevation gain and time barriers for each race are all set out on the page 2027 Official Data; for a general overview of the Karst trails, see the guide Trail running in Trieste and on the Karst.