In two years, Cape Town, South Africa will host the 2027 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships (WMTRC) with races taking place between October 6 and 10 on the rugged trails of Table Mountain and Lion’s Head overlooking Cape Town and the Atlantic Ocean.
This is the fourth running of the combined WMTRC, which is held every other year, and the first time Africa has hosted the prestigious races that attract athletes from all over the world. This year, Canfranc, Spain will host the set of world championships between September 25 and 28, and prior events were held in Innsbruck-Stubai, Austria in 2023, and Chiang Mai, Thailand in 2022.
The five-event weekend — including the elite Uphill, Up and Down, Long Trail, and Short Trail races, in addition to an Under-20 event — is hosted in partnership with the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU), the International Trail Running Association (ITRA), the World Mountain Running Association (WMRA), and World Athletics and will bring 1,200 athletes from 80 countries to the city. Non-elite events are also expected to draw another 2,000 participants.
Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said, “We are so excited for the mountain and trail running world to descend on Cape Town in 2027 for the very first African staging of the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships. There is surely no better backdrop to this prestigious event than our very own Wonder of the Natural World, the iconic Table Mountain.”
Cape Town will host the 2027 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships. Photo courtesy of WMRA.
History of the World Championships
Started in 1985, the World Mountain Running Championships (WMRC) were held in their original format for the final time in 2019 in Villa la Angostura, Argentina, before combining with the Trail World Championships (TWC), which had been running since 2007. The TWC hosted what is now commonly known as the Short and Long events, while the WMRC was the home to the shorter Uphill and Up and Down events.
Now held every other year, Chiang Mai, Thailand hosted the first combined event in 2022, a year delayed due to the pandemic.
Cape Town’s History of Trail Running
Cape Town is no stranger to hosting major racing events in its backyard. In addition to the Cape Town Marathon and the Two Oceans Marathon (which is perhaps the fastest annually held ultramarathon in the world), the city is also home to the Ultra–Trail Cape Town, which has six races ranging from 16 kilometers to 100 miles.
The WMTRC courses will use trails on Table Mountain and Lion’s Head, areas known for their steep ascents, technical descents, and expansive views.
The event will be held on similar trails to the 2023 Ultra-Trail Cape Town 100k. Photo: iRunFar/Neville Sharwood
It’ll be a terrain different from anything seen at prior World Championships. World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said, “It is always exciting when a major athletics event is staged in a new continent for the first time, and this is no exception. Cape Town hosting the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships marks not only an exciting opportunity for the local area, but also for the sport as a whole.”
“On behalf of the partnership of the World Mountain Running Association, the International Association of Ultrarunners and the International Trail Running Association, we are delighted to bring the fourth World Mountain and Trail Running Championships to Africa,” the presidents of the three partner associations — Tomo Šarf, Nadeem Khan, and Janet Ng — said in a joint statement. They went on to say, “The sensational views of Cape Town and Table Mountain will form a fitting backdrop to the WMTRC 27.”
This Year’s Championships
The 2027 championships announcement comes two months before the September 2025 event in Canfranc, Spain, in the Aragón Valley. The Canfranc area has hosted three WMRA World Cup events between 2021 and 2023, and in 2024, it hosted the World Masters Mountain Running Championships.
The full World Mountain and Trail Running Championships will be a step up from any of those, and the area should provide a stunning backdrop for the best in the world to compete.
iRunFar will be there in September, reporting on site all week. Stay tuned!
