Europe’s greatest trail races, from 31 km to 330 km.

Switzerland’s race of the five 4,000ers: 31 km and 2,200 m of climbing on a balcony trail above the Val d’Anniviers, run every August since 1974. The shortest race here and the one with the deepest field.

Marathon distance with 2,736 m of climbing across the Basque Aizkorri massif — and crowds on the summit ridges loud enough that runners call it the best day in the sport. Entry is by lottery.

Forty-two kilometres and 2,730 m of vertical on the balcony trails above Chamonix, with the Aiguilles and Mont Blanc across the valley the whole way. The centrepiece of a June weekend of eight races.

The full length of La Palma: 74 km and 4,350 m up from the Fuencaliente lighthouse over the Ruta de los Volcanes to the Roque de los Muchachos, then all the way back down to the Atlantic.

France’s great night race, run since 1952: 78 km from Saint-Étienne to Lyon across the Monts du Lyonnais, starting near midnight in late November with a line of headtorches stretching over the hills.

The race that built French trail running — around 80 km across the limestone Grands Causses above Millau each October, alternating flat plateau with abrupt descents into the Tarn and Dourbie gorges.

An ocean-to-ocean crossing of Madeira: 115 km from Porto Moniz to Machico with about 7,200 m of climbing, over Pico Ruivo and Pico do Areeiro along the island’s volcanic spine.

120 km and 5,800 m through the Dolomites from Cortina d’Ampezzo, starting late at night so the field reaches the Tre Cime di Lavaredo as the sun hits the three towers.

The season opener: 126 km diagonally across Gran Canaria from Las Palmas to Maspalomas with around 6,760 m of climbing, starting at midnight in late February.

The one everyone knows: a 171 km loop of the Mont Blanc massif through France, Italy and Switzerland with over 10,000 m of climbing, run in a single push at the end of August.

The endurance trail that made the format famous — 330 km around Italy’s Aosta Valley with 24,000 m of vertical and a 150-hour cut-off, with no stages and no scheduled sleep.