Photo: Ylliab Photo from Grenoble, France · CC BY 2.0 · cropped
LyonSaintéLyon - 160 km Course Data, Barriers and Statistics
- Lyon, France
- 160 km99.4 mi
- 5,000 m16,404 ft D+
- 9 aid stations
Map, checkpoints and cutoffs Map · checkpoints · forecast opens Nov 19 Race-day forecast is live
Race-day conditions
Weather and daylight along the course and at all 11 checkpoints, set to the 09:00 start.
- Start
- 09:00
- Daylight at the start
- 07:57-17:00
- Aid stations
- 9
- Distance
- 160 km99.4 mi
- Elevation
- +5,000 m+16,404 ft-5,000 m-16,404 ftAbout 31 m of climb per kmAbout 165 ft of climb per mile
- Highest point
- 925 m3,035 ftMonts du Lyonnais
- Days and nights
- 2 days1 nightUp to the final cutoff (31h)
Next editionSat 28 Nov 2026 · 09:00
- Start
- Sunset8h01 after the start
- Winner~21h3621h36 after the start
- Sunrise22h59 after the start
- Mid-pack finishUTMB Index 50025h57 after the start
- Cutoff31h after the start
A mid-pack runner spends about 14h58 in the dark.
LyonSaintéLyon is the 160km double: out from Lyon to Saint-Étienne on Saturday morning, a meal and a rest, then the whole SaintéLyon course back through the night. It carries 5,000m of climbing and 5,000m of descent, starts at 09:00 on Saturday 28 November 2026 and closes at Lyon at 16:00 on Sunday - 31 hours. Only 800 places.
The outbound leg is untimed and has to be done inside 13 hours, reaching Saint-Étienne by 22:30; the classification then runs on the return leg alone, started from the front line ahead of the 8,000-strong SaintéLyon field. That is why no 160km finish time is published anywhere, this page included. The terrain is the same twice over - the Monts du Lyonnais crest at 925m, Sainte-Catherine, Saint-Christo - so the second crossing is run in the dark on legs that have already done 80km. The organizer carries two drop bags for you, one to Sainte-Catherine and one to Saint-Étienne; crew assistance is banned.
Data is approximate and courses change between editions - always verify against the official race guide.
Other distances at SaintéLyon
| Race | Distance | D+ | Cutoff | Next start |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LyonSaintéLyon (this page) | 160 km99.4 mi | 5,000 m16,404 ft | 31h00 | Nov 28, 2026 |
| SaintéLyon | 82 km51 mi | 2,340 m7,677 ft | 16h30 | Nov 28, 2026 |
Plan against the cutoffs
Prepare every aid station against the official cutoffs, then unlock your full roadbook in the app.
Estimate your finish
One Strava connection reads your last 90 days and estimates your finish on this course. Free, no plan needed.
Course math
Four numbers worked out from this course's distance, elevation and checkpoints.
TrailMath effort-km
235 effort-km
About 26 h for a mid-pack finisher (index 500). Not a pacing guarantee.
Distance + gain ÷ 100 + loss ÷ 200, beside ITRA's gain-only km-effort. Model TM1.0.
How TrailMath works →UTMB Index category
100M
210 km-effort (distance + gain ÷ 100). Calculated from the course figures, not an official classification.
Estimate your UTMB Index → ITRA and UTMB indexes explainedBiggest climb section
+1,166 m+3,825 ft
Soucieu-en-Jarrest → Sainte-Catherine · km 19–47mi 11.8–29.2
The largest gain between two checkpoints, not one continuous climb.
Soucieu-en-Jarrest cutoff: Sat 12:15
Plan against barriers →Biggest descent section
−826 m−2,710 ft
Soucieu-en-Jarrest → Sainte-Catherine · km 19–47mi 11.8–29.2
The largest loss between two checkpoints. ITRA's km-effort ignores descent; TrailMath counts it: 235 km-effort.
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LyonSaintéLyon · 2025
Who finished, 2025 edition
566 runners started. 420 came back.
The organiser published no finish times we can stand behind for this edition, so this page publishes the counts alone: how many finished, who they were and where they came from. No average and no median appears anywhere below, because we hold none worth quoting.
The start line
74.2%
420 of 566 starters made it; 146 did not.
Men and women
Men
386 finishers, 92% of the field
Women
34 finishers, 8% of the field
Finishers by age group
Every bar is a finisher count, drawn against the largest group. Men and women are on the same scale, so the two can be read against each other.
| Age | Finishers | Finishers |
|---|---|---|
| ES | 1 | |
| SE | 114 | |
| M0 | 70 | |
| M1 | 69 | |
| M2 | 64 | |
| M3 | 38 | |
| M4 | 25 | |
| M5 | 4 | |
| M6 | 1 |
| Age | Finishers | Finishers |
|---|---|---|
| SE | 7 | |
| M0 | 7 | |
| M1 | 7 | |
| M2 | 5 | |
| M3 | 4 | |
| M4 | 4 |
The shaded row is the biggest group.
Where the finishers came from
95% of the finishers came from France alone.
| Nation | Finishers | Share |
|---|---|---|
| FranceFR | 40195.5% | |
| BelgiumBE | 71.7% | |
| SwitzerlandCH | 41.0% | |
| PortugalPT | 20.5% | |
| BrazilBR | 10.2% | |
| EgyptEG | 10.2% | |
| ItalyIT | 10.2% | |
| RomaniaRO | 10.2% | |
| United StatesUS | 10.2% | |
| All other nations | 10.2% |
Showing 9 of 9 nations.
Bar length is against the largest nation. The smallest counts are drawn at a minimum visible width, so their bars are not to scale.
How these numbers were computed
The counts, the gender split, the age groups and the nations are computed from the full official result list. The finish times in that same list are not consistent with each other, so we publish none of them rather than a figure we would have to hedge. Bands with only a handful of finishers move a lot from one edition to the next.
Nationality here shows who travels to this race, not who runs it best. That alone is why a host nation tops almost every list.
Computed from the full official results, verifiedSeptember 18, 2026 - Official results
Ask the course
Ask LyonSaintéLyon anything about climbs, pacing, crew or cutoffs.
Answers come from this course's data, your plan and your training.
Which climb should I respect most?
Soucieu-en-Jarrest to Sainte-Catherine: +1,166 m over 28 km, from km 19. Hike the steep sections at an effort you could hold for hours - the race is decided after this climb, not on it.
Where can my crew meet me?
Soucieu-en-Jarrest, km 19 - your first checkpoint, and no crew can meet you there or further on: the organiser lists no crew access on LyonSaintéLyon. Carry your own warm layers: the course tops out at 925 m, through the night, in November.
Is 26h a realistic finish for me?
26h leaves 5h inside the 31h cutoff. It means holding 9:45/km overall.
The assistant answers that once it can see your training.
Build your LyonSaintéLyon plan and your question is the first thing waiting in the TrailMath Assistant.
Build my LyonSaintéLyon planYearly has a 7-day free trial for eligible customers, or take a Race Pass for this race.
To answer this for you, the Course Assistant uses your training and your race plan.
Example answer
Your long runs peak at 30 km, so the plan builds to 4-hour long runs, two of them at night.
Yearly has a 7-day free trial for eligible customers, or take a Race Pass for this race.
Try asking LyonSaintéLyon
Ask anything - we'll open your LyonSaintéLyon plan with your question ready.
Loading the Course Assistant
Race-ready pack
Too late to build a season. Not too late to race smarter.
With 20 days to go, training can still sharpen you, but most of what you can still gain is freshness. What changes your finish most now is your margin at each barrier, how you fuel each leg and how rested you arrive.
20 days to the startSat, Nov 28 · 09:00 GMT+1
Pace and fuel, checkpoint by checkpoint
| Checkpoint | km | Barrier | You | Fuel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soucieu-en-Jarrest19 km · +552 m | 19 | Sat 12:15 | In the app | In the app |
| Sainte-Catherine28 km · +1,166 m | 47 | Sat 17:00 | In the app | In the app |
| Saint-Christo-en-Jarez15 km · +636 m | 62 | Sat 19:30 | In the app | In the app |
| Saint-Étienne18 km · +310 m | 80 | Sun 00:40 | In the app | In the app |
| Saint-Christo-en-Jarez17 km · +590 m | 97 | Sun 04:00 | In the app | In the app |
| Sainte-Catherine15 km · +568 m | 112 | Sun 07:00 | In the app | In the app |
| Le Camp - Saint-Genou14 km · +491 m | 126 | Sun 09:30 | In the app | In the app |
| Soucieu-en-Jarrest14 km · +330 m | 140 | Sun 12:00 | In the app | In the app |
| Chaponost7 km · +91 m | 147 | Sun 13:30 | In the app | In the app |
| Lyon - Halle Tony Garnier13 km · +266 m | 160 | Sun 16:00 | In the app | In the app |
No crew access on course: what you carry has to last from one aid station to the next.
A barrier is a cut-off to clear, not a pace to aim for: race on effort, and expect the later legs to be slower.
Fuel by the hour, not by the kilometre - each leg is time between aid stations. Race on the fuel you trained with: nothing new this week.
Arrive fresh
- 0h51Rest of this week
- 5h17Week 2
- 5h17Week 3
- 3h36Race week
What the plan engine gives at 6 h/week: 1 week at your current volume, 2 sharpening weeks just under it, then a lighter race week. The first bar is only the days left this week.
Your days, one by one
Your LyonSaintéLyon race plan
Your split to every barrier at your pace, your fuelling leg by leg, and your race week day by day. LyonSaintéLyon is already filled in.
With a Race Pass (€39, once) or Premium: the full roadbook and race-week training for LyonSaintéLyon.
Aid stations and checkpoints
| Checkpoint | KmMi | Cumulative gain (m)Cumulative gain (ft) | Cumulative loss (m)Cumulative loss (ft) | Cutoff |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start - Lyon, Halle Tony GarnierServices not published | 00 | 00 | 00 | - |
| Soucieu-en-Jarrest | 1911.8 | 5521,811 | 3541,161 | Sat 12:15 |
| Sainte-CatherineDrop bag | 4729.2 | 1,7185,636 | 1,1803,871 | Sat 17:00 |
| Saint-Christo-en-Jarez | 6238.5 | 2,3547,723 | 1,7955,889 | Sat 19:30 |
| Saint-Étienne (rest, outbound barrier 22:30)Drop bag | 8049.7 | 2,6648,740 | 2,3407,677 | Sun 00:40 |
| Saint-Christo-en-Jarez | 9760.3 | 3,25410,676 | 2,6528,701 | Sun 04:00 |
| Sainte-Catherine | 11269.6 | 3,82212,539 | 3,29910,823 | Sun 07:00 |
| Le Camp - Saint-Genou | 12678.3 | 4,31314,150 | 3,89812,789 | Sun 09:30 |
| Soucieu-en-Jarrest | 14087 | 4,64315,233 | 4,45014,600 | Sun 12:00 |
| Chaponost | 14791.3 | 4,73415,531 | 4,60115,095 | Sun 13:30 |
| Lyon - Halle Tony Garnier (Finish) | 16099.4 | 5,00016,404 | 5,00016,404 | Sun 16:00 |
Data is approximate and courses change between editions - always verify against the official race guide. Source: official race guide, verifiedNovember 1, 2026 - Official race website
Crew access and race-day roadbook
Public crew and drop-bag points for LyonSaintéLyon. Unlock the complete saved roadbook in the app for personalized checkpoint times and a printable crew card.
Unlock the complete saved roadbook in the app: checkpoint times, pacing, fueling and a printable crew card. Public course facts remain available here.
- Sainte-Catherine - 47 km
- Saint-Étienne (rest, outbound barrier 22:30) - 80 km
FAQ
How long is LyonSaintéLyon?
LyonSaintéLyon is 160km with 5,000m of elevation gain and the same again in descent - Lyon to Saint-Étienne and back, on the organizer's 2026 course.
What is the cutoff time for LyonSaintéLyon?
Thirty-one hours, from the 09:00 Saturday start to the 16:00 Sunday finish. The outbound leg has its own limit: Saint-Étienne closes at 22:30, thirteen and a half hours in, and the return leg then follows the SaintéLyon barriers.
Why is there no finish time for the 160 km?
The organizer times the return leg only. The 80km outbound is untimed and run to a 13-hour limit, and the clock restarts at Saint-Étienne, so the published winning time of 7:05:05 covers the return leg rather than the full distance. Elwan Mehl actually took about 21 hours 36 minutes from Lyon back to Lyon in 2025.
How many people finish LyonSaintéLyon?
420 of 566 starters finished the 2025 edition, a 74% finish rate - markedly harder than the 89% on the 80km, which is the same course run once and fresh.
Can I leave a drop bag on LyonSaintéLyon?
Yes, and this is the race that gets them: the organizer carries two lightening bags per runner, one to Sainte-Catherine and one to the rest area at Saint-Étienne. Crew assistance at aid stations is still banned.
Training for this race?
TrailMath builds periodized trail training plans around your goal race.
One Strava connection reads your last 90 days and estimates your finish on this course. Free, no plan needed.