Five 4,000s in 31 Kilometers
The 53rd Sierre-Zinal runs today. Thirty one kilometers of Switzerland, five giant peaks watching the whole time.
They call it the Race of the Five 4,000s, which is the most Swiss possible way to say that the view does the bragging for you. The course runs 31 kilometers from Sierre up to Zinal, and the reason people build a summer around it is the balcony trail: singletrack cut along a hillside with five 4,000 meter peaks parked across the valley.
The 53rd edition goes today, Saturday August 8, with the Golden Trail fields stacked on both sides. Course record holder Kilian Jornet is out injured. One of the more improbable names on the start list: Jessie Diggins, the four time Olympic medalist in cross country skiing, swapping skis for trail shoes.
31 kilometers. Five 4,000 meter peaks. One trail that refuses to look away from them.
Course guide and how to watch via Marathon Handbook; Diggins reporting via Runner's World.