October 02

ULTRA GOBI 2025 ON ITS WAY: 5.000 RUNNERS TO CROSS DESERT

Posted by mayayo oxigeno on October 2, 2025 in trail running, trail running spain, ultra gobi, ultra gobi 2025, Ultra Trail | 2 Comments

ULTRA GOBI 2025 ON ITS WAY: 5.000 RUNNERS TO CROSS DESERT_ These are images that you rarely, if ever, see: Five thousand runners preparing for an event that could change their lives and certainly boost their self-confidence. DJs are getting the runners going three hours before the start. Videographers and photographers in their droves in the crowd. And then, when the event starts right on time, there are over 30 camera drones in the air.

Read this in spanish at CARRERASDEMONTANA.COM

ULTRA GOBI 2025 ON ITS WAY:

5.000 RUNNERS TO CROSS DESERT

The Ultra Gobi saga begins in 2006, Qu Xiangdong and the Beijing Xingzhi Exploring Group conceived a desert race series tracing the spiritual footsteps of Master Xuanzang, the 7th-century pilgrim whose journey across Central Asia became legend. The route, set in China’s Gansu and the Gobi Desert, is more than a course: it is a living thread of the ancient Silk Road, stitched with windswept dunes, salt flats, canyon scars, and relics of vanished civilizations.

From humble beginnings, the Ultra Gobi has expanded into a multi-distance desert series: solo and team versions of 121 km (both continuous and staged), stage races, and—its crown jewel—the Ultra Gobi 400 km: non-stop, self-navigated, self-supported, with only ten rest stations offering refuge. Runners carry their own gear, ration their sleep, and read the sky for clues. The clock never sleeps.

Over time, Ultra Gobi has cultivated myth.

It crowns just 50 entrants in the 400 km edition, each slotted for a “bib for life” — a unique number that belongs to the runner forever. Returnees preserve their number; newcomers receive the next free one in sequence. Also, the event integrates a “Dreamer” program: entry slots granted by story, not just speed.
From 2015 to 2024, six editions of the full 400 km have been staged, traversing harsh terrain under searing sun and brittle cold, testing the limits of human resilience. Record times are astonishing: in 2024, Bryon Powell (USA) set the men’s mark at ~ 68:59:40, and Zheng Junyue (China) the women’s at ~ 79:43:19.
Ultra Gobi Series

ULTRA GOBI 2025

ULTRA GOBI series 2025 began on schedule today (1 October) with the first competitions(A: 121km team / B: 121km stage / C: 17km), but the ‘experience day’ wasn’t necessarily about the results. It was exciting to observe the orderly chaos instead. Each participating working group has its own colour: green stands for media professionals and blue for volunteers, for example. Around 238 volunteers were needed, and 2611 people applied to be involved.

One of the lucky ones is Linying, a dentist from Shandong who has taken time off from her job at a hospital in Chengdu to be here again. “I like the spirit of the event, and I want to play my part in making it a success.” Perhaps she will compete in one of the upcoming editions herself. Linying completes the half marathon in under 90 minutes and the full marathon in under four hours. “ULTRA GOBI motivates and inspires a healthy lifestyle!”

Hailing also from Chengdu, Huang Jiang is a data analyst at UESTC. Today, however, he is sweating his way through the first of four stages in the 121 km team competition in temperatures of 30°C. ‘ULTRA GOBI is a great experience; it’s already worth every drop of sweat,’ he says. He and his colleagues have big sporting ambitions: “We want to finish in the top ten!”

The destination for the first day is in the middle of nowhere, where a tent city has been set up for the 5,000 participants. This includes restaurants, activity zones, and everything else you could need. Spectacular images are also captured here by camera drones. And this is only the beginning of the journey.Ultra Gobi is more than racing. It is a cultural mission: connecting East and West, reviving Silk Road heritage, and enacting “linear cultural heritage” along its course, with archaeological collaboration in mapping.