Les Courses des Cuirassiers

Charge into the forests and history of the northern Vosges at the **Courses des Cuirassiers on Saturday, March 21, 2026**. Organized by Athlétic Vosges du Nord from the Reichshoffen sports complex, this multi-race event honours the legendary French cavalrymen who once thundered through these very valleys—their spirit now carried by runners ascending the Wasenkoepfel Tower and traversing the rocky belvedere of Buckelstein. The 25km Trail des Cuirassiers delivers the full immersion: 890 metres of positive gain, passages past the cupule-carved stones of prehistory, the haunting ruins of Château de Wasenbourg, and forest cathedral aisles poised on the cusp of spring resurrection. This is a course for those who seek beauty in difficulty, who find reward in ridge lines and renaissance.
Lesser distances carry their own distinct character. The Foulées des Cuirassiers offers a 10.2km initiation, 80% asphalt, flowing through the Sandholz forest and past the Oasis campground viewpoint before returning via the Buehl and Sauermatt cycle paths. Its 110m D+ profile welcomes débutants and speedsters alike. The Marche des Cuirassiers follows a similar 8.5km trajectory, inviting hikers to absorb the same panoramas at contemplative pace. And as dusk settles, the Nocturne des Cuirassiers ignites—11.2km of fully asphalted urban and peri-urban trail, transformed by twilight into a luminous procession. Ravitos glow with fairy lights, the village of Oberbronn flickers below, and finishers cross beneath lampions and lanterns in a spectacle that feels less like a race and more like a moving constellation.

All starts and finishes converge at the Reichshoffen complex, where consignes, douches, and the intoxicating aroma of flammekueche await. Carole Gomez and her team of bénévoles have refined this event over nine editions of the Trail, twelve of the Foulées, four of the Marche, and three of the Nocturne—each year polishing the experience without losing its fiercely local soul. Registration flows through Performance67, with on-site spots available at premium rates. Flyers wave from boulangerie windows; the region's running tribe mobilises. To run here is to trace the hoofprints of cuirassiers, to feel the Vosges sandstone beneath your soles, and to understand why this corner of Alsace remains one of French trail running's most cherished secrets.