The first edition of Ultra Gobi AlUla will see six formats.
400km — The crown jewel. The ultimate test of endurance and will. Self-navigated, nonstop, self-supported.
A+ (121km, nonstop) — One single continuous push through the AlUla landscape.
A (121km, 4-day team race) — Teams of 3 to 5. Scored on the Third Person Scoring Rule: the cumulative time of the third member, adjusted for gender and age. The format that has defined Ultra Gobi for twenty years, now in a new desert.
B (121km, 4-day stage race) — The same course as A, but at your own pace as a solo stage format.
C (30km, 1-day) — One day running or trekking experience in the AlUla desert. Enough to soke it all in.
Youth (90km, 3-day family race) — Three days through one of the most remarkable landscapes on earth, for younger runners and their families.
Registration opens in the coming weeks. We will let you know when the time comes.
A message from the Founder of the Ultra Gobi Series, Qu Xiangdong:
"We know what the world looks like right now. The situation in the Middle East is real, and I am not going to pretend otherwise.
We continue our preparations for Ultra Gobi AlUla. We are in close contact with our partners in AlUla and will keep you informed as things develop.
But I want to say something honestly: it is precisely in times like these that I feel most clearly why Ultra Gobi exists. People from different countries, different cultures, different backgrounds, moving through the same landscape together. That has always been the point. It feels more important now than ever.
AlUla's sandstone valleys once marked the crossing point where the Incense Road and the Silk Road converged. Caravans carrying Chinese silk west, frankincense east. Traders, pilgrims and travellers not only exchanged goods but also ideas and perspectives. Ultra Gobi wants to honor this heritage and be a place where that kind of exchange still happens.
We cannot wait to meet you there."
For twenty years, Ultra Gobi has been a race in China's Gobi Desert. In January 2027, it goes somewhere new.
We are proud to announce Ultra Gobi AlUla. January 13 to 20, 2027, in AlUla, Saudi Arabia. Six race formats, from a single day to our legendary 400km (248 miles) ultra.
AlUla's sandstone valleys once marked the crossing point for caravans connecting China, Arabia, and the Mediterranean. The racecourses will run through canyons that traders, pilgrims and travellers crossed long before any modern border existed.
We closely monitor the situation in the region with our partner in Saudi Arabia. Safety is always the top priority. But we stay optimistic that we can have a peaceful and fantastic event at the beginning of next year.
We cannot wait to see you there.
Full details at ultragobiseries.com.
More than 2,000 people work the Ultra Gobi each year. They cook, they build tents, they run medical stations, they drive vehicles along dirt tracks in the dark, they count runners through checkpoints at 3am.
None of them will cross a finish line.
The camp that appears each night is built by a team that started work hours before the runners arrived. By the time the first runners reach the next stage, that camp has been taken apart and rebuilt 30 kilometers ahead.
In 2024, photographs taken by Gobier photographers along the course were selected for inclusion in the National Museum of China. Not photos of the race. Photos of the people who make it possible.
The race exists because of them.
What a race, @codyposkin .
Last year's Ultra Gobi 400km champion just finished second in the men's race at the 2026 Cocodona 250.
Congratulations from everyone at the Ultra Gobi organizing committee. We could not be more proud to have you in the Gobi family.
Day 3 is typically the hardest day for all A and B teams. It is also the stage that ends most teams' race strategies.
The course crosses yardang formations, wind-carved rock structures that rise from the desert floor at unexpected angles. The terrain underfoot shifts from firm gravel to loose sand to cracked alkaline flats that look stable and are not. By this point, runners have already covered more than 60 kilometers over two days. Legs that worked fine on Day 1 are now a different conversation.
This is also the longest stage of the four. Cutoffs exist, but the real pressure is less about time than about finding a way to keep the sixth runner moving when the sixth runner wants to stop.
Teams that get through Day 3 usually finish.
The 21st Ultra Gobi takes place September 27 to October 4, 2026 in Dunhuang, China.
Ultra Gobi is open to international participants. The main route in is through a business school: if you are currently enrolled at an MBA, EMBA or executive education program anywhere in the world, you and your classmates can register a team.
Here is what you need to know. Teams consist of 6 to 10 members. You can now also form a team across two or more schools. The organizing committee sends an invitation letter to interested institutions, and from there your school appoints a team leader who handles the registration.
There are also categories for corporate teams and brands. If your company is interested, the same registration process applies.
Registration fees vary by format and institution. For current pricing and availability, contact [email protected] directly. The fee covers meals, camp services, shuttle transfers to and from Dunhuang airport, the opening and award ceremonies, professional race photography, and your bib and medal.
The 21st Ultra Gobi runs from September 27 to October 4, 2026. If your school or company is interested, reach out to us.
Four days without water. No road, no map, no support. Just a monk, a horse, and the decision not to turn back.
In 629 AD, a Buddhist monk named Xuanzang left what is now Xi'an in central China and walked west toward India. The distance was roughly 5,000 km. His goal was to collect and translate sacred Buddhist texts. To get there, he had to cross the Moheyanqi section of the Gobi Desert in what is today the far northwest of China, close to the border with Xinjiang.
He almost did not make it. According to the Biography of the Tripitaka Master, he went four days and five nights without water. At the point where he was ready to turn back, he made a vow: "Death in the west is better than a shameful return east."
His horse found the spring that saved his life. That spring still exists. It is the finish point of Ultra Gobi's 121 km course, nearly 1,400 years later.
Not everyone at Ultra Gobi runs 121 km. Around half the participants choose Ultra Gobi C: a single day in the desert, either 17km or 30km.
C teams walk and run the same trail as the A and B teams on the first stage, the so called Experience Day. They share the start line and the atmosphere. The difference is that their event ends after that one day.
For business school groups, C is often the entry point. You do not need to be a runner or months of training. You show up, you spend a day crossing the Gobi with your team, and you experience the camp, the food, the landscape, and the community around the event.
Wang Shi, the founder of Vanke Group, was one of the first participants of Ultra Gobi. His Gobier ID is 00000T01. Number one.
He completed the Ultra Gobi A (121km, 4-day, team race) and later said: "In the hustle of life, aren't all entrepreneurs in a rush, afraid to fall behind? They can't let go of burdens, pride, worries, or desires for success. Yet, only by letting go one can truly hold on to what matters."
Ultra Gobi started in 2006 with 56 EMBA students from six Chinese universities. Twenty years and more than 74,000 participants later, the event brings together business school students, executives, and entrepreneurs from 99 institutions across Asia, Europe, and North America.
Every night during the Ultra Gobi stage events, a temporary city appears in the desert. 700 tents, 2,000 staff members, a power supply of 800 kilowatts. By morning, it is gone. The next camp is already being built further along the course.
This is where runners eat, sleep, and recover between stages. The food is local: lamb stew, hand pulled noodles, red willow skewers, Hami melon, and Li Guang apricots, all sourced fresh and driven out to the desert that day. There is coffee. There is massage. And yes, of course there is mobile karaoke.
Since the 16th edition, Ultra Gobi operates a dual camp system: two camps are built simultaneously to handle the fact that runners are finishing stages faster each year.
New for the 21st edition: A (121km, 4-day, team race) teams can now be formed across business schools. Three students from one program and three from another can register as a single team.
In previous years, each team had to come from the same institution. That rule kept the competition tight but also made it harder for smaller programs or international schools to field a full squad. The change opens the door for new combinations and for schools that have been interested but could not gather six to ten runners on their own.
Universities from Hong Kong and Singapore have already reached out about this year's edition. International teams and individual participants are more than welcome in all categories.
