#whilerunning Bello Gallico 200 in the dark and mostly empty Belgium the thoughts wandered as they tend to while long-distance running. With all the influencers on social media entering the „ultra“ running bubble with all their loud, rude, superior and „I ran 300 miles with 5 broken feet“ mentality; with their promo codes; with their paracetamol and whatever-else-fueled super bodies hunting souls – we should not forget that ultra or long-distance-running has a totally different meaning and nature. Especially during a Legends Trail event with friends – close friends/loved ones even – amongst the runners as well as the supporters/crew one experiences a lot of this spirit. In this environment the real ultra unfolds: a gentle, calm, focused and relaxed atmosphere of running exceeding their personal limits. With enough privacy, dignity and respect for the fellow runners and with a special gratitude towards the race team enabling and supporting us full heartedly to 100% focus on what we love. We should try to protect and value that gift we are all part of. We should not let them influencers destroy any part of it. Maybe it’s enough to focus on supporting „our“ events and to make sure that this spirit never dies.

We are not hunting souls we chase rays of dancing sunlight,
we do not fight the ourselves or the environment – we thankfully accept the challenges along and become part of nature,
we do push beyond our limits but at the same time are just grateful for the fact that we are just a very tiny dot able to travel this beautiful earth on food.

The story of the race itself is a rather quick one. Gifted with rather mild weather conditions (second night was surprisingly cold though) it was all about staying in motion at a reasonable pace. That worked quite well on the first 100k loop. Except for the usual 400m of „there used to be planks but nowadays its just a puddle full of dark black stinky mud with knee-deep water on top of it“ part of the track the conditions were rather easy. No excuses. So the only real challenge was fighting the side-effects of 28h darkness in 40h final race time. Rather ok time of 15h on the first of two loops at the 2025 Bello Gallico.

With being sick the three weeks leading up to the Bello Gallico 200 the question was to what extend the body would accept this rather abrupt sport re-start. Everything worked quite ok until km 120/140 in the race. After the drop back at CP6 (120k) with the first longer break the body slowly gave up on the idea of running. More and more walking was rotated into the progress. With the upcoming second night and another 14h of darkness the usual circle of ultra started. With a not fit body the tiredness hit hard. Focussing on staying fueled became more and more difficult and the slower speed made it even colder. Luckily it was the two of us. We met at km 120 fighting with different problems but united in this fight. Several attempts to sleep 5-10 min – craving for rest… Desperately sleep walking longing for daylight… Luckily we both are stubborn and focused on the only goal – reaching that finish line – however far away this line may be or seem to be.

And finally the Sunday and the daylight came. Relentless walking towards the finish line. What a relief after roughly 40h. The medal. Some food. All the friends at the finish. All was well. Narrow escape at the end of a very interesting year 2025.

With the Bello Gallico 200 the second run of of the Legends Slam is completed:

Great Escape 200 2025 – check!
Bello Gallico 200 2025 – check!
Legends Trail 350 2026
Another One Bites the Dust 2026

Time for some relaxing weeks with a slow and steady re-start of training. Time til Legends Trails is ticking – the biggest challenge of the Legends Slam awaits us.

191 runners registered for the Bello Gallico 200 2025, 172 started and 107 finished the Bello Gallico 200 (62.2%). Finisher % was significantly higher amongst runners who previously finished a Legends Slam (84.6%) – experience does make a difference at the end.