Every spring, the Spiridon Club Nature takes a few hundred runners onto the high country of the Hérault, starting from Lodève. Four formats, a route billed as 100% off-road, and one rare feature: the courses are redrawn from one edition to the next.
The 16th edition was run on 11–12 April 2026. The event comes back every spring, but the dates for the next one have not been published yet, and we will not announce them before the organiser does.
Dates, courses and entry fees are published by the Spiridon Club Nature on lesterrassesdulodevois.com, which is the only authority on the matter. Entries normally open on 1 December, and results go online there in the weeks following the race.
This is the signature of the event: the organiser redraws the routes from one edition to the next. The trail you ran last year is not the one waiting for you.
The long format, run in a single day. The organiser openly calls it hard and demanding, across the high country between the Salagou valley and the Larzac plateau. This is the race that makes sleeping locally the night before a practical necessity.
The middle distance, on the same terrain of limestone causses, dry valleys and single track. Long enough to be a real trail outing, short enough to fit into a day with room to spare.
The discovery format. This is the one that lets a partner or friend run too, without committing the whole day, and still meet the rest of the group at the finish.
The event includes a handi-trail and a children's race. The conditions are published each year by the organiser: they cannot be guessed, they have to be checked on the official site.
Lauroux, Roqueredonde, Pégairolles-de-l'Escalette, Soubès, Saint-Étienne-de-Gourgas, Saint-Félix-de-l'Héras: all have hosted a start over the years. Check yours every year — relying on last year's habit is an expensive mistake to make on a Sunday morning.
The organiser commits to no more than 600 metres of tarmac across an entire course. On a 47 km race, that means terrain that never lets up: stone, causse, woodland, technical descents.
The race takes place across the pays lodévois, between Larzac and Salagou — two French Grands Sites almost meet here, Lake Salagou and the Cirque de Navacelles. Within a few kilometres runners move from red ruffe rock and low garrigue onto limestone causses, which is why the footing feels so different across a single course.
Almost the whole territory is a Natura 2000 zone. The great causses look arid but hold around 40% of the diversity of French flora. That is the reason for the event's environmental charter, and a good reason to stay on the markers even when a shortcut looks more direct.
A trail start is an early one. The real question is not comfort, it is how long it takes to get from the bed to the start line.
Bib collection and the briefing take place before the race. Arriving the day before saves three hours of early-morning driving on a body you are about to empty. La Bergerie du Mas Delon is at Le Puech, 7 km from Lodève — about ten minutes.
Every gîte has its own equipped kitchen. A runner eats what they are used to eating the night before and on the morning itself, at the hour they choose, without depending on a breakfast service that opens at 7.30.
The pool is heated and the estate covers 176 hectares. After a 47 km race, ten minutes of flat walking and time back in the water beats six hours in a car. Staying the following night changes the week that comes after.
11 gîtes in a single place, several of them interconnecting: a club or a group of regulars stays together instead of being split across three different addresses. See the booking page for combinations.
While the race is on, Lake Salagou is 4 km away and the Cirque de Mourèze 17 km. In April the paths are walkable and the sites are empty. A day fills itself.
This is low season here: the estate is open, the gîtes are available and the lake has no crowds yet. The race is one of the few reasons to come to the Hérault in April — and one of the best.
This page is not a service of the organiser, and the estate is not a partner of the event. Entries, rules, medical certificates and timings: lesterrassesdulodevois.com.
What comes up most often, about the race and about where to stay.
In spring, starting from Lodève. Dates change from year to year and are published by the Spiridon Club Nature on its own site. Entries normally open on 1 December.
47 km, 27 km, 15 km and a handi-trail, plus a children's race. The route is billed as 100% off-road, with a commitment of no more than 600 metres of tarmac.
No, and that is deliberate: constantly redrawing the courses has been part of the association's philosophy since 2009. The start villages rotate — Lauroux, Roqueredonde, Pégairolles-de-l'Escalette, Soubès, Saint-Étienne-de-Gourgas and Saint-Félix-de-l'Héras have all hosted a start.
Lodève remains the anchor point of the event whatever course is used that year. La Bergerie du Mas Delon is at Le Puech, 7 km away, about ten minutes by road. The estate is open in April.
Yes. The estate has 11 gîtes across 176 hectares, several of them interconnecting: a group stays together in one place, with kitchens to handle pre-race meals.
Lake Salagou is 4 km away, the Cirque de Mourèze 17 km, and Lodève with its cathedral 7 km. In April everything is open and empty.
11 gîtes at Le Puech, 7 km from Lodève and 4 km from Lake Salagou. Equipped kitchen, heated pool, wide open space. Open in April, out of season.
