THE ULTIMATE MEMORIAL RUN
270 KM, 6 STAGES, 3 COUNTRIES. FROM THE D-DAY BEACHES VIA THE ARDENNES TO ARNHEM
8-15 June 2025 – 4th edition
The latest updates
2025 edition, our journey begins in famous town Sainte-Mère-Église
2025 edition, our journey begins in famous town Sainte-Mère-Église The Liberation Trail is a journey through history, retracing the steps of the Allied forces who fought for freedom during World War II. For 2025, we've chosen to begin this epic six-stage trail at...
Liberation Trail Crew Honors the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem
Liberation Trail Crew Honors the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem Today, the Liberation Trail crew took part in the 80th anniversary commemorations of the Battle of Arnhem, a pivotal moment in World War II. This historic battle, part of Operation Market...
‘Now and then’. In Their Footsteps: A Tale of Two Times
'Now and then'. In Their Footsteps: A Tale of Two Times In the morning of the D-Day beaches-stage runners lace up their shoes at the starting line of the Liberation Trail. The course, winding through the historic streets of Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, is alive with the...
LEST WE FORGET
Also a tribute to the men, boys who fought for our freedom in 1944 and 1945. ‘Lest we forget’ where our freedom comes from. And to prevent this memory from disappearing after the last veterans die.
WHAT DO YOU NEED? MANDATORY KIT LIST
- Trailrunning shoes
- Running backpack
- Waterproof rain jacket
- Warm clothing
- Headlamp with spare batteries
- Plate, cutlery and cup for breakfast and dinner
- Cup to take drinks during the stages
- Sunburn and aftersun
- 1.5 litres water in backpack
- Emergency kit and spare clothes
- GPS watch or handheld
- Mobile telephone
- Warm sleeping bag (suitable for zero degrees), thin camping mattress and pillow
- Passport
COUNT ME IN!
WHAT DO YOU GET FOR THE €1.500 PARTICIPATION FEE?
- Sleeping in an army tent
- Transfers between stages
- Breakfast (7x) and diner (7x)
- Aid stations with drinks & food; also possible to hand off your own drop bags
- Duffle bag with your name
- Luggage transport
- Medical team ready
- GPS live tracker
- Spectacular start
DUFFLE BAG WITH YOUR NAME
PROLOGUE + 6 STAGES, 3 COUNTRIES
Passes through iconic battle fields
* 8 June: Travel to start location in Normandy (Fance)
* 9 June: Visit several memorials + prologue (France)
* 10 June: ±43km Sainte-Mère-Église – Carentan (France)
* 11 June: ±51 km Luc-Sur-Mer to Omaha Beach (France)
* 12 June: ±15 km Petit Coo (Belgium)
* 13 June: ±27 km La Gleize (Belgium)
* 14 June: ±81 km Eindhoven – Berg en Dal (Netherlands)
* 15 June: ±43 km Ginkel – Arnhem (Netherlands)
* 16 June: Rest and relax day
LOCATIONS
The Liberation Trail has the same concept as for example the Tour de France. We will finish each stage at a different location then we start that same stage. In other words, we have stages from A to B.
Most of the time we will finish at the camp site or nearby the camp site. In this way we limit the transportation time after the finish. Sometimes we will have a transportation in army vehicles from the camp site to the start of the next stage.
Exact locations will be announced later, when we are able to travel again to do an inspection.
STAGES
The Liberation Trail consists of a prologue and six consecutive stages:
- Monday 9th of June: Prologue ±10km
- Tuesday 10th of June: ±43km in Normandy, France (70% trail)
- Wednesday 11th of June: ±51km in Normandy, France (80% trail)
- Thursday 12th of June: ±15km in the Ardennes (95% trail) – Night Trail
- Friday 13th of June: ±27km in the Ardennes (95% trail)
- Saturday 14th of June: ±81km in the Netherlands (70% trail)
- Sunday 15th of June: ±43km, around Arnhem in the Netherlands (95% trail)
More details about the stages will be announced later.
We only have a time limit for the stage of ±81km: 14 hours. For the other stages there is no time limit, because we run from the start to the next camp site. So, no transport is needed from the finish to the camp site.
CAMPSITES
We will use camp sites including showers and toilets. The showers can also be used for changing. The army tents are mixed. We will provide you with a bed in the army tent. You have to bring your own sleeping bag and pillow. We will transport your sleeping bag, pillow and other personal stuff to the next camping site.
RACE & ROAD RULES
The Liberation Trail is mainly a memorial run. A tribute to the men, boys who fought for our freedom in 1944 and 1945. ‘Lest we forget’ where our freedom comes from.
The general trail rules are applicable. The main rule is that you help a fellow participant when she/he needs help.
Although it’s mainly a memorial run, we still make up a result list after each stage. And we will have it published on DUV-statistik.
A simple rule about the road rules : You are during each stage a normal road user and must obey the traffic rules. We won’t block roads for our trails.
YOUR TRANSPORT TO NORMANDY
You have to arrange your own transport to the start in Normandy, France.
We offer an extra service for participants from the Utrecht in the Netherlands and Antwerp in Belgium to start location in Normandy. This extra bus ticket of € 75 can be booked at the subscription.
You also have to arrange your own transport from the finish in Arnhem in the Netherlands back home.
FOOD
Breakfast and diner are included.
When booking you can choose the next food preferences:
- No restrictions
- Vegan
We provide aid stations with basic trail food and drinks. Every participant can also hand in a small bag with their personal food and drinks for each aid station on the course of that day. The number of aid stations depends on the length of the stage:
Prologue: no aid station
-
- ±49 KM: at least 2 aid stations
- ±45 KM: at least 2 aid stations
- ±15 KM: at least 1 aid station
- ±29 KM: at least 1 aid station
- ±81 KM: at least 4 aid stations
- ±44 KM: at least 2 aid stations
KIT LIST
The mandatory kit list for the Liberation Trail consist of:
- Closed trail running shoes with plenty of grip on the sole
- Running backpack
- Waterproof rain jacket
- Warm clothing (top and trousers / running tights) as an insulating layer between the outer clothing and the skin
- Working headlamp with spare batteries (only needed when starting in the dark and the 81 KM stage)
- Plate, cutlery and cup for breakfast and dinner
- Cup to take drinks at the refreshment stations
- Sunburn & aftersun
- Water container or soft flasks with accumulating volume of at least 1.5 litres.
- Emergency kit (1x compress 10x10cm, 2x bandages, 2x gloves, 1x triangular bandage, 4x plasters, emergency whistle, blister plasters, survival blanket)
- Navigation watch loaded with the GPS track of the course you are running or, alternatively, a self printed route map or map stored on a mobile device.
- Mobile telephone with emergency telephone number saved into the phone in order to make emergency calls and inform the race organisers if you have to pull out of the race before reaching the finish (mobile phone must work abroad)
- Warm sleeping bag (suitable for zero degrees), thin camping mattress and pillow
- Passport
- Spare clothes for the five stages
SUPPORTERS
Your supporter can also be part of the Liberation Trail family. The supporter fee is € 500 and this is included:
- Bed in one of the army tents (bring you own sleeping bag an pillow) for seven nights (9-16 June)
- Breakfast and diner together with the participants, starting with diner at the 9th of June and ending with dinner/bbq at 16th of June
- Tourist taxes
If your supporter doesn’t have a car to move to the next camp site, your supporters is more then welcome to drive with our crew to the next camp site via several checkpoints on the course.
MEMORIALS
The Liberation Trail is no race. We take the time at the start, during and after the finish of each stage to remember the where our freedom comes from. Lest we forget.
We also provide you with some memorial attributes like a poppy and/or memorial ribbon which you can put down at a memorial site.
FLEXIBILITY
As organizers we are flexible to give you the memorial trail experience of your live: Everything is allowed. Running, walking/hiking. Whole distance and half distance. A day back to half distance, skipping a day. Even dogs are allowed. And also participating in relay is possible.
PARTNERS
Our partners are:
- 2seconds – Your creative crew
- WE-link – an organisation and consultancy agency in the field of sports events
- Geo Tracks Benelux – GPS Live Tracking for sport events like trail runs. Increasing the safety of the participants and increasing the experience of the participants and their supporters at home
- FysioHuis – Our medical partners
- Forever Running – We make running shirts with bold, graphic designs. Design and production manually in our own workshop and workshop. Craftsmanship in textiles and design.
FINANCIAL POLICY
Payment schedule of the total participation fee (€ 1.650; until the 30th of June 2024 the participation fee will be € 1.500)
- € 650 at subscription (until the 30th of June 2024 this will be € 500)
- An extra € 350 before the 28th of February 2025
- An extra € 250 before the 31st of March 2025
- The final € 250 before the 30th of April 2025
- Of course, you can pay your fee in one go
If a participant or supporter wants to cancel their participation, this is the policy we handle:
- Cancelling up to and including 30th of April 2025. You must pay 25% of the total participation fee (€ 1.650). We will refund your paid fee by minus this 25%. So, if you paid € 1.000 as a participant when you decide to cancel, your refund will be € 1.000 minus 25% of € 1.500. So, € 625 will be your refund based on this calculation: € 1.000 -/- (25% of € 1.500 = € 375). Of course, you can also try to transfer for your participation or supporter ticket to someone else without extra costs involved. This is the most cost-effective option.
- From the 1st of May 2025 you can only transfer your ticket to someone else and you are obliged to pay the full participation or supporter fee.
Shifting the date of the event by the organisation in case of force majeure (like Covid-19 measures). You have two options:
- Shifting your participation to the new date without any extra costs. This is the most cost-effective option.
- A refund of the paid fee by you minus a percentage of the total participation fee (€1.650) in accordance with this scheme:
- Announcement of the shifting up to and including the 30th of April 2025 (±2 months before the original start of the event): Paid fee minus 25% of the total participation or supporter fee. So, if you paid € 1.000 when the shift is announced, your refund will be € 1.000 minus 25% of € 1.650. So, € 587,50 will be your refund based on this calculation: € 1.000
-/- (25% of € 1.650 = € 412,50). - Announcement of the shifting from the 1st of May 2025 up to and including 6th of June 2025 (2 days before the original start of the event): Paid fee minus 80% of the total participation or supporter fee. So, if you paid € 1.650 as a participant when the shift is announced, your refund will be € 1.650 minus 80% of € 1.650. So, € 330 will be your refund based on this calculation: € 1.650 -/- (80% of € 1.650 = € 1.320). In this last case the force majeure will be for example a big storm, a tsunami, new unexpected Covid-19 measures.
- Announcement of the shifting up to and including the 30th of April 2025 (±2 months before the original start of the event): Paid fee minus 25% of the total participation or supporter fee. So, if you paid € 1.000 when the shift is announced, your refund will be € 1.000 minus 25% of € 1.650. So, € 587,50 will be your refund based on this calculation: € 1.000
GREAT THAT YOU PARTICIPATE!
Experience the Liberation Trail as participant or supporters. Choose the way that suits you. But in whatever way you participate; Liberation Trail will always stay with you!
COUNT ME IN
Participant fee for a full board week: € 1.500
You only have to run yourself