LaColCanil 2026: the Nevegàl vertical race takes on the Muro della Grava

One thousand seven hundred metres of running, 430 metres of climbing and one direction only: up. On Sunday 30 August 2026 the Nevegàl, the mountain balcony that rises just above Belluno, hosts LaColCanil 2026, the vertical race staged by ASD Nevegallika along the line of the old Col Canil chairlift. Very short, and precisely for that reason very hard.

A vertical race is a discipline of pure elevation. There is no flat, no descent, no room for tactics: you start, you climb, you finish. The fastest runners at LaColCanil will be done in a handful of minutes, and every one of those minutes is spent above threshold.

1,700 metres, all uphill

The course measures roughly 1.7 kilometres for about 430 metres of positive elevation gain – an average gradient of more than 25%, with several sections well beyond that. Over such a short distance the opening pace decides everything: go out too fast and the middle section will collect the debt with interest.

The start is on the square at the bottom station of the old Col Canil chairlift, and the route heads straight up the Col Canil ski run. It then joins what regulars of the Trail del Nevegàl call the “second climb”: the Muro della Grava, the open shelf of Grava, then a right turn onto the mule track leading to Malga Toront. The last kick is the Muro del Toront, with the finish line at the former top station of the chairlift.

Nevegàl, Belluno’s natural gym

The Nevegàl is a pre-Alpine plateau sitting at around 1,000 metres south-east of Belluno, reached in a few minutes from the city centre along the provincial road through Castion. That proximity is unusual: a real mountain within commuting distance of a provincial capital, used daily rather than only at weekends.

Above the meadows and the lifts stand Monte Pascolet (1,278 m), Monte Faverghera (1,611 m), Col Toront (1,675 m) and Col Visentin (1,763 m), served by three Italian Alpine Club huts: “5° Artiglieria Alpina” on Col Visentin, “Angelo Bristot” on Col Toront and “Brigata Alpina Cadore” at Faverghera. The Faverghera area is also home to the botanical garden of the Eastern Alps. In summer the hill lives on trails, mountain biking, mountain running and hiking; in winter it remains the closest ski area to the city.

The Nevegàl can handle a big stage, too. In June 2026 the climb hosted the Giro d’Italia Women time trial from Belluno – we told the story in “Belluno turns pink”. LaColCanil works the same ground with a different grammar: no bikes, no kilometres, just gradient.

The Muro della Grava

In the vocabulary of the Trail del Nevegàl the Muro della Grava – the “Grava wall” – is almost a trademark: the pitch where the gradient rears up before the ground opens out at Grava, where the September trail places an aid station. In a 22-kilometre race it is one of several key passages. In a vertical of barely more than a mile and a half it is the judge of the whole thing.

From the Trail del Nevegàl to LaColCanil

Behind the vertical is ASD Nevegallika, the club that has built a small ecosystem of races around the hill. The best known is the Trail del Nevegàl, a mountain running event with a long course of about 21 kilometres and 1,700 metres of climbing and a short course of roughly 8 kilometres and 500 metres, touching Malga Faverghera, the Brigata Alpina Cadore hut, the Bristot hut, Casera Erte, the La Grava hut, Malga Toront and Col Visentin. Alongside it run the Duallika and, in winter, the Ski Alp Vertical Coca.

LaColCanil grew out of that. It takes one fragment of the long course – the second climb, the Muro della Grava one – and turns it into a race of its own. It is the logic that made vertical races one of the most popular formats in European trail running: little time, huge intensity, and a spectacle you can take in at a glance.

Only 110 places

LaColCanil is capped at 110 runners. Entries opened on 1 July and close on 28 August 2026 at midnight, or earlier if the field fills up. The fee was 20 euros until 31 July and is 25 euros from 1 to 28 August, covering the race number, the goody bag with LaColCanil kit bag and technical shirt, race assistance, the finish-line refreshment and a meal voucher. Personalised race numbers were reserved for entries completed by 24 August.

One rule the organisers state plainly: there is no race-day registration. Anyone who wants to be on the start line has to enter in advance.

Participation requires a competitive sports medical certificate under Italian rules and a declaration of experience in mountain terrain. Mandatory kit is minimal – trail running shoes or light mountain boots. Recommended items include a waterproof jacket, a mobile phone, half a litre of water, disinfectant and a cap; poles are allowed. Clothing should suit temperatures between +15 and +30 °C.

Programme for Sunday 30 August

The prize list covers the first ten men and the first ten women: 200 euros and a technical shirt for the winner, 100 euros for second, 50 for third, shirt and local produce from fourth to tenth. There are also special Under 20 and Over 55 classifications, with prizes for the first three in each. Only one refreshment point is planned, at the finish – fitting for a race that never gives you time to stop. The organisers reserve the right to alter the course if weather conditions require it.

A Sunday to discover the Nevegàl

A vertical is, by design, an easy race to watch: start and finish are less than two kilometres apart, most of the climb runs on open ski slopes, and the whole thing is measured in minutes rather than hours. For anyone not wearing a race number, the morning of 30 August is above all a good reason to drive up to the hill and stay there.

Around the Col Canil car park the Nevegàl offers everything a late-summer Sunday needs: trails for every level, mountain farms, huts and a view that runs from the Valbelluna to the peaks of the Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park. You can extend the day along the ridge towards Col Visentin, or drop back down to Belluno for an afternoon among its arcades and squares. If you would rather ride, our cycling routes in the Dolomites start not far from here, and ten unmissable summer experiences gathers the best of the season in the Dolomiti Bellunesi.

Seventeen hundred metres, 430 of climbing, 110 race numbers. Small numbers, for a race that asks the Nevegàl for everything in a handful of minutes.

SEE THE PROGRAMME AND ENTER LACOLCANIL 2026

Entries close on 28 August 2026, or earlier if the 110 places sell out.

Photographs: Trail del Nevegàl / ASD Nevegallika. View of the Schiara group: Ziegler175, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.