Trail Ecuillé is a night trail race in Écuillé, in Maine-et-Loire in France’s Pays de la Loire region, a few kilometers from Angers. Runners start and finish in the main courtyard of the Château du Plessis-Bourré, then head out with headlamps for a December run that can bring freezing temperatures, rain, and mud. The event offers 9 km and 18 km races, plus a two-person relay over the 18 km distance.
The route uses paths, woodland tracks, field crossings, straw-covered ground, and a straight section through the park of Plessis-Bourré. The 18 km course has about 150 meters of climbing, so the difficulty comes more from darkness, footing, cold, and winter conditions than from big hills. Courir a Écuille organizes the race, and the château setting gives the event its strongest identity: runners leave from the courtyard, relay teams hand over at the château, and the whole race happens around the estate after dark.