Durmitor SkyRace

Durmitor SkyRace is the youngest and steepest addition to Žabljak's racing calendar — an early-September skyrunning race across the technical high terrain of the Durmitor massif. The event's second edition was held on 27 July 2024, and it has quickly carved out its place alongside the mountain's established trail races.

Its home ground needs little introduction. Durmitor's skyline of fins, towers and scree-lined couloirs is the most alpine terrain in Montenegro, and precisely the kind of ground skyrunning was invented for: where the trail races circle the lakes, the SkyRace goes up into the rock itself.

Skyrunning is mountain running at its most vertical: courses follow steep, exposed and rocky ground over the peaks rather than around them, demanding sure feet and a strong head for heights as much as fitness. The Durmitor course takes competitors over the massif's high terrain and awards points in a regional skyrunning series, which draws a competitive field from across the neighbourhood.

For spectators, the drama concentrates at the finish: the course descends to Black Lake, where the field comes home through the pine forest against one of Montenegro's most famous backdrops. It makes for one of the more spectacular finish lines anywhere in the country.

For visiting runners the event slots neatly into a Durmitor holiday — Žabljak's accommodation and cafés are minutes from the lake, and the national park's gentler trails offer easy shakeout terrain either side of race day. Supporters can spend the racing hours on the lake circuit before drifting toward the finish area for the main spectacle.

The race is held in early September with Black Lake as the finish venue near Žabljak. Entry fees apply for competitors; watching from the lakeside costs nothing beyond the national park's entrance fee.