The Annapurna Mandala Trail, the world's highest stage race, is underway. Thirty-two runners, including ten top Nepali athletes, took off from Besisahar in Lamjung on 13 March. The race, which covers 320 km over eight days, will take the marathoners across rice paddy fields at 800 m and go up to a height of 5,400 m through the Thorong Pass, before they run down to Dhampus, near Pokhara. "To run around the Annapurnas with only a backpack and local hospitality to rely on is, in short, the definition of the Annapurna Mandala Trail," says organiser and well-known French trail runner Bruno Poirier. Thirty sirdars and Sherpas from Mandala Trekking are providing the runners technical back-up. Internationally recognised as one of the most demanding races in the world, the third edition of the Annapurna Mandala Trail covers an impressive 27,000 m of combined altitude difference. What's more, competitors have signed a Racer Solidarity Assistance Chart which means they have to assist any endangered fellow racer. The slightest lapse means instant elimination. That's the way to go.