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Switzerland › Zurich › Races
Silvesterlauf Zürich
10K, 5K in Zurich, normally held in December. A mixed 10K course — Year-end race through the old town, run in the cold and often in the dark.
The Silvesterlauf Zürich at a glance
| Distances | 10K, 5K |
|---|---|
| Main distance | 10 km (10K) |
| Usually held | December |
| Course | Mixed |
| City | Zurich, Switzerland |
| Typical conditions | 5.6°C high / -0.3°C low, rain on ~45% of days |
Year-end race through the old town, run in the cold and often in the dark.
Entering the Silvesterlauf Zürich
Entry fees, closing dates and start times are set by the organiser and change every year, so they are not reproduced here — a stale deadline is worse than none. The organiser’s own site and its social channels are the authoritative source for the current year, and are where entry opens.
What is stable, and what this page covers: the month the race is held, what the course is like, the conditions you should expect, and how long a build-up the distance needs.
Weather at previous Silvesterlauf Zürich races
Across the last ten years, Zurich in December has averaged a daily high of 5.6°C and a low of -0.3°C, with at least a millimetre of rain on about 45% of days.
These are recorded observations for the race month averaged over ten years, not a forecast and not a single past race day — race dates move, so one day’s figures would mislead. Source: Open-Meteo historical archive.
How to prepare for the Silvesterlauf Zürich
How long to train
Build for 8 to 10 weeks from a base you already hold rather than from nothing. For 10K the block should peak at a longest run of 12–14 km, reached at least two weeks before race day so there is time to taper. Ten days of reduced volume is enough of a taper at this distance; keep one short session at race pace in the final week.
Training for this course
The course mixes surfaces and gradients, so build a training block that does the same rather than repeating one flat loop. Vary where you run week to week so nothing on race day is unfamiliar.
Conditions in December
It is a cold race: highs average 5.6°C and lows -0.3°C in December. Warm up indoors or in layers you can discard, keep the extremities covered for the first few kilometres, and remember that cold air makes early pace feel easier than it is. Rain is common — around 45% of days that month see at least a millimetre — so do some training runs wet and know which kit does not chafe.
Race week
Sleep matters most two nights before, not the night before, so protect that one. Keep eating normally with a modest tilt toward carbohydrate, lay out kit the night before, and do nothing new: no new shoes, no new breakfast, no new socks. Plan to arrive at the start with time to spare — 10K fields move slowly through bag drop and security.
Distances and where the race is run
- 10K — 10 km
- 5K — 5 km
The pin marks Zurich city centre, the area the Silvesterlauf Zürich starts and finishes in. This is not the course line: the route is set by the organiser and changes between editions, so the official course map for the current year is theirs to publish. The routes below are for training on the same roads.
Train on these roads: 10K routes in Zurich · long runs in Zurich · GPS art routes
Other races in Zurich
- Zürich Marathon — Marathon, Relay, April
- SOLA-Stafette — Relay, May