Hitting UNESCO trails in land of fairy chimneys

The 24-hour trail race kicked off in the land of fairy chimneys Cappadocia, one of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, on Saturday.

The Salomon Cappadocia Ultra-Trail features three courses; 119-kilometer (74-mile) with a variation in altitude of 3,730 meters, 63-km (39-mi) with 2,030 m, and 38-kilometer (23.6-mile) with 1,120 m.

A total of 2,650 runners, more than half of whom were foreigners, is competing in the sixth iteration of the race.

This rocky plateau was formed by millions of years of natural phenomena -- erosion of soft layers of lava and ash from volcanic mountains around the region composing with wind and rain.

Runners are passing through plateaus, valleys and hills with fairy tale landscape of cones, pillars, pinnacles, mushrooms, and chimneys.

The Salomon Cappadocia Ultra-Trail is part of the Ultra-Trail World Tour and is also a qualifying race for the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) and Western States Endurance Run (WSER).

The degrees received by the athletes will be critical for the world championship.

The 119-km race has 10 aid-stations along the route, the 63-km has five and the 38-km two.