Why the thought of a Paris marathon on the periphery is absurd | EUROtoday
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L’picture is worthy of Chernobyl or The Walking Dead : runners in the course of the marathon on the Parisian ring street, en path to a stunning sundown … The thought was imagined by the deputy Emmanuel Grégoire and has the advantage of creating unanimously … towards her. In a platform printed on Sunday April 13, within the Huffpostthe elected official proposed, on the event of the Paris marathon, to maneuver the occasion on the Paris ring street, for its fiftieth anniversary, in 2026.
“Putting the 42.195 mythical kilometers of the marathon on this road belt built over 50 years ago run more than a logistical or sporting challenge. It is a political and urban gesture, ”defends the one who can be an everyday jogger. “To reverse the imaginations and dare new urban stories” is what the previous first assistant to the city corridor of Paris promotes, who sees it as “transforming the device into a shared, peaceful, vegetated space – a place of breathing and no longer asphyxiation”. But amongst practitioners, the thought is much from being unanimous.
While 50,000 marathonians stroll the streets of Paris proper now, I suggest that the subsequent version of the Paris Marathon in 2026, the fiftieth, can happen on all or a part of the Parisian ring street!
Paris and its metropolis should face the challenges of … pic.twitter.com/3aopt2pdpp
– Emmanuel Grégoire (@Egregoire) April 13, 2025
For Aubin, this 2025 version was the primary. Curly in 3:34 am. “The last kilometer … a little hard”, acknowledges the one who has been diligent for working for 2 years now. But the expertise was conclusive: “You go through beautiful places, without cars, and there are people who support you, it’s really motivating. For many of them, running in Paris is also having the opportunity to pass the most beautiful monuments of the capital: the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower … and, of course, the Champs-Élysées.
“It’s virtually a vacationer marathon”
Titouan, who finished the 2023 edition in just under four hours, has the same speech: “It is a unique experience to go through the streets of Paris and see the monuments. For example, from the start, we see the opera, at the end of the third or fourth kilometer. We go through mythical streets and in front of significant monuments, such as the Louis Vuitton Foundation on the return, ”he recalls.
The two marathonists are far from being convinced by the idea: one saw it as a “joke”, the other a “silly thought”. Cyril Petit, five times participating and co -author of 100 marathon wordsalso explains that a marathon is first of all an “expertise”: “It is without doubt one of the marathons on the planet the place we cross essentially the most historic monuments. Basically, it is virtually a vacationer marathon, it is a tourism method in Paris whereas working. »»
Read too An Irish Olympic champion hospitalized after swam within the SeineAll agree on this topic: a marathon on the Parisian ring street would take away a big a part of its taste from the occasion: “When you run, and especially when it is hard, you need escape to think of something other than suffering”, explains Cyril Petit. Difficult to consider one thing else when your horizon consists of an enormous line (virtually) straight and tarmac.
The difficulties of loneliness within the race
“The device is just a road and bitumen. We can find that in Shanghai or Amsterdam. It is not very interesting to make the Paris marathon on a road where there are usually cars “, is so surprised Titouan, when Aubin rightly considers that there will be” not much to see “.
But a marathon is not just a panorama. It is also a whole audience, friends, family, or even simple strangers, which flourish on the side of the road to encourage Sunday athletes. Aubin had “the impression of being an athlete at the Olympic Games, with the people who almost push you on the road”. “When you are really in Paris, in the streets and avenues, you are close to people, and it’s galvanizing. It has a “world” impact, “mentioned Titouan in the identical method.
Read too Diving behind the scenes of the OlympicsIn live performance, the 2 younger males describe the identical issue through the race: the Bois de Boulogne. Especially as a result of the doorway to the park is at 35e kilometer, virtually on the finish of the hassle. But additionally as a result of it’s typically the place the place there’s the least viewers: “It’s very long, and that’s where you really feel loneliness”, explains Aubin.
Titouan continues: “It’s more difficult, because you are alone with yourself, and it is often where you arrive on the part of the“ wall ” [phénomène physiologique, qui correspond à l’épuisement des réserves de glycogène, dit autrement, à une panne de carburant musculaire]. This is where we really need encouragement, even people we don’t know. »»
“Difficult to think about an environment like that of Paris”
And Cyril Petit confirm: “On the ring street, it could be an extended straight line, and that is what is worse in a marathon. Even if it turns, we do not understand it. In Paris, for instance, between the twenty fifthe and 32e kilometer, we’re on the quays, and it is already very lengthy. So think about on the periphery… ”
During the Paris marathon, the RATP units up a particular line, the #line42km, which permits near runners to have the ability to comply with them over your entire course, to encourage them. According to Titouan, “my loved ones used this line to see me every four or five kilometers”. Likewise for Aubin, whose companion was capable of comply with him at 4 completely different factors. Difficult to think about the identical improvement for the Parisian ring street.
Read too We examined the UTMB for you, essentially the most legendary path on the planet “It is difficult to imagine an atmosphere like that of Paris on the ring road. And then, to access it, it would be complicated. I am not sure that we can join all the points of the Metro or transport device, ”nonetheless abounds Aubin, when Cyril Petit already asks the query of logistical constraints.
“It would be very annoying”
If the latter acknowledges that, in its historical past, “the journey of the Paris marathon has often changed”, he hopes that this proposal will stay within the state of One Shot : “Even if it could be interesting, it should not replace the classic marathon. All three believe that, for experience, they could be tempted, even if they would think about it twice.
“It would be funny to do it once. But during the race, I think it would be very annoying. The idea is disruptive, but the Paris marathon should not become the device marathon, ”says Titouan. What if the solution came… from a peaceful coexistence? If nothing indicates that a marathon on the device will perpetuate after 2026, the question, if it was led to ask itself, deserves to be studied according to Arnaud Flanquart, president of the Île-de-France athletics (Lifa).
To uncover
The kangaroo of the day
Answer
“If we move the marathon on the ring road, it will be a different marathon, but perhaps complementary,” he mentioned, explaining that if “the Paris marathon attracts internationally, it is not necessarily a marathon where we are looking for a big sporting performance”, as a result of an unintentional journey, particularly paved. “The performances are honorable, but this is not where we break world records. »»
A right, smooth, without obstacle device could interest performers. “It could be a marathon conducive to large chronometers,” he adds. A first race could serve as a justice of the peace: at the start of the school year 2025 will take place the “35 kilometers of the PARIPH GRAND PARIS”. “In 2026, for the 50e Marathon of Paris, let us run the city towards its future, ”concludes Emmanuel Grégoire in his gallery. Will this future be written on the bituminous paths of the Ile-de-France ring street?
https://www.lepoint.fr/sport/une-blague-une-idee-debile-pourquoi-l-idee-d-un-marathon-de-paris-sur-le-periph-est-absurde-14-04-2025-2587319_26.php
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