Sunday April 8th, 2018

Similar to London, Paris had an Expo which was open from the Thursday before the race for runners to collect our numbers and rucksack. Just a note that in order to be able to run in Paris you need to have a signed Drs certificate and you cannot collect your number without it. The expo was about 30-40 minutes on the metro from the centre of Paris and as well as collecting your number was full of running related stalls that you could have quite easily spent a fortune at!

Along with the marathon itself on the Saturday morning there is (for a fee) a ‘Breakfast’ run, which is a very laid back 5k which kicks off at 8.30, starting near the Louvre and ending at the Eiffel Tower. Anyone can take part in this regardless of whether you are doing the marathon. No numbers for this one as it’s not really a race, but we were given t-shirts to wear instead. Flags were given out to the runners for the many nationalities taking part and a truck with a very loud sound system was at the front of the run making it a real party atmosphere. At the finish everyone was treated to; croissants, banana’s, choc au pain, coffee and water. Great way to start the day.

In the afternoon they also had a free run for the children. 2 levels, under 8’s that ran just over 1km and under 11s who had a longer 2.5km. This started where the ‘Breakfast’ run had ended near the Eiffel Tower. All the children had the number 1, were given baseball caps and get a medal with a goody bag when they finished. I’d never seen this before and have to say what a great way for the whole family to get involved with the marathon.

The marathon started on the Avenue des Champs Élysées in front of the Arc de Triomphe, which was easily accessible via the Metro. Interestingly with the thousands of runners turning up the traffic was still flowing around the Arc de Triomphe and some of the side roads. By 8am it was starting to get quite congested with the 55k runners that were due to take part.

I was very lucky in that I got my place through Schneider Electric the main sponsor of the race and as such had access to hospitality both before and after the race which meant having somewhere quieter, private changing area, toilets and our own bag drop. It also included pre and post-race refreshments and snacks. I believe for an extra fee anyone can book a similar ViP experience.

Dependant on your predicted running time (which was printed on your race number along with your first name and country), you were allocated into a set starting ‘pen’ and each starting pen went off at different times, roughly 10-15 minutes in between each one. Elites set off at just after 8 and the last pen went at 9.55. Each set of runners had their own countdown till they could go and it was a very relaxed party atmosphere in the pens. Am glad the start times were fairly early as it had already started to heat up with temperatures hitting 23 degrees by lunch-time.

The race heads out along the Avenue des Champs Élysées, past the Place de Concord and the Bastille before heading into the Bois de Vincennes past the beautiful Château de Vincennes. You then start to loop back and run along the Seine, passing Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower, then into another wooded area Bois de Bologne and finally finishing with the Arc de Triomphe in front of you.

The course was a mixture of cobbles, roads, some dirt tracks through Bois de Vincennes and Bois de Bologne and one particularly long tunnel (which was a very welcome relief from the sun!). Some areas through the city where there were large crowds of spectators it did get a bit tricky as unlike other races there are no barriers between you and the crowds. In a number of places they push out into the road making it very cramped for the runners. We even had a number of people just walk out across the road in front of you. Out in the wooded areas it was a lot different with very few people to cheer you on.

Around every 5k there are water and food stops, the stations are only on one side of the road and the drinks are in bottle, which although there are bins (with big targets on so you can throw the bottle at them) you still had to watch where you put your feet. Food included; oranges and bananas, sugar cubes, and some sort of nut mixture. Near the end there were jelly sweets as well.

With the weather being so warm there were also a number of showers, well Fire service hoses spraying across the road and tables had large plastic tubs that were kept topped with the cold water for runners to splash over themselves to try and cool down.

At the finish at technical t-shirt (blue for men, orange for women) and medal were waiting for us. I headed back to the hospitality tent so can’t comment on the facilities available at the finish. Again I found it fairly easy to get back on a metro to take me back to the hotel. Results were available online fairly quickly after the race and a day or two later the official photos and videos (yes I said video) are available.

Good points – Very well organised, beautiful scenery, well supported and plenty of porta loos on route ;-) and both the Breakfast run and the children’s run were great additions to the main race.

Bad points – Could have done with more water and food stops, the run through the wooded area Bois de Bologne at around 38+km I found a hard work as it was quiet and you seemed to do a couple of loops, no crowd control

Would I do it again…yes most definitely!!!

Debbie

Some Stats

018 STATISTICS

REGISTRATIONS

10 COUNTRIES WITH THE MOST PARTICIPANTS

145 countries were represented

THE RACE IN NUMBERS

THE RACE

• 55,000: total registered
• 1,759,869: total number of kilometers run by the competitors in 2016, equals more than 2 travels from the Earth to the Moon
• 31,5% of the competitors come from abroad
• 1/2: ratio of the French competitors who live in the Ile-de-France region
• 75/25: ration men/women
• 41: average age of men
• 40: average age of women
• 5 Parisian neighbourhoods crossed
• 11 timing posts
• 32 pacers
• 3,000 volunteers
• 60 activity and show points
• 250,000 spectators expected
• 145 nationalities represented (1: France, 2: United Kingdom, 3: United States)
• 231,600 social fans (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram)

REFRESHMENTS

• 19 tons of oranges
• 3 tons of dried fruit and nuts Daco Bello
• 7 tons of apples
• 24 tons of bananas de Guadeloupe & Martinique
• 440,000 sugar cubes
• 32,000  gingerbread
• 1,3 tons of Bretzel
• 520,000 bottles of Vittel
• 50,000 energy gel MC3 Stimium
• 50,000 Flowpacks 5 gommes Pro-Energy Stimium