The Paris Marathon

Everything you need to know about the Paris Marathon

It's not one of the World Marathon Majors but the Paris Marathon is still right up there as one of the big ones; one of the marathons where you just know you're going to be seeing some of the most recognisable landmarks on the globe and where you'll be rubbing shoulders with tens of thousands of other runners. It doesn't have quite the spectator support in places, as the likes of London and New York, but it is still well worth ticking off the list. We tell you more.

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The Destination

One of the largest cities in Europe, Paris has the well-deserved reputation of being the most beautiful and romantic of all cities, brimming with historic associations and remaining vastly influential in the realms of culture, art, fashion, food, and design. It's located in the north of France on the river Seine and has a population of 2.2 million people living in the central city and 12 million people in the whole metropolitan area.

It's the most popular tourist destination in the world with 45 million tourists annually, who come to see the likes of the world's most visited tourist site the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Louvre Museum, Moulin Rouge, and Lido. A large part of the city, including the River Seine, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Paris is home to the world's finest and most luxurious fashion designers and cosmetics, like Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Dior, Yves Saint-Laurent, Guerlain, Lancôme, L'Oréal, Clarins, amongst many others. If it's quality cuisine you're after, look no further. The city has more Michelin restaurants than any other city in the world apart from Tokyo.

History

The first marathon from the current era was held in 1976, but the very earliest on record is from 1896, when a field of 191 runners ran a 40km (25 mile) course, as opposed to the now standard 42.195km course

Race Organiser

Amaury Sport Organisation, a subsidiary of the Amaury Group, media and sport group that owns the newspaper L’Equipe. 500,000 competitors take part in mass events organised by A.S.O. and its British subsidiary, Human Race, every year. They also organise the Paris Marathon.

When?

The race is held annually in April

Distances

Marathon

Is there an Expo?

The expo, called the Run Experience Fair, is held at the the Parc des Expositions, Porte de Versailles, for three days prior to the marathon. All bibs are collected from the Fair.

How many runners?

50,000

Course

Once you're in you need to sort your accommodation quickly. The start and finish, just like the Berlin Marathon are close together, but this inevitably means hotels in this area sell out quickly. You don't need to rely on any public transport if you stay around the Arc de Triomphe area, but you will of course be paying for the privilege. Whenever there's an event on like this prices will be higher, but for the sake of convenience you may find it worth it to spend a bit more. Alternatively you could stay near the Expo, which is held at the Porte de Versailles. It's only a 15 minute trip on the metro and about a mile walk to the start and it will be a lot cheaper. There are still plenty of options in this area, with hotels of all different grades on offer.

It's a good course, but in common with many other big events it does have quiet sections where crowds thin and motivation can dip. It all starts from 8.20am, near the intersection of Avenue de Champs-Elysées and Rue Marbeuf and Rue du Colisée along the broad cobblestone expanse toward the Mile 1 marker at Place de la Concorde. It's a wave start approach, which is essential given that there are well over 50,000 runners, but still expect this part of the course to be extremely busy.

At mile 5 you're on Avenue Daumesnil, passing the Porte Dorée (Golden Gate) Metro station on the right, and the Palace of the Golden Gate, a huge former exhibition hall built in 1931 and now the site of the Museum of the History of Immigration. You pass Lake Daumesnil and the Vincennes Zoo and you'll be able to see the Château de Vincennes, a huge fortified castle dating back to the 14th century. The Zoo covers an area of 14.5 hectares in the woodland of Bois de Vincennes. There is a total of 4.5 km of walkways where visitors can observe more than 1,000 animals cohabiting in this corner of eastern Paris from lions to giraffes, flamingoes and tropical fish. There are 190 species of mammals, reptiles, fish and birds to see here and it's well worth a visit. The race has thinned out considerably at this point and you'll be running at your own place comfortably by now.

The route then runs alongside the Seine River for six miles so there's plenty to take in. This stretch is not crowded and is a great place to watch the race. The Seine flows for 13 kms through Paris from east to west, at 27m above sea level. Its width varies from 30 m to 200m and its depth from 3.4m to 5.7m. It's spanned by 37 bridges and you'll run past plenty of them.

At mile 15 you'll see the iconic Notre Dame cathedral and then at mile 16 it's the Musee d'Orsay, the Grand Palais a mile later and then shortly after one of the real highlights. At mile 18 it's one of the most famous landmarks anywhere, the Eiffel Tower. Named after its designer, Gustave Eiffel, the Tour Eiffel was built for the 1889 Exposition Universelle. It took 300 workers, 2.5 million rivets and two years of nonstop labor to assemble. Upon completion, the tower became the tallest human-made structure in the world (324m) until it lost that title to the Chrysler Building in New York. It dominates Paris and to run past it at the 30km mark is a marathon running highlight!

From that high though you then enter a period of the race where you really need to focus and stay motivated. The route enters the Boulogne Forest located to the west of Paris, and this its home for the next 5 miles. The forest is two and a half times larger than Central Park in New York and although it contains many attractions including Fondation Louis Vuitton's spectacular glass ship-shaped building, this is a tough place to run at this stage of a marathon. Crowds are very sparse, there's not a great deal to see apart from trees and the gradient gradually increases.

With only a few hundred metres to go it suddenly get much better very quickly. It's onto

Avenue Foch and then you're there at the finish just in front of another global landmark, with the Arc de Triomphe. Work on the Arc began in 1806, on the orders of Napoleon I to honour the victories of his Grande Armée. Inspired by the great arches of antiquity, this iconic monument bears the names of battles and generals from the Revolution and the First Empire. Every evening, the flame is lit on the tomb of the Unknown Soldier from the Great War. The terrace provides superb views both by day and night across the city and its great sweeping avenues. There are huge crowds here and you'll need to be really patient as you navigate your way out of the finish zone. It's a spectacular place to finish a race and right up there with those of the Majors.

What's unique?

Running on a number of iconic Parisian streets closed to traffic is unforgettable.

Do charities benefit?

There are a number of official charity partners but not on the scale of London or New York.

Our verdict

Although it's inevitably going to be an expensive weekend, this is one of the big events that you simply must do. It does have some quiet and relatively uninspiring sections but these are more than compensated for by the global landmarks like the Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. Running on closed roads in a city like this is unforgettable.

How to register

Online via the website. It's a 'first come first served' event, so don't leave it too late. There is no ballot. Packages are available from a number of tour operators. You will need to provide organisers with a medical certificate from your doctor. This needs to be uploaded to the account you set up when you register, or taken to the expo when you collect your number.

Race website

https://www.schneiderelectricparismarathon.com/en