For this 11th edition, the second largest French marathon was, once again, a great success. Since Thursday and the opening of the village on Place Masséna, the event has attracted a large audience and concluded beautifully today with the victory of Ethiopian Abrha Milaw this Sunday morning. A look back on this day of celebration along the azure coast…
An edition based on the number “11”…
Despite a slight decrease in participation (13,000 participants in the last edition), the seven city stages welcomed more than 11,000 runners throughout this Sunday. Over 50,000 spectators came to support marathoners of all origins. 30% of them were international competitors, including more than 150 Russians, which was a real surprise. The female participation is also noteworthy as more than 30% of the participants are women, bringing us closer to gender parity in the competition. This morning, 56 nations were represented, and their participants set off with the starting gun at 8 a.m.
Focusing on prevention…
This year, the organizers decided to invite Rima Wates, nicknamed the “Tyre Lady,” whose specialty is running all her marathons while pulling a 10 kg tire behind her to raise public awareness about recycling and the fact that our seas are overflowing with pollution due to plastic waste. Throughout the weekend, she interacted with the public to explain her commitment and goals, which include running 100 marathons before 2020 and convincing marathon organizers to reduce polluting waste. A very noble cause that attracted the village visitors who signed her tire as a sign of support.
Which concluded with a new record!
To cap off this beautiful sports weekend on the French Riviera, Abrha Milaw broke the men’s course record with a time of 2h07min25s, improving by 1 minute and 15 seconds on the previous record set by Kanda Lukas in 2011. For the women, Nurit Shiemels finished in 2h31min53s, which does not break the record still held by Radiya Roba since 2010. Thus ends this 11th edition of the Alpes-Maritimes marathon, and we are already looking forward to next year…
Tom Vannier
