A crowd of 50,000 joggers will set off on Sunday morning from the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, south of New York, for a 42.195 kilometer race.
Among them, Alban, 43, a running enthusiast for twenty years.
The Frenchman left the department of Oise, where he lives, for a few days to run the New York marathon.
To achieve its objective – ambitious!
– to complete the race in 3h30, Alban will be able to count on the unfailing support of Christelle, Paul and twelve other of his colleagues from Cartonneries du Valois, the SME where he works.
This company trip is an idea that has been in the head of the boss, Éric Maillard, for a long time, who has decided to take a contingent of fifteen employees with him to New York at the expense of the princess.
In the newspaper
Le Parisien
, which reveals this beautiful story, Éric Maillard says that
“the company finances everything, travel, accommodation, visits”
.
And even the hotel, located in the heart of Manhattan.
First flight
If the project consists in supporting the courageous Alban in his strides on Sunday morning, the employees of the Cartonneries du Valois take advantage of their presence there to visit the essentials of the
Big Apple
: Statue of Liberty, Central Park, Broadway... A waking dream for all those French people who didn't know the city that never sleeps.
For some of them, it was even an opportunity for a first flight, reports
Le Parisien
, since they had never flown.
Christelle, 50, even admits never having crossed the borders of the Oise in her life.
Among the employees of the Cartonneries du Valois, the choice fell precisely on those who have not yet had the opportunity to make great trips like this one.
“It's a real pleasure to be able to please them
,” rejoices Éric Maillard.
Sunday, near the race, the small troop will be recognizable by its t-shirts stamped
“All packed for Alban”.