In a normal world, the Paris marathon should have taken place on Sunday April 11.
Obviously, in the midst of a pandemic, it is impossible to release 65,000 people in the streets of the capital.
For the moment, the test is postponed until October 17.
In the meantime, you can still compete in the Paris marathon while connected.
With a simple principle: run 42.195 km between Monday 5 and Sunday 11 April, where and when you want, in one or more times, and at your own pace.
Edouard Cassignol, the big boss of the marathon at ASO (Amaury Sport Organization) explains the principle to us.
What is the Connected Paris Marathon?
Edouard Cassignol.
To keep the link between the runners in this complicated period, and to tell them that the marathon does not forget them, the connected marathon consists of running the 42.195 km of the race between April 5 and 11, which are the historical dates of the Paris marathon.
As the race is postponed until October 17th, we wanted to keep the flame of our marathoners alive during this complicated period.
It is also the opportunity to live an original experience.
🤩 Already more than 42,195 participants in the #GreenRunners week challenge!
Join them on @Strava 👉 https://t.co/QmcVMukWDH
🤩 Already more than 42 195 runners are taking part in our #GreenRunners week challenge!
Join them on @Strava 👉 https://t.co/QmcVMukWDH#ParisMarathon pic.twitter.com/9dJTytAEgM
- Schneider Electric Marathon de Paris (@parismarathon) April 1, 2021
What is the rule of the game?
There is only one: you have to run the distance between these two defined dates.
Afterwards, everyone is free to do as they wish.
You can do the marathon in one go and run the 42.195 km in one go.
Some will.
But you can also do it several times: run 10 km one day, 12 the next day, six the next day or take a break.
We can do it in seven times, in four.
It's really as we want.
The only constraint is to have completed the distance of the marathon between April 5 at the earliest and April 11 at midnight at the latest.
Everything else is free.
Should we go to the “real” route of the Paris marathon?
Of course not.
Here again, everyone is completely free: you can do it on your terrace as some ran a marathon during the first confinement, in your garden, in the street in front of your home, the neighboring park.
Anything is possible as long as we respect government measures and travel the distance.
It's very, very flexible and it was our will.
How can we participate?
It's very simple and above all, completely free.
You must register on the Strava platform or app.
Then, with your smartphone or a connected watch, your data of exits will go up on the platform which will follow your progress during these 7 days.
This is to ensure that you have completed the requested distance.
Each runner will have their page on Strava to find out the distance already covered and the distance still to be completed.
Impossible to cheat, and it is also a good way of encouragement.
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How many participants do you expect?
The set objective is to reconstitute the peloton of the Paris marathon as it was in 2019, namely 65,000 runners.
In the middle of last week, we had passed the 36,000 registered mark (
Editor's note: Saturday afternoon, they were 49,000
).
Do you know the profile of the registered runners?
In part, there are “real” marathoners who would have taken the start of the “real” marathon.
I also think that we have a lot of people who take the opportunity to test themselves over this distance, to see if they are able in a few outings to succeed in the cumulative distance.
I know a lot of people who usually run between 16 and 20 km per week in two or three times and who, with the marathon connected, will push the distance up to 42 km by increasing to four runs at least weekly.
Myself, even though I haven't run a marathon in a long time, I'm going to do it with three or four outings.
The connected marathon wants to meet another challenge: which one?
The second part enters into the positioning of the event, namely a responsible experience in the most beautiful city in the world.
In 2019, I remind you that the Paris marathon was the first to offset 100% of its carbon footprint.
With the connected marathon, we strongly encourage runners to apply the actions of
responsible
runners
: eat seasonal products, reduce plastic, promote carpooling to run together ... The operation also involves "plogging", this word English which consists in picking up, during your race, all the waste that you come across.
We could therefore move towards the greatest "plogging" of the planet if everyone plays the game.
Are you sure that the “real” marathon will take place on October 17th?
?
We have no certainty at this date, of course.
But we are working hard on the drafting of all the health protocols that we will put in place for all our races.
From June 6, if all goes well, we are organizing a 10 km in the streets of Paris and the half-marathon on September 5.
đź—“You were expecting it, here is the program for Green Runners Week.
👇
42 km to cover with a new gesture from the Green Runner every day.
🌱 # ParisMarathon #GreenRunners pic.twitter.com/rySda22hY1
- Schneider Electric Marathon de Paris (@parismarathon) April 3, 2021
Do you advise runners to register anyway?
Registrations open on April 12 and yes, I recommend it insofar as, if by misfortune, the marathon is postponed to October 17 due to the Covid, we undertake to reimburse the runners in full as soon as they wish.
To date, we already have 18,000 registrants from 2020 who have now requested their registration for 2021.
Do you miss the marathon?
And how !
It's a great, popular party.
In addition to the 50,000 runners who arrive, we have 250,000 people in the street.
As organizers, we also miss the adrenaline of the race.