The email fell on Sunday evening, around 10:30 p.m., still making people happy and disappointed.
“You may have seen it on our social networks, 400 new bibs for the 2024 Paris Marathon pour Tous have been awarded.
They are intended for 400 participants of airlocks 4 and 5 of the race against Kipchoge.
We explain what happened.
"
This message responds to the controversy that swelled after the Sunday morning race, organized on the Champs-Élysées. It allowed the 3,600 participants to win their bibs for the Paris Olympics marathon, open to the general public. It was still necessary to resist the return of Eliud Kipchoge. On a 5 km route, the world record holder in the marathon started with more or less behind the amateurs, depending on the level they had declared. Those arriving before the Kenyan picked up their sesame. Except that airlocks 4 and 5, comprising the fastest riders in the peloton, ultimately had no chance. The lead time given to the first man to pass under two hours in the marathon had been miscalculated. “It only took him 200m to catch up with me,” said one participant on Sunday.
To read also “Marathon pour Tous” of Paris 2024: I ran against Kipchoge for a bib and I ... lost
Tony Estanguet, the boss of the Paris Olympics, first assumed it.
“For a first meeting like this, I wanted to make people understand that the 2024 Olympic marathon is really open to everyone.
Even the slowest runners.
The others, I am not worried about them, they will have many other opportunities to win their bibs by then ”, he declared.
"It's a nice gesture on the part of the organization to admit having made a mistake"
But the discontent was such that the organizing committee therefore ended up backing down, and offering 200 bibs to the fastest runners in airlock 4, and as many for those in airlock 5. Mathieu Muller is one of the winners. “At the end of the race, I was bound to be frustrated. I was beaten by Eliud Kipchoge by only 15 seconds. I didn't expect it to be that hard. But I relativized all the same. It was a unique opportunity that was offered to us. Running on the Champs-Élysées, against Kipchoge… Qualifying is only a bonus. It is a nice gesture on the part of the organization to admit that it was wrong. "
Repechage alert 🎣
After studying the race times, the handicap of the last SAS was too difficult.
Based on the times achieved, # Paris2024 decided to grant 400 new bibs to the fastest SAS 4 & 5.
Watch your mailboxes 💌 pic.twitter.com/lDrnFEfD8N
- Paris 2024 (@ Paris2024) November 1, 2021
Except that despite these 400 new bibs, the controversy does not fall. Many runners who have kept the pace of their airlock, even having gone faster, are not included in the draft. “They should have been honest and announced up front that it would be almost mission impossible for us. I came from the South of France by train, I booked a hotel… The weekend cost me over 200 euros. If I had known that I had no chance, I would not have made the trip, ”Bastien grumbles again.
Especially since the initial rules of the event forbade running ... too fast.
Participants should not exceed their pace leaders.
“By registering in the airlock going from 12 to 15 km / h, I thought I would get my bib while keeping pace.
In the end, I finished just at 15 km / h, and I left with nothing ”, continues Bastien.
A regulation finally changed to everyone's surprise on Sunday, everyone being able to run at a free pace once the second kilometer has been passed.
New opportunities to win a bib
If the organizing committee shows understanding, it does not seem to want to go beyond the 400 bibs offered in addition. And this despite the petition launched on the Internet demanding compensation, already signed by more than 1,000 people on Monday noon. He rather gives an appointment in the coming weeks. “We were impressed by the motivation and commitment of these thousands of runners. By studying the times, we realized that the handicap of the last two airlocks was too difficult. But this is only the beginning. In the 1000 days that separate us from the event, there will be many opportunities to win bibs to live this unique experience. Several tens of thousands will in fact still be involved.
From Sunday, Tony Estanguet also recalled one of the primary intentions of this race on the Champs-Élysées: “The idea was to offer a first event for the general public.
It is mission successful.
"We wanted to offer as many people as possible a foretaste of the huge celebration that awaits us for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games," the organizing committee said on Monday.
A state of mind that many share despite everything, even among the failures.
“Images etched forever, my disappointment is slowly fading… proclaims one of them, for example, on the Paris 2024 Twitter thread. It was magic, the important thing was to participate!
My leitmotif from now on: I will have this bib, I will have it!
"