The Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Cojop) announced on Thursday, April 20, that the two “Marathon for All” races, scheduled for August 10, 2024, and which will bring together a total of more than 40,000 people, will take place At nightfall. “If running a marathon was already an experience in itself, running on the same course as the Olympic athletes, the same day, in a magnificent setting and at night promises to be a great adventure for the 40,000 participants”, comments Aurélie Merle , executive sports director of Paris 2024.
Announced in 2019 by the organizers of the Games, the “Marathon for all” will allow the public to not only attend the event, but, in a way, also to participate in it. This can be done in two different forms: a marathon, carried out on the same route as the Olympic athletes, accessible from the age of 20, for which 20,024 bibs are to be filled. And a smaller format of ten kilometers, accessible from the age of 16, in intramural Paris, where 20,024 other places will be allocated. For each of the race formats, the selection will be equal between men and women, specified the Cojop.
Questions remained as to the dates chosen for the conduct of this event. Finally, the Cojop made the choice to schedule them on the same day in order to optimize the race conditions for the participants: “This schedule could in particular make it possible to reduce the impact of the temperature at this time of the year”, organizers say.
The 42.195 kilometer race, open to running enthusiasts, will therefore start well after the men’s competition, on August 10, but at 9 p.m. The second event, suitable for more novice athletes, over a shorter distance, will start at 11:30 p.m. the same day.
For the former, like the 80 marathon runners who will go for the medal, the runners will make a return trip between Paris and Versailles, from the forecourt of the Hôtel de Ville to the château, before crossing the finish line on the Esplanade des Invalides, following the route announced in October 2022 by the organizers.
A third event to win bibs
For amateurs, the race for bibs, which began in 2021, will therefore continue until the end of 2023. It will pass a new milestone, on June 27, with the organization of a new event, the Orange Night Run . A night race, on a five-kilometre loop in Paris, which will allow participants to adapt to the real conditions of their 2024 marathon. 1,000 bibs will be put into play, the highest total distributed since the start of the attributions.
This is the third event of this type organized. In October 2021, on the occasion of D-1,000 of the Games, a first event had mobilized more than 3,000 people on the avenue des Champs-Elysées. Runners who managed to complete a five-kilometre course without being caught by Eliud Kipchoge, the reigning two-time Olympic champion, won their place in the “Marathon pour tous”. A year later, to celebrate Paralympic Day 2022, a race between 22 teams was organized at Place de la Bastille, and allowed the allocation of a hundred additional places.
Other places will become available throughout the year. Running enthusiasts first have the option of registering for Club Paris 2024. This program to promote the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, launched in 2020, allows registered members to take part in challenges, and accumulate points while running. Those who have achieved 100,000 points at the end of the year will be entered into a draw, which will allocate the remaining bibs to the “Marathon pour tous”.
It is also possible to obtain your bib by completing monthly challenges on the Marathon pour tous 2024 application. Finally, challenges and contests are regularly organized on the Instagram account @teamorangerunning will also provide places for this race on the course of the event which will conclude the sporting festivities.