Where will you run your next marathon ?

Tomorrow Paris will host it’s annual marathon. It will be the 32nd to be be run in the French Capital.
But did you know that in fact the first marathon to be run in Paris was run in 1896. It was on July 19th, just a few month after the first Olympic marathon that was run in Athens during the first modern Olympiad.

Photo by courtesy of Gadl

It was the first marathon to be run in France. 191 runners gathered at the Porte Maillot and started running toward Conflant St-Honorine. At that time, the route was 40 km long (the acknowledged distance between Marathon and the city of Athens).
Len Hurst, a British runner crossed the finishing line on the bridge of Conflant after 2 hours and 31 minutes.

The modern Paris Marathon dates from 1976. The same year the movie Marathon man was released.
It was won by Jean-Pierre Eudier in 2:20:57. Only a 11 minute gain in 80 years !

Since then, the course has changed many times. Since 2005, the marathon is run on the right banks. The start is on the Champs Elysées. The courses heads East to the Bois de Vincennes, circles in its woods and heads back West on the banks of the Seine. It passes Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower and enters the Bois de Boulogne for a few kilometers to finish on avenue Foch.

If you love Paris, it is the race to run. If you don’t know Paris yet, it is certainly one of the best way to discover it. A once in a year opportunity to embrace a traffic free city.

Good luck to the 35 000 runners who will participate tomorrow.

Paavo Nurmi is a finish long distance runner. Today, he may not be as famous as Nokia, but he did a lot to make Finland known in the world in this time.

It all happened during the 1920s, Finland had just gained its independence from Russia(in 1917) and was working hard to establish its place among the concert of free nations.

During those 10 short years, Paavo Nurmi dominated middle and long distance track and field races, winning no less than 9 gold medals and 3 silver medals in 3 Olympic :

• 4 in Antwerp - 1920
• 5 in Paris - 1924
• 3 in Amsterdam - 1928

As for training Paavo was clearly ahead of his time. He alway ran with a stopwatch in hand and assigned himself quantity and quality training that none of his fellow runners endured at that time.
As a result, not only did he win 12 Olympic medals, but he also set 25 world record (from 1500 meters to 20 000).

His Olympic career was put to an end in the 1932 Olympiads in Los Angeles because the organizing committee considered him a professional.

Paavo never ran an Olympic marathon, but still two marathons have been named after him.

• Paavo Nurmi Marathon organized in Turku, the Finnish city where he was born in 1897 at the end of June
• Paavo Nurmi Marathon held in Hurley, WI in the middle of August.

Paavo Nurmi died in 1973 and was honored with a state funeral.

“Success in sport as in almost anything comes from devotion. The athlete must make a devotion of his specialty.” - Paavo Nurmi

See also : All the marathons held in Finland

The photo of the Paavo Nurmi statue that stands near the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki has been take by Rod Monkey.

We all know that Boston hosts the oldest marathon in the world. But do you know which is the oldest marathon in Europe ?

Athens, London, Paris, Berlin ?

No, no.

Europe’s oldest marathon is in Slovakia. It is the Košice Peace Marathon which was first held in 1924.
After witnessing the Olympic marathon in Paris, three Slovakian official returned to Košice with a dream : organize a marathon in their own country. The dream finally came true on October 28th of the same year.

If you want to learn a little more about the Genesis of this marathon, visit the official web site.

Košice isn’t the only marathon in Slovakia. Here’s the complete list.