The Paris Marathon, or the French say, the Marathon de Paris, was established in 1977 with the 1970’s craze for big city Marathons, and is undoubtedly one of the biggest and most popular marathons in Europe after London! And where better than the most romantic city in the World for a running holiday!!

THE PARIS MARATHON

The Paris Marathon starts on one of the World’s most famous streets, the Champs Elysees, and attracting over 40,000 runners each year, this is a truly memorable journey through to the finish in the spectacular Avenue Foch. Medals and certificates are issued for all runners who finish within the time limit of 5hrs 40mins.

Did you know? The very first marathon in Paris was on Sunday the 19th of July 1896, there was a big crowd at Porte Maillot for the first French marathon, which brought together 191 participants. After a 2h31’30’‘ race, and cheered on by 2.000 spectators, the British man Len Hurst crossed the finishing line traced out on the Conflans bridge. After a brief moment in the arms of his coach Boon, he regained all his strength in order to receive the 200 francs from the Petit Journal.

In the 2011 Paris Marathon, there were over 40,000 entrants, with more than 31,000 finshing the marathon. Over 5,000 marathon runners entered from the UK, nearly half of the international entries. Interestingly, during the Paris Marathon itself, there were 235,000 spectators, 3,000 volunteers, 30 000 sponges, 85 music groups on the route and the marathon runners consumed 47 tons of fruit and 456,000 bottles of water!! The men’s winner, Benjamin Kipt0o won in a time of 2.06.31, whilst the women’s winner Priscah Jeptoo won in 2.22.55.

Now, doesn’t that make you want to run the Paris Marathon?? Imagine taking your place at 8.45 am on the Champs Elysee to start running the 2012 Paris Marathon.

This is the map of the 2010 Paris Marathon course.

For details of our travel packages for the 2012 Paris Marathon and details of our Guaranteed Entry, please click on the travel packages tab above.

VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE

All events in France require you to present a medical certificate from your doctor with your entry stating that ‘There is no contra indication to “YOUR NAME” taking part in a marathon, you will need to produce this certificate in Paris at the Expo to pick up your race number. You can download a typical example of a medical certificate which is acceptable in France by clicking here. Or, visit www.sportsmedicalcertificates.co.uk where you can enter your details for online medical certification.

Sports Tours International can accept no responsibilty for failure to comply with this instruction, and no refunds will be given.

Also, to run in the 2012 Paris Marathon, you must be born in or before 1992. If you enter and are under age, your entry will be rejected, but your travel package will remain valid.

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