To mark turning 50 in style, French amateur runner Charlotte Prior donned her trainers and joined more than 40,000 people in a late-night marathon through some of Paris’s most spectacular sites.
The “marathon for all”, which started on Saturday night and for some ended very early the next morning, gave Olympics spectators the chance to take part too as the games slowly draw to a close in Paris.
“It was tough but the atmosphere was wild,” the mother of four from the city of Reims told AFP, still out of breath afterwards.
“There were people cheering all along the way.”
Out of some 400,000 people who signed up to run the same course as the Olympians or a shorter 10-kilometre (15-mile) race, only 40,048 men and women were selected, most through a draw.
In the end, around 35,000 leapt forward from the starting line outside the Paris city hall to take part.
It took marathon participants from central Paris to Versailles and back again in a race that was sometimes tough but pulsating with good cheer.
Crowds lined the over 42-kilometre trail, noisily cheering on runners as they dashed past, while some participants dressed up for the occasion.
One man ran in a strawberry-shaped bonnet, while a woman bounded forward wearing the Olympic flag as a cape on her back.
Another woman dressed up as comic sidekick Obelix carried a fake menhir on her back.
A newly married Parisian in a yellow tutu, who gave her name as Maeva, had come with a friend.
“We just wanted to have fun and soak up the atmosphere,” the woman in her 30s said.
– Punishing hill –
Among the throngs of amateur athletes, Frederic was pushing his 13-year-old son Wellan, who has cerebral palsy, in a racing wheelchair.
“He wanted to take part as soon as he heard about it,” said the father, who posts their sporting exploits on their Facebook page “Team Wewe”.
Runners whizzed past the Paris Opera, some briefly stopping to take selfies in front of the Olympics cauldron in the Tuileries gardens.
They dragged themselves up and down a steep hill on the outskirts of Versailles that is reputed to be one of the hardest in Olympic history.
An AFP runner saw many people doubled up over the barriers at the side of the road during the brutal climb upwards.
They turned around just outside the palatial home commissioned by King Louis XIV, and headed back towards Napoleon’s gigantic mausoleum in the city centre.
Despite a light breeze offering a little relief from the evening heat, the race was too much for some and rescue services carried away several people in emergency blankets.
– ‘Dazzled’ –
But many said it was one of the best races of their lives.
Gaspard Fleury-Vaisse, a 16-year-old from the southern city of Toulouse, was the youngest to take part in the 10-km race.
“It’s the first time I’m so dazzled by a race,” he said.
Heather Oliver, 27, had travelled all the way from the US state of Alabama.
“It’s funny that it goes to Versailles, because I’ve been to Versailles and usually you take a train, but now I ran and then came back. It’s crazy,” she said.
Famous faces among the runners included 77-year-old US Kathrine Switzer, who in 1967 became the first woman ever to cross the finish line of the Boston Marathon despite its director trying to physically remove her from the course.
“I have worked all my life for the advancement and equality of women in sports,” she said.
“And tonight is a wonderful example of 20,024 women running together with 20,024 men on a totally equal basis at 2024 Paris the first Olympic Games that is 50-50 men and women.”
British long-distance legend Mo Farah, 41, was there too.
“It’s nice to see so many people involved,” he said.
At the finishing line near Napoleon’s tomb, most were exhausted and sweaty, but ecstatic.
At least six AFP members of staff took part — three in the 10 km and three in the marathon.
Among them, Stuart Williams headed home on the metro at around 3 am (0100 GMT), feeling slightly nauseous but grinning, the proud wearer of a large shiny medal.
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