Paris Marathon 2014

For once I went to the arrival. It looked like hell! I could not help, but play with my shutter speed though ;-)

Paris Marathon 2013

It was the Paris Marathon yesterday (Sunday) in Paris and it was also a fantastic day for running (sunny and cold). Like every year, I went by the river banks to take a few photos of runners and selected this one, first because you can see the nice weather and also because you can see this "typical Frenchman with a béret" on the right! Just FYI, the first woman was the Ethiopian Boru Tadese (2 hours 21 min!) and the first man was the Kenyan Peter Some (2 hours 5 minutes). Not bad!

Paris Marathon 2012

Running for 42 kilometers (26 miles) is hard, but when you do it in the streets of Paris it's probably easier (not that I would know, when I run it's on a treadmill at the gym LOL!). I suppose that's the reason why each year, about 40 000 people run the Paris Marathon. Some take it very seriously (like  Stanley Biwott from Kenya who won today's race in a little more than 2 hours!) and some with humor,  like this one that I photographed in front of Le Louvre!

Paris Marathon 2011

Like every year the Paris Marathon took place today. And like every year PDP was there! Luckily the day was absolutely gorgeous and it was a real pleasure waiting for the runners on the "quais" (river banks). Not surprisingly this 2011 marathon was won by Kenians (Benjamin Kiptoo in 2,06 hours for the men and Priscah Jeptoo in 2,22 hours for the women), but the first French was not very far (Abdellatif Meftah in 2,10  hours). BTW the 6th annual PDP picnic will take place towards the end of may, beginning of June. Can you help me picking up a date by answering the poll in the righ column? Thank you.

Paris Marathon 2010

Yesterday (Sunday) was the Paris Marathon. So right after I handed out my old scooter to the lucky winner on ebay! I rushed to the center of the city to catch the runners. As always it is extremely moving to see these people running - sometimes to raise money for charities - and the crowd around encouraging them. As always I also took a zillion photos and made a little Animoto. As a main photo theme, I chose this guy, who is a garçon de café - a waiter - and who ran with his tray (he probably also takes part in the real garçon de café race that we have each year) ! Quite admirable. BTW, if you're wondering about the next PDP picnic, well, look on the right and check what the little grey haired man has to tell you...

La Parisienne

La Parisienne is not only the name we give to a female Parisian, it's also the name of a famous women only race that takes place in Paris every year. It starts at the Eiffel Tower and arrives at the Champs de Mars and it is "only" 6 km long so that women of all age and health condition can participate in it. It took place yesterday (Sunday) and I managed to go there to take a few (well 255!) shots! I ended up keeping this one, because it shows the impressive success of this race (17 500 women registered this year). Have a look at their website, maybe next year you could plan to enter the race...

Paris Marathon 2009

It's not usual for me to set my alarm clock to 7:30 on a Sunday morning, but I really did not want to miss the Paris Marathon. I really look up to all these people who run so long in so little time (and I'm not even thinking of the winner, Vincent Kipruto, a 21 year old Kenyan who ran the 43 km in... 2 hours, 5 minutes et 44 seconds!). Of course running through the empty streets of Paris must be a special treat, but still! Anyway I took this photo in a tunnel on the river banks; I love the effect. Check this little Animoto for more.

Paris Marathon 2007

Four years ago, I wrote a story for a French magazine about "Managers who run the Marathon" and I've always remembered the interviews I carried out at that time, for some of them were very moving. This morning, I felt the same emotion while I attended - and only attended! - the 2007 Paris Marathon. Also, I remember people telling me how beautiful it is to run in the heart of Paris and, well, I do believe them! I took 1 gigabytes of photos this morning but I selected 40 for you. Here they are...