The Galopades du Patrimoine, a popular race in Alençon, is canceled in 2024

Cold shower for running enthusiasts in the country of Alençon: the 2024 edition of Heritage Gallopades East canceled! The flagship event of the start of the sporting season in Alençon was to be held Friday September 20.

Contested semi-nocturnally, the friendly event offers participants the opportunity to cross the emblematic monuments of Alençon. So this will not be the case this year. The decision to take a break was taken unanimously on Monday June 17 by the members of the board of directors.

“Real weariness”

The organization expresses a “real weariness” in the face of the numerous “grievances” expressed against the event. It mainly charges the City of Alençonwith whom a meeting in January “set the tone of what to expect,” points out Laurent Rebours, president of the organizing committee.

They were given a list of problems to resolve: too many vehicles still parked on the evening of the event, a lack of flaggers in certain places, not enough stickers and flyers, insufficient barriers… “Suffice it to say that the we are reaching the limits of a voluntary organization like ours,” laments the president of the organizing committee, supported by nearly 150 volunteers each year.

Our association is entirely made up of volunteers who have never spared their time or energy to continue offering such a popular event.

And as the team is not “inexhaustible”, it preferred to slow down for this year. She hopes to relaunch this much-loved race, which brought together 1,456 participants last year, in 2025. A call has already been launched to those of good will to “join the organization and contribute their expertise”.

“Abusive and unfounded” allegations according to the City

For its part, the City of Alençon regrets this decision as well as the “abusive and unfounded” allegations made by the organizers. “The City has been providing comprehensive support for many years: annual subsidy, logistical and administrative support, mobilization of staff, promotion and communication… This support has in no way been called into question for the year 2024,” the City said in A press release.

Regarding the regulatory framework (traffic, parking, diversions, barriers, etc.), the City of Alençon points out that it comes from the services of the state. “The City has always positioned itself in the role of support and facilitator with the various stakeholders. »

Second cancellation

If the relationships between the community and the organizers, based on “trust” and “cooperation”, have been tainted, the City of Alençon “remains in a position of dialogue and listening with the association with which it remains available to work with sincerity and mutual respect.”

Since the creation in 2009, under the leadership of the publisher of The Orne hebdo David Guévart, the Galopades du Patrimoine had only been canceled once: it was in 2020because of the health context linked to the Covid crisis.

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