Officers from the department train for the Nice-Cannes Marathon: “We are on chairs all day long”

From offices to the athletics track. Nearly 400 agents from the Alpes-Maritimes department have swapped suit jackets for jogging sneakers. They will participate in the Nice-Cannes marathon, which will be held on Sunday November 3, 2024. For the 16th edition of this 42-kilometer race, the department has decided, for the first time, to pay the registration fees and organize each week a training session, with two coaches.

“They’re going to receive a medal. That’s what we’ll remember at the coffee machine!”

For three weeks, the agents have been meeting at the Charles Ehrmann stadium every Wednesday for track training between noon and two. In total, they will benefit free of eight sessions with two coaches at the Nice stadium, before the big day. While some agents train regularly, others are completely novices. “It wasn’t easy for everyone during the first session, some agents wanted to give up”remembers Camille the coach. His colleague tries to reassure the less sporty. “I don’t give them technical advice, but I prefer to give them confidence in themselves. Many would never have thought of participating in such a racesupports Pascal Thiriot, president of Azur Sport Organization. What happens at the end of the event is that they will receive a medal. And that’s what we’ll remember about the coffee machine.”

Izumi works in the autonomy service of the Alpes-Maritimes department. She looks forward to training, which “allows us to escape, let off steam and stay active because like many others, we stay on chairs all day long, in front of a computer.” In total, 53 agents participate in the 20 kilometer race, 48 in the 2 x 21km relay, 93 in the marathonand then 199 will be torchbearers.

During the training sessions, an international star of the discipline came to support them. Paula Radcliffe, former world marathon champion and world record holder, is amazed at the level of motivation of the agents. “Even when it rained, they arrived in a good mood. They attacked the session and saw that it was doable.”

In total, 17,000 runners are registered for this marathon. This is the 2nd most important sporting event in France.