The editorial team advises you
At the end of 2024, “the same progression continues and is now found on the road events, which had been somewhat neglected a few years ago”, observes Dominique Lahirigoyen, founder and director of the timing company ( and race registration) Pyrénées Chrono, which officiates over 90% of the running races in Béarn.
Proof by the facts: on November 3, the Féminine de Pau broke a new participation record (more than 4,000) and its woman-man duo category was sold out.
This Sunday, December 1, the Jurançon 10 km road race is sold out with 500 runners, which has never happened before and leaves some candidates stranded.
Even more impressive: the Peace Races, a festive race in the streets of Pau on the last Saturday before Christmas, were sold out at the end of November, 4 weeks before the event. The waiting list is already filling up.
Well-established organizations
The reasons are multiple: increase in the overall number of running enthusiasts, desire to come together after the deprivations of Covid, culture of personal challenge, desire to share one's performances on social networks, simplification of registration procedures, too. , with the implementation of the “Health prevention pathway” which no longer requires you to systematically go to the doctor’s office…
And obviously, running events being fewer in number in cold weather than in fall or spring – when there are sometimes 4 to 5 races per weekend – participants rush to the rare existing races, even more so when it comes to well-established organizations. Which is the case of the Féminine (22 editions) as well as the 10 km of Jurançon (45th edition) or the 39th Courses de la Paix.
Scheduled in more than 15 days, the parent-child relay race Courir en Famille, at the Sers estate (December 15) is already close to 600 registered. And even a fairly distant race such as the 10 km of Courir à Pau has already sold more than 60 bibs, more than sixty days before the event.
Until then, other events a little further away geographically, or younger, should also benefit from this popular enthusiasm: the Foulées du Sanglier in Salies (December 8), the new Nocturne de Noël in Nay (December 13), or the Hivernale des Lacs in Orthez (January 5).
