In deficit, the Toulouse international marathon is suppressed for at least two years
Created in 2007, the Toulouse International Marathon stops for at least two years. The reasons are budgetary, the losses are estimated at 400,000 euros on a single edition, specifies Toulouse Métropole which wishes with part of this sum, a financier of other sporting events.
The traditional running race organized every year in October in the Toulouse metropolitan area will no longer take place, at least for the 2022 and 2023 editions. Created in 2007, the marathon had registered in 2019 nearly 13,000 participants.
The reasons given by Toulouse Métropole are funded. According to Philippe Plantade, mayor of Bruguières and vice-president of Toulouse Métropole in charge of Sports, “we decided to stop the marathon for at least two years, we lost 400,000 euros on the event, on an edition and on a race day “.
Too high an organizational cost
In 2019 the edition had reported nearly 13,000 participants in all events. A sporting event where more than a large number of volunteers were mobilized each year, except in 2020 when the edition had to be canceled due to the health crisis.
The organization of such an event is too expensive for the Metropolis, according to Philippe Plantade, “We couldn’t find any sponsors on the one hand, sponsors as important as the events in Paris or Barcelona. And then we had a lot of constraints linked to the Vigipirate plan which weighed down on our budget, we trained less in fewer volunteers and we did not have as many marathoners as we wanted “.
A sports event already in deficit
From 2016 to 2018, the organization of this course was attributed to the French athletics federation. But a few months before the 2019 edition, the federation returns the keys and the president of Toulouse Métropole, Jean-Luc Moudenc, and his vice-president at the time Vincent Terrail-Novès then decide to take over the organization of the test.
“The FFA crashed us and we found ourselves helpless, it was organized urgently in complicated, delicate conditions “, says Philippe Plantade.
Part of the marathon budget to fund other sporting events
Toulouse Métropole has decided that half of this amount will be distributed over six or seven national or international events.. We are currently thinking about it, we are in the middle of a discussion “, specifies Philippe Plantade,
“It is a question of funding various and varied events and we are keen to join forces with other communities in the organization of events such as the tennis tournament for example”, adds the chosen one. Toulouse Métropole could support already existing projects such as the Tournefeuille marathon and organize so-called “more fun and family-friendly” sporting events around padel or pétanque. Several options are therefore on the table.