The Toulouse marathon, canceled in 2021, will not take place in 2022 and 2023
The Toulouse Métropole marathon, organized every year since 2007, has not taken place since 2019. And it will not take place in 2022 or 2023.
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Canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the test did not take place at the end of October 2021. And will not take place, neither in 2022, nor in 2023. The reasons are budgetary, and it is is a massive coup for the regulars of the race, as for the hundreds of volunteers who took part in its organization, each year.
Each year, a deficit to be filled of nearly € 400,000
“Each year there was a gap between expenditure and revenue, of around € 375,000, especially during the last edition, in 2019, organized by Toulouse Métropole. The community having to put its hand in its pocket to fill it, ”explains Philippe Plantade, the mayor of Bruguières, vice-president of Toulouse Métropole in charge of Sports. From 3,500 participants in 2015 to 13,000 in 2019, all events combined, has the marathon grown too fast? Was he happy with the additional costs, in terms of security, of hosting the best runners? We remember the trucks or concrete blocks installed at intersections to prevent any intrusion by a vehicle on the course, or dozens of volunteers and employees of the metropolis in charge of the smooth running of the event.
“It’s a set,” answers the elected representative of the Metropolis. It was a huge organization, and the security surplus, made compulsory by the prefecture since the 2015 attacks, did not help. Private security companies had to be called in. To continue, we would have needed more partners. We tried naming (like the Paris marathon, renamed Schneider Electric), but it didn’t work. The Toulouse marathon is therefore broke on the rise.
In early 2019, the French Athletics Federation threw in the towel
In 2016, in its desire to develop the event, the metropolis delegated its organization to the French Athletics Federation. After two editions, in 2017 and 2018, the “Fédé” threw in the towel, a few months before the 2019 edition.
“The organization was also in deficit, also confides Philippe Plantade. Even more than Toulouse Métropole, no doubt. The new president of the federation did not wish to continue. The president of Toulouse Métropole, Jean-Luc Moudenc, and his vice-president at the time Vincent Terrail-Novès, decided then, in disaster, to resume the organization of the event. The last edition of the marathon took place on October 20, 2019, with nearly 13,000 participants. The Covid crisis and budgetary choices, mixed with organizational concerns, got the better of the marathon. The option of a legal action against the French Athletics Federation, for non-compliance with its contract, no longer seems to be on the agenda.
New events instead?
Toulouse Métropole wishes to reinject part of what the marathon would cost it in “six or seven events, of national or even international scope”, according to Philippe Plantade, vice-president. “We are currently thinking about it, with my colleague from the city of Toulouse, Laurence Arribagé”. Metropolitan Green Wire (cycling), tennis, padel, triathlon, pétanque, “family” oriented running, several options are on the table. Toulouse Métropole’s financial contributions to existing events, such as tennis tournaments, are linked. Partnerships with metropolitan clubs, also, for the organization of pedestrian courses (Balma, Tournefeuille, Toulouse, Blagnac). A budget of € 200,000 per year would be devoted to these projects.