The city of Toulouse will be deprived of its marathon in 2022 and 2023
It is a blow for the regulars of the event as much as for the organizers. While the Toulouse marathon has not taken place since 2019, The city made the decision thatit would not be renewed.
The 2022 and 2023 editions will not take place
It has been two years since the runners have hung up a bib. Organized since 2007, the Toulouse marathon had already been canceled in 2020 due to the Covid-19 epidemic. This year, the test was not repeated “in view of the uncertainty linked to the health crisis and the constraints of the fight against the virus”, had indicated the metropolis.
A new decision, awarded in the last multi-year investment plan (PPI), extinguishes the hope of seeing the marathon make a comeback in the pink city. The metropolis has announced thatit would not take place for the next two years.
A loss of more than 400,000 euros
The reasons for this decision are mainly budgetary. Contacted by The Independent Opinion, Philippe Plantade, the mayor of Bruguières and vice-president of Toulouse Métropole in charge of Sports explains: “The marathon generated a financial loss avoiding the 400,000 euros by event. This was particularly the case during the last edition, in 2019, organized under management by Toulouse Métropole “.
Since 2016, his organization had been delegated to the French Athletics Federation. While this deal had been made for three years, the latter had returned the apron a few weeks before the 2019 edition. “She was losing a lot of money with the organization of the event”, explains the mayor of Bruguières to The Independent Opinion. The metropolis then took up the torch urgently to save the event. But the means were lacking. “Such an event cannot be organized internally without a major sponsor,” notes Philippe Plantade.
Vigipirate plan, health crisis, shortage of volunteers …
In addition to the lack of financial means, the marathon came up against health and safety context current. “Between the Vigipirate plan, and the coronavirus pandemic, the organization of the event was undermined,” explains Philippe Plantade.
The many constraints and restrictions related to these issues are places at the end of the marathon, which also suffered from “shortage of volunteers to take on all this organization “, adds the vice-president of Toulouse Métropole in charge of Sports.
Current projects to replace the marathon
Nevertheless, the metropolis is working on the organization of new national and international sporting events to promote the city. From padel to pétanque via tennis and cycling, all sportsmen from Toulouse could find their account there. According to La Dépêche du Midi, from financial participations from Toulouse Métropole to existing events, such as tennis tournaments, are linked.
Philippe Plantade indicates that the organization of “pedestrian and family courses” is currently in the pipeline. Partnerships with metropolitan clubs could emerge for the organization of these events. According to the daily, the metropolis could mobilize a budget of 200,000 euros per year for the realization of these projects.