homage to the women’s march that defeated the monarchy- Corriere.it

The next Olympic marathon will be, at the behest of the organizing committee of Paris 2024, truly revolutionary (and in several respects). The route will in fact be inspired by the women’s march that headed towards Versailles in 1789: it was October 5 of the year of the French Revolution. The order of the marathons will also be reversed, for the first time it will be the women’s race to have the honor of the closing day of the Games, so on the calendar the men’s one will be run the day before, on 10 August. The departure will take place from the Hotel de Ville, the arrival at the Invalides, the passage of the half marathon near the Palace of Versailles. The 2024 Paris Olympic Marathon will be a festive and extraordinary moment in history – said Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo -. The runners will be celebrated and cheered as they follow in the footsteps of the women who set out on October 5, 1789 to express their anger at the king. The path, in the intentions of the organizers, pay homage to those who made France the country of human rights and defended the values ​​of humanity and freedom. At the same time, on the same days, Saturday and Sunday, the mass race which for the first time will be raced by amateurs on the same track.

Path

It will develop from Paris to Versailles first on the north-east bank of the Seine and then end at the Esplanade des Invalides on the south-west bank about three kilometers as the crow flies from the start. The arrival can be seen from a stand with 7 thousand seats at a price of 24 euros. The track full of ups and downs with a positive difference in height of 438 meters and a maximum gradient of 13.5%: the departure will be located 34 meters above sea level and after you continue up and down, to touch a negative altitude difference of 436 meters, you will arrive at the finish at 36 meters above sea level. The path entitled In memory of the march of women 1789, the people’s demonstration, conducted by the women of the markets as a reaction to the lack of food due to the high price of bread and to the anti-revolutionary actions of the soldiers of King Louis XVI who was besieged in the palace of Versailles he was forced to take refuge in the Tuileries in Paris. It was a decisive event for the crisis of the absolute monarchy, later called Ancien Regime, before it was subverted. The march of the women was set in motion by a young woman to the sound of a drum gradually followed by another seven thousand joined by song when we have the bread. Also on this occasion, the drums will certainly not be missing, and the cheers of the cheering public wings that wind along the route to acclaim the runners and affirm the value of sport and freedom as fundamental for humanity.