Marathon Côte de Lumière 2027

Lace up your shoes and leg it: you'll end up all the way to the harbor! 🏃

The Marathon Côte de Lumière unfolds a life-size nature playground between Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie and Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez, two towns directly perched on the Atlantic Ocean 🌊. The setting is in Vendée, on the Côte de Lumière, this coastline that stretches from the island of Noirmoutier in the north down to the Bay of Aiguillon in the south. The event is run in October, when vacationers have folded up their beach umbrellas ⛱️ and freed up the asphalt for runners. As for the sky, the ocean often keeps a lingering mildness at this time of year without ever signing anything: a shower or a gust coming in from offshore can join the program, so a windbreaker at the bottom of the bag won't hurt 🧥.

At the start line, the salty air blends with the scent of pines to deliver a real shot of oxygen to your lungs 🫁. Historically a sardine-fishing port, Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie now sees schools of sardines runners flooding its quays with the same excitement as the fishermen returning with holds full 🛳️. The route first takes you along the harbors, where the clanging of masts blends with the spectators' cheers 👏. The asphalt then slips under the canopy of maritime pines, whose shade calms the overheating of your first kilometers 🍃. Next comes the wild coast: on the corniche of Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez, the cliffs roll by near the famous Devil's Hole and the Cinq Pineaux rocks, with surges that set your thighs on fire 🦵. The marshes will offer you a wilder interlude before heading back toward the sea 🌾, where the Joséphine Tower watches over the last kilometers before the crowd's fervor carries you to the final arch 🏁.

The Marathon Côte de Lumière comes in three distances that share the asphalt: a postcard-perfect marathon of 42.195 km, a half marathon of 21 km built for surging, and a 10K ideal for tasting the corniche without leaving all your strength there. At the end of the season, the half and the marathon land perfectly to wrap up your season on a high note, or even snag a PR before winter ⏱️.

Once the medal is around your neck and your thighs are shaking 🥇, recovery takes on a purely local flavor. It's no longer time for the pre-race diet! 😋 You'll gladly trade your gels for the local star, the sardine of Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie 🐟, also decorated with a Label Rouge medal. Enjoy it with a warm préfou, this generous Vendée bread stuffed with garlic and butter, which comforts as much as it perfumes your breath 🧄. To toast your performance, a local craft beer 🍻 will do the trick— in moderation, of course, to keep your balance on the way back… 🥴

Between the call of the open sea, the pure pine air, and the smell of warm préfou, all that's left is to pin on your bib 🫵.