Paris Saclay Running Tour 2026

Lace up your best running shoes, get those quads ready, join the pack, and let the momentum of the Grand Paris Express carry you along! 🚝

The race takes place in the Île-de-France region—more specifically in the Essonne department 🏃. Every November, a fast-growing running event takes over the area: the Paris-Saclay Running Tour. For its very first edition last year, 800 runners hit the roads 🚀—a real made in Paris-Saclay success story. It’s coming back even bigger for its second edition, in partnership with the Société des grands projets, with two major additions: a marathon of 42.2 km for distance lovers, and a special kids’ race of 1.5 km 🧒.

The real highlight of this meet-up is its inclusive spirit 🙌. Whether you’re racing for a podium spot or just here for the fun, all events are inclusive and open to people with disabilities—motor, intellectual, sensory, or psychological—with routes fully accessible by joëlette (all-terrain wheelchair) ♿. Last year, the event’s mascot duo paired a hare with a tortoise 🐢; this time, it’s the unlikely alliance of a gazelle and a snail that captures the local vibe. The idea is simple: everyone moves at their own pace—together, on the same starting line 🐌.

All distances start and finish at one key hub: Université Paris-Saclay station, on Avenue des Sciences in Gif-sur-Yvette, right next to the École normale supérieure (ENS) Paris-Saclay 🏫. Sunday’s routes cross no fewer than eight towns in the area 😎: Gif-sur-Yvette, Igny, Orsay, Saclay, Saint-Aubin, Vauhallan, Villiers-le-Bâcle, and Palaiseau 🌍. Expect a smart blend of urban sections and wide-open nature.

Along the way you’ll enjoy the cool shade of the Saint-Aubin and Favreuse channels, breathe deep in the Palaiseau state forest, then link the path from Massy to Saclay through open fields 🌲. This green backdrop blends with a boldly futuristic landscape: you’ll be running through one of the world’s most important hubs for scientific research and innovation 🌍. The route showcases globally renowned institutions such as CentraleSupélec, ENS Paris-Saclay, the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), École Polytechnique and the Lumen 🔬. The event is also fueled by the Grand Paris Express spirit 🤓: the course closely follows part of the elevated alignment of Metro Line 18, which is already reshaping the local skyline 🏙️.

Once you’ve crossed the finish line and picked up your medal 🥇, the adventure doesn’t stop there. Wondering what to do after the race? The para-sport village set up on-site is the perfect place to keep the experience going. It’s a great moment to meet others, learn about different adaptive sports, and share a friendly post-race hangout with fellow participants ⛺. If you’d like to explore nearby, take a stroll around campus to admire the modern architecture of the grandes écoles all around you, or soak up the calm of the natural areas you ran through earlier—ideal for an easy recovery walk 🍃.