Marathon presentation
Presentation of the Sports Club
The Chamonix-Mont-Blanc Sports Club is a non-profit association under the French Law of 1901. It has several vocations and missions:
- To offer a wide range of sports to the entire population of the Chamonix valley, from leisure sports and well-being sports to competitive sports.
- To enable competitors to progress to the highest level. The sports club has more than 100 athletes in 16 disciplines competing at European and world level. disciplines évoluant au niveau européen et mondial.
- Offering a wide range of competitions, from local events to the world's biggest events, all of which contribute to Chamonix's image worldwide.
To achieve all its objectives, the Sports Club can count on substantial support from the Communauté de communes de la Vallée de Chamonix Mont-Blanc, local authorities and numerous partners.
History of the creation of the races
This legendary event was born on July 1, 1979. The event was originally organized by the Chamonix CAF under the presidency of Georges Costaz and Christian Roussel, both of whom were keen runners. For the first edition, no fewer than 450 participants took to the valley's trails before finishing in Planpraz.
Over the next 24 years, the Cross du Mont Blanc continued to develop, but rarely exceeded 1,000 participants. In 2003, the Cross du Mont-Blanc took a turn and changed its format to become the Marathon du Mont-Blanc, with the addition of a new race, the 42km we know today, although the 23km remains. Salomon also became the Marathon's first partner. This was followed by the creation of the 10km, less elitist and more accessible to the general public. From then on, registrations grew exponentially, to the point of limiting runner participation in the Cross and Marathon in 2010.
The Mont Blanc Marathon continues to grow with the successive arrival of the Kilomètre Verticale in 2011, the 80km du Mont Blanc in 2013 and finally the Duo Etoilé and the Young Race Marathon in 2015. The event now counts 10,500 runners, and changes dimension in 2017 with the arrival of the Golden Trail Series, which aims to professionalize the Trail.
