Hello there....I am looking to do this next year and have started making inroads into the logistics of it all. Anyone out there done it ?? Anyone have any pointers on best way to travel to the town of Pauillac where it is held ?? From what I can see there are no airports for the area and you need to fly to Paris if wanting to fly, which I will be.
So, come on...any info / advice will be greatly appreciated.
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i just did it through 209 events
You fly to Bordeaux and stay there, Pauillac is a couple of hours by coach from there.
I went over to do this year's race but sadly it was a DNS. We flew to Bordeaux, hired a car (as we stayed for 10 days) We stayed at Pierre et Vacances in Lacanau which is an hour and half drive to Pauillac as I found it impossible to actually find anywhere in Pauillac to stay.
Not sure how long from Bordeaux to Pauillac in a car but guess about an hour
It's a good hour's drive, or more from Bordeaux to Paulliac. I think there are trains too - there is a station at Pauillac.
There is a campsite at Pauillac, if you like camping. There are B&B's around the area too. We stayed in one about five miles up the road.
I did it in 2009 through 2:09 events. We caught the ferry to Santander and rode from there to Bordeaux by motorbike.
I will definitely run Medoc again, but I won't go through 2:09 - the hotel in Bordeaux was fine but it was miles away from Paulliac. We had a minibus there and back on the day of the race, but the distance meant that we couldn't join the pasta party the night before the race or the vineyard walks the day after. Next time I will follow Wilkie's example and stay closer to Pauillac.
I think they tried that out in 2010, but dropped it again for this year.
As Wilkie says, they introduced that rule for 2010 but it was so unpopular that they scrapped for 2011.
(Although the rule only applied for foreign entrants, presumably if you had a friend or relative living in France, you could use their address details for the entry forms)
Brilliant....thx everyone...didn't realise Eurostar go to Bordeaux !!
I did it twice, first time booked into the campsite in Paulliac itself.
Second time through our French running club secretary's efforts we camped in the grounds of a chateaux.
Flew Bristol to Bordeaux and hired a car.
Fab event!
it doesn't! but you get the Eurostar to Paris, Metro across Paris to Gare Montparnasse, then TGV to Bordeaux - easy peasy with a bit of walking at the stations
When do entries open? I looked on the rather poor website and it mentioned something about April - can that be right?
We live south of Toulouse so will drive to Paulliac and make a celebration weekend of it.
Whilst not wishing to wish my life away, I'm rather looking forward to this marathon Bring it on.
Elizabeth - April sounds about right for the entries, but I would keep an eye on the website from Feb onwards just in case.
Run-walk-quaff is my preferred method of training, I was excellent at the quaffing part especially. Such a pity I'm running Brighton instead of Medoc next year
I last did this race in 2009, and they were strict about the cut-off, which was 6:30.
So don't walk and quaff too much (unless you're not fussed about getting the medal).
I'm afraid he might be disappointed then with quality on offer - it's not that great. the Chateaux don't bring out their top notch stuff y'know... it will be the bottom of their ranges, or stuff that's going to be blended elsewhere, and as some of it is sat in the hot sun all day, can taste pretty naff (one was almost undrinkable - almost - but by that stage I didn't care so drank it anyway)
still - saying that - it's an event that runners should do at least once just for the fun of it.
we did the 25th anniversary race and got a useful engraved decanter as a finishing present - ours has some sloe gin developing in it at the mo
i am interested in this ine with a few friends as a big birthday celebration too...it looks as though registration opens in february and the dressing up theme of medoc's history will prove to be a challenge!
i really want to do the walk the following day (lush) so will make sure we look for accomodation closer than bordeaux.
i do hate running int he heat though, might be a bad choice but just sound like an unmissable event..pray for cloud!
any tips and hints for organising this whole thing particularly places to stay would be most welcomed!
Does anyone know how important the fancy dress is? As rjh says the theme next year will be "The Medoc marathon through the History". Just how many people will be running as a wine bottle? Not me that is for sure. Is is obligatory? I quite like the idea of rocking up on the day dressed as a marathon runner
hey elizabeth ellis 3, it is my 40th next year- not on the day though, how great is that! After about 7 years of running have finally decided it is the year to give the full marathon a go!
yes dressing up as a runner would be the way to go, but i feel the need to make an effort,( like 26.2 miles in the heat with some wine in the bloodstream isn't enough effort! what a stupid thing to say! but i do),
so my ideas up to now are, a bunch of grapes, a bottle of wine or a cork. never going to win the most inspirational outfit with those ideas eh!
more important obviously is getting the place and the accomodation sorted.....will work on that first