Marathon du Médoc: Pre-Marathon Write-Up
When I tell people I’m running the Marathon du Médoc in September, they look at me like I’m crazy, and the response is usually something along the lines of, “You’re running a marathon drunk?”
Running a full marathon is hard enough as it is when you’re fully sober, so you should definitely watch your wine intake if you want to complete the race, but aside from the imbibing, it’s a great way to get to know one of the greatest wine regions while connecting with other fellow wine lovers from all over the world.
What is the Marathon du Médoc?
The Marathon du Médoc is an annual marathon race held each September in the Left Bank of Bordeaux. The word “race” here is being used loosely, as it’s also fondly called “The Longest Marathon in the World”. The nickname has nothing to do with the length of the race - the marathon is the same length as any other marathon (26.2 miles or 42.195 km), but you’re also running through the vineyards in costume on a route interspersed with stations of Bordeaux wine tastings and food offerings, including oysters, biscuits, steak and ice cream.
They do cap the amount of time to finish the race to 6 hours and 30 minutes, but if you’re running the race purely to make a good record time and breeze past all of the wine and food offerings, I feel like you’re not getting the full experience out of the event. Fortunately, the oyster stations seem to typically be located toward the end of the race…
How do you sign up?
I first learned about it back in 2019 while watching an episode of “The Wine Show” in which Joe Fattorini ran the marathon. The costumes looked crazy, the whole concept of wine during a marathon was totally absurd to me, and immediately it went to the top of my bucket list. If you’re combining wine, food and fitness, count me in, I can be there tomorrow.
The Médoc caps the number of runners at 8,500, and when I signed up for the Marathon back in March 2020, the organizers posted on the website and on their social media pages only that the tickets would be released at some time during a certain week in March, but they didn’t say which day or what time. There were certainly some impatient and anxious prospective participants making noise in the comments sections of those social media pages begging the organizers to disclose exactly when they would release the entries so that they could secure their spots.
On my end, I checked my phone every 15 minutes for a couple of weeks in March - at the gym in between sets, during meals, in between work meetings - and I was ecstatic to secure a spot among the 8,500 runners! For 90 Euros, I would say that the price per bib is incredibly accessible for wine lovers from all backgrounds to partake in this incredible opportunity.
Unfortunately, in March 2020, COVID-19 exploded all over the planet, and the organizers made the difficult decision not to hold the events in 2020 and 2021 due to health risk concerns and international travel restrictions.
Runners were allowed to defer their entries to the event this year or one of the following two years, and this year, the spirit of the Médoc is back with the 36th Marathon du Médoc being held on September 10th, 2022, and the theme is…“Cinema!”
Any guesses for what my costume will be?
Hint: It’s an animal…
3 Fast Facts About the Marathon to Get to Know Bordeaux
#1: The region of Bordeaux is enormous but the route is contained to the Left Bank
Bordeaux has approximately 111,000 hectares under vine (274,287 acres). It has the largest vineyard area in France under appellation rules, and it contains 65 appellations with over 7,000 châteaux. Thankfully, our race is contained to the Left Bank west of the Gironde Estuary.
The Left Bank is home to the famous single-commune appellations of Saint-Estèphe, Pauillac, Saint-Julien and Margaux (from north to south). Each of these four communes has different proportions of gravel, sand and clay in the soils, which has loosely corresponded to different proportions of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the wines, since Cabernet Sauvignon tends to grow better on warm gravel soils and Merlot grows better on cool clay soils. As a result, these AOCs have developed reputations for certain distinct styles of wine.
For example, in Pauillac AOC where the race begins and ends, there is a high proportion of plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon (approximately 62%) planted on the gravel banks of the Gironde River, and Pauillac wines are known for being powerful, “muscular” and structured, with plenty of tannins and acidity to sustain long periods of ageing in the bottle. Pauillac AOC also happens to have 3 of the 5 first growth châteaux, Lafite Rothschild, Latour and Mouton Rothschild, which are also known for their incredible ageing potential.
#2: Save some room in your luggage, because in addition to the finisher’s medal, you also get a bottle of wine for completing the race!
What’s the wine going to be? Probably red.
Almost 90% of plantings in Bordeaux are black grapes, and the over-arching appellations of Médoc AOC and Haut-Médoc AOC, together with the four single-commune AOCs mentioned above, permit only red wines to be labeled with these appellation names.
White wines are produced in the Left Bank communes, but those wines must be classified as Bordeaux AOC or Bordeaux Supérieur AOC, the appellations for red, white and rosé wines for the entire Bordeaux region. Bordeaux AOC and Bordeaux Supérieur AOC cover the same area, but, as the name suggests, Bordeaux Supérieur AOC has stricter production requirements.
I initially chose an all-white costume for the Marathon, but then the thought of having red wine sloshing all over me during the race turned me off and then I switched to a darker colored costume.
#3: The Topography is Mercifully Flat in Comparison to Many Other Premier Wine Regions
Many well-known wine regions around the world have their best vines growing on slopes, rather than flat land. Growing vines on slopes helps aid drainage of the soil, increases light interception from the sun, and the soils on slopes tend to be poorer in nutrients over flat fertile plains, which contributes to the concentration of the flavors in the grapes.
Luckily for us Médoc runners, “steep” is not a word that immediately jumps to one’s mind when discussing Bordeaux’s topography, the way it does with the Mosel Valley in Germany or Priorat in Spain. In Priorat, the grading of the slopes can be as much as 60%! Imagine running up those slopes!
In Bordeaux, there are rolling hills, and all of the top estates on the Left Bank are planted on gravel mounds called “croupes”. However, slope grade is not a major factor contributing to the quality of the grapes in Bordeaux.
I will do another write-up about my personal experience at the Marathon after returning from Bordeaux, but in the meantime, time to train and learn about Bordeaux! Santé!
