Marathon de Cheverny

Run in two loops, not quite the same but close. Start in the park of the chateau, run around the town, then up a small incline for about a kilometer, then it's all down back to the castle, into the park. In the second loop, the town is skipped, otherwise more than half of the loop is the same. Running through woods, fields, a part of it on paved road but mostly on trails, THROUGH a winery, etc. very nice bands, wine served in one of the refreshment stations (stations spaced reasonably close together), spectators not very numerous (fields, forest, etc.) but where they are, they are very supportive. Pasta party a very happy gathering with music and spontaneous dancing (and wine, of course). Bottle of local wine part of registration package. Beautiful castle and area rich in history, architecture, and - wine. Highly recommended if you want to run for enjoyment and spend some time in the beautiful Loire valley.

The marathon course starts in front of the beautiful Chateau de Cheverny and goes through three loops in the beautiful french countryside. Organisation is like clockwork - we arrived 20 minutes before the start, parked 20 metres away and were on the start line with plenty of time! refreshments were every 5k with water, sports drink, chocolate, sugar, fruit, two types of cake and arrangements for your own refreshments. For those who wanted it there was also wine, pate and cheese! At the finish line the atmosphere was wonderful with the commentators name checking all the finishers. Getting from the finish line to the complimentary food took 5 minutes and from there to the car park another 5 minutes. Really well organised and the Loire valley countryside is stunning. The course meanders through vineyards, country roads and forests!

This is my fourth marathon, and it was amazing. Having done three big-city marathons, it was a nice change to enjoy a smaller event. One of the key reasons for my doing the marathon is that I read the reviews below - and boy, did they get it right. A very relaxing start; you only needed to be there 15 minutes beforehand. The course we pretty flat, and while there was a short section of it on gravel, the bulk of it was on tarmac. There was loads of beautiful scenery and the detour through the winery was great. I had half a glass of red wine at the 38K mark, and while I had no idea what the Frenchman were saying to me, it was clear that we were all having a great time. While support was patchy except in a few key areas, this made it much easier to for my wife and friends to watch. We had a very cute cottage for an extended weekend break that worked out to be very cheap. If you've done one city marathon and are looking for a bit of a change, give Cheverny a go - you won't regret it.