Marathon de la Liberte

I flew from Oz to take part. It was a great run to do. All the history as well as the small town-ness of the experience. Finished the event holding the hand of my six year old son. Which was special. Albeit after being overtaken by a guy in a cow suit. Contrary to the guy below i could find some pics and a finishing video. on the website www.normandiecourse.???

It really should be a great race, and as an American or a national of any other country which participated in D-Day, it is a moving experience to run along the beaches and past Pegasus Bridge. As a tourist destination, I can highly recommend this area. The marathon, however, was not the best. The course is relatively flat, and you can run an OK time, but the course gets really narrow at certain points. At one point, you have to cross a small foot bridge, this caused a back-up where everyone had to walk at around mile 20, not the kind of disruption you want. Right after this, you hit some hills. Organization of aid stations was good, tents after the race were fine. Another big disappointment was the photos. No photos at the finish and only about 30 or so photos of the entire marathon field. They had like 7X as many photos of the 10k race.

Very inspirational and moving. Quite appropriate for a marathon, to run in the paths of those that 70 years ago opted spirit and vision over practical earthly prospects. The first half goes through beach towns and villages with nice crowds and rock bands. The openness is quite and relaxing. The cons are that a km or two in the last quarter go through tiny winding tracks in the woods, where runners queue and you can't get speed. You should also know that the water and stops are not always at the expected intervals. Lastly, for an outsider it was not easy to figure out the technical matters, as there were no English speaking representatives in the expo and we couldn't even find orientations or explanations in French.