The COVID-19 pandemic will have its best in a few things, but it has failed to slow down the organizers of the Montreal Marathon, who are happy to unveil the program for its 30th edition at Parc Jean-Drapeau, in Montreal, the starting point. of the 42.2 km queen event, on 25th September.
The enthusiasm was evident in the room where the launch of the program was held on Tuesday. Sébastien Arsenault is happy to be able to give the green light to a project close to his heart after a two -year absence.
In November 2020, the City of Montreal entrusted the presentation of the largest racing event in the Province of Belle to the group behind the Grands Prix Cyclistes de Québec et de Montréal (GPCQM), of which Sébastien Arsenault is also president. A promise he knew was dangerous at the time, but loved him. He regrets, he had to cancel the marathon in 2021.
I’m really very proud. Like everyone else, we worked like crazy for two years without really knowing where the end was, the search, the arrival. It’s exhaustingadmitted the businessman never stopped dreaming of returning runners to the streets of Montreal in September.
Today marked the beginning of the latter crunch, the real hour is gone. Mixture of pride and recognition. You know, it’s an event that takes a weekend, it takes a year to fix it.
The target set is 18,500 participants for 2022, the same number in 2019. While registrations are going well, organizers are seeing a trend that is causing people to wait until the last minute before confirming their participation.
We just relaunched events in Quebec, it’s still relatively new, but we have good hopes of getting that amount of outdoor enthusiasts and healthy living.launched Sébastien Arsenault.
But to get all those people to the starting line, the team first presented an operating budget of $ 2.6 million, but that was before the pandemic increased the charge. The main challenge for an event entrepreneur these days is the explosion of costs. There are a lot of uncertainties, there are costs that come from nothing. There are sectors of activity where we have a 40% increase, for barriers and safety matters, among other things, that are important to us.said Mr. Arsenault.
The event offers 11 individual and team events, over distances of 1 km, 5 km, 10 km, half-marathon (21.1 km) and marathon (42.2 km).
Priority #1: Safety
The recent history of the Montreal marathon has been marked by a series of problems on the part of the organizers, which are underlined in the extensive strokes of the regulars of running competitions.
The last event held before the pandemic, in 2019, resulted in the death of a 24-year-old runner in the last kilometer of the half-marathon. Patrick Neely suffered a cardiac arrest, and rescuers took a long time before arriving at the scene to begin resuscitation maneuvers.
A report by coroner Géhane Kamel did not fail to blame, among others, the Ironman group, which was the event organizer during the events. A series of disasters, including communication problems and staff shortages, compromise The chances of Mr. Neely to live, according to the coroner.
Dr. François de Champlain was the event’s medical director from 2013 to 2018. Although he declined to comment on events in the days after the tragedy, the doctor did not remain insensitive to the death of a Montreal marathon runner. This was one of the reasons that prompted his return for the 30th edition of the event.
In that environment, if we can’t ask ourselves and try to improve for the next editions, we’re probably not in the right environment because there are always things to improve.Dr. confession. de Champlain, who says he considered Coroner Kamel’s five recommendations in developing intervention plans.
The team plans to deploy more than 200 medical responders to the course and more than 80 health professionals at the finish line, at Olympic Park, which will also start, on Sept. 24, for shorter races.
” If there is a cardiorespiratory arrest, it should be possible to have intervention, including a shock, that can be given using a defibrillator, anywhere in the course, in less than three minutes. “
Sébastien Arsenault knew he had to rebuild a bond of trust with the community of runners who remembered this tragic event. The priority is always safety, he made a point of mention, while remembering that he could not exclude the dangers of repeating such an event. Runners registered for the half-marathon also died in 2011 and 2015 in Montreal.
You have to be careful not to miss out on incidents like, it happens. Our duty is to have a very solid plan of action and that we can respond within three minutes to possibly save lives. We must not forget, it will happen, but we were there, and we worked for two years to make sure the intervention plan was concrete.
Rekindle the fire of marathon runners
The popularity of shorter distances is growing, but the event’s president and CEO wants to see the marathon, which he presents as thequeen-proofwin the hearts of Quebec runners.
When the province had only a small number of marathon runners, Serge Arsenault, founder of the first Montreal Marathon in 1979, and father of Sébastien, went to meet with some active running groups in Quebec to recruit 10,000 runners he promised to the authorities. of time.
He also became one of the first world-class marathon managers to invite African athletes when they were not yet popular with major organizers, most of them white. A decision that is now inevitable when all records for long distance events are held by runners from the African continent.
I am proud of the idea of madness that my father had in 1979 and to everyone who wanted to follow this madness in the beginning.admitted Sébastien Arsenault.
The latter promised that the Arsenault family’s return to the world of running would show up at the event they were organizing. Me, I want us here for goodhe launched, without embarrassment. We are a young and dynamic team, with many experienced contributors. As an athlete, we will focus on the next edition, the next game, and then we will work for the rest.
Source: Radio-Canada
