HISTORIQUE DE L\U2019epreuve
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HISTORY OF THE PARIS–COLMAR EVENT The famous PARIS-STRASBOURG event has been the yardstick by which the top ultra distance walkers have measured themselves for over 80 years. In 1926, Emile Anthoine, President of le Cercle des Sports de France, launched a 504 km event and some 50 walkers took up the challenge. It made sense to start the event in Paris while Strasbourg, the capital of Alsace, was chosen as the finish point. Strasbourg was chosen to reinforce the French links with the Alsace region, recently returned to the motherland after the Great War. The 1926 event was won by French walker Jean Linder who covered the 504km in 78 hours and 47 minutes. He won it again the following year in a much faster 72 hours and 1 minute. The following photo shows him after the win. To recognise his performance, many walkers wear a beret in the first stage. Jean Linder who won the first two editions of the Paris-Colmar in 1926 and 1927 Soon after the Second World War, the event swapped direction to become the STRASBOURG-PARIS. In 1981, on the initiative of Francis Jenevein, the finish was changed to COLMAR and the event was rebadged as the PARIS-COLMAR. The distance has varied from year to year as the event weaved its way through different towns, like the famous Tour de France in the cycling world. Even so, the event was normally 440+ km in distance (the record is 552 km in 1952) and was walked almost continuously, with only a small number of compulsory rest spots. In the early days, there was no time limit and the last finisher might be some 4-5 days behind the winner. Eventually, time limits were brought in and nowadays those competitors not able to reach the intermediate timing points within the set times are compulsorily withdrawn from the race. An event was added for women in 1989; this event was held concurrently with the men’s event, started from Chalons en Champagne and annually traversed more than 300+ kilometers to also finish at Colmar. It was not an event for the inexperienced. In recent years, strict qualifying criteria were put into place and qualifying events (over 200 km for men and 170 km for women) were held. Entry to the PARIS-COLMAR was by invitation only and only the very best were invited. The event was run by le Cercle des Sports de France, under the control of the French Federation of Athletics, with financial support from the local and territorial communities and other partners and volunteers. It was indeed a team effort of vast proportions. And perhaps this was its downfall. Both the 2004 and 2010 events were cancelled by host association, the "Circle of Sports of France" for Budgetary Reasons. Thank goodness that new organisers were found for 2011, but the euphoria was short lived. After the 2014 event, the organisers decided to revamp the race, announcing that the 2015 event would go from Paris to Strasbourg and would be changed to a stages event like the Tour de France. The outcry was immediate and a rival event was planned, similar to the current Paris-Colmar event, but going from the Paris suburb of Neuilly sur Marne to the Alsace city of Ribeauville, almost on the French German border and in the foothills of the Vosges Mountains. The Paris-Ribeauville concept won out and went ahead in 2015. Now badged as the PARIS-ALSACE, this event is held in 4 stages and covers approximately 430km for men and 320km for women. Over the years, the event has seen a number of champions who have dominated their eras. The best of them are Zbigniew KLAPA 5 wins 1990-92, 1995, 1999 Edith COUHE (F) 5 wins 1988-1992 Gilbert ROGER 6 wins 1949, 1953-54, 1956-58 Dimitri OSPIOV 6 wins 2009, 2012, 2014-2016 Roger QUEMENER 7 wins 1979, 1983, 1985-89 Gregorz URBANOWSKI 10 wins 1994, 1996-98, 2001-2003, 2005-2007 Gregorz URBANOWSKI stands alone as the greatest of all time. His current domination of the event shows no signs of being broken. The Polish walker amassed a record 10 wins and consistently showed an ability to sustain a pace that no one else could match. With an impeccible technique, he consistently walked the 530+ km distance in a little over 60 hours, a seemingly impossible feat for a runner, much less a walker! The following table traces the history of the event through the years MALE RACE 1926 Paris – Strasbourg 504 kms LINDER Jean SUI 78h47m 1927 " 504 kms LINDER Jean SUI 72h01m 1928 " 504 kms GODARD Louis (père) FRA 75h49m 1929 " 504 kms GODARD Louis (père) FRA 72h48m 1930 " 504 kms ROGER Marceau FRA 69h44m 1931 " 503 kms GODARD Louis (père) FRA 72h29m 1932 " 506 kms DAMAS Victor FRA 68h33m 1933 " 535 kms ROMENS Ernest FRA 79h11m 1934 " 523 kms IOUCHKOFF Pierre URSS 74h08m 1935 " 524 kms ROMENS Ernest FRA 71h53m 1936 " 533 kms STEINMETZ Alfred FRA 74h33m 1937 " 533 kms ROMENS Ernest FRA 74h01m 1938-1948 : No Event Contested 1949 Paris – Strasbourg 520 kms ROGER Gilbert FRA 73h51m 1950 " 516 kms ZAMI Joseph FRA 73h55m 1951 " 506 kms SEIBERT Albert FRA 69h29m 1952 Strasbourg – Paris 552 kms SEIBERT Albert FRA 75h10m 1953 " 515 kms ROGER Gilbert FRA 66h50m 1954 " 526 kms ROGER Gilbert FRA 70h34m 1955 " 520 kms GODARD Louis (fils) FRA 71h26m 1956 " 522 kms ROGER Gilbert FRA 68h31m 1957 " 522 kms ROGER Gilbert FRA 69h38m 1958 " 537 kms ROGER Gilbert FRA 71h13m 1959 " 529 kms GUNY Edmond FRA 70h42m 1960-1969 : No Event Contested 1970 Strasbourg – Paris 512 kms ZAUGG Samy FRA 70h04m 1971 " 520 kms SIMON Josy LUX 73h38m 1972 " 513 kms SIMON Josy LUX 67h03m 1973 " 493 kms RINCHARD Robert BEL 64h34m 1974 " 523 kms RINCHARD Robert BEL 67h29m 1975 " 507 kms SIMON Josy LUX 66h50m 1976 Paris – Strasbourg 533 kms RINCHARD Robert BEL 69h41m 1977 Strasbourg – Paris 507 kms SCHOUKENS Robert BEL 64h11m 1978 " 501 kms SIMON Josy LUX 66h10m 1979 " 510 kms QUEMENER Roger FRA 64h24m 1980 " 507 kms PIETQUIN Roger BEL 60h01m 1981 Paris – Colmar 513 kms PIETQUIN Roger BEL 65h10m 1982 " 508 kms PHEULPIN Adrien FRA 66h03m 1983 " 518,5 kms QUEMENER Roger FRA 64h12m 1984 " 516,5 kms GOUVENAUX J.Claude FRA 62h31m 1985 " 518 kms QUEMENER Roger FRA 64h57m 1986 " 517 kms QUEMENER Roger FRA 62h27m 1987 " 518 kms QUEMENER Roger FRA 64h59m 1988 " 519 kms QUEMENER Roger FRA 66h17m 1989 " 524 kms QUEMENER Roger FRA 64h35m 1990 " 522,5 kms KLAPA Zbigniew POL 64h36m 1991 " 523 kms KLAPA Zbigniew POL 64h51m 1992 " 516 kms KLAPA Zbigniew POL 62h38m 1993 " 518 kms DUFAY Noël FRA 62h18m 1994 " 520,5 kms URBANOWSKI Gregorz POL 61h48m 1995 " 521,5 kms KLAPA Zbigniew POL 60h13m 1996 " 520 kms URBANOWSKI Gregorz POL 60h29m 1997 " 533 kms URBANOWSKI Gregorz POL 64h02m 1998 " 521 kms URBANOWSKI Gregorz POL 62h26m 1999 " 521 kms KLAPA Zbigniew POL 58h53m 2000 " 535 kms RODIONOV Alexeï RUS 66h18m 2001 “ 535 kms URBANOWSKI Gregorz POL 65h38m 2002 “ 535 kms URBANOWSKI Gregorz POL 67h32m 2003 “ 515 kms URBANOWSKI Gregorz POL 66h40m 2004 No Event Contested 2005 Paris – Colmar 440 kms URBANOWSKI Gregorz POL 55h00m 2006 “ 445 kms URBANOWSKI Gregorz POL 54h13m 2007 “ 445 kms URBANOWSKI Gregorz POL 57h04m 2008 “ 444 km DVORESKI Sergeui RUS 52h43m 2009 “ 471.5km OSIPOV, Dimitri RUS 59h12m 2010 No Event Contested 2011 " 439 km OSIPOV, Dimitri RUS 56h 46m 11s 2012 " 436 km OSIPOV, Dimitri RUS 55h 54m 26s 2013 " 436 km ROUALT, Jean-Marie FRA 54h 17m 31s 2014 " 426 km OSIPOV, Dimitri RUS 52h 45m 56s 2015 Paris-Ribeauville 427 km OSIPOV, Dimitri RUS 55h 19m 04s 2016 Paris-Ribeauville 425 km OSIPOV, Dimitri RUS 52h 08m 39s FEMALE RACE 1988 Paris – Contrexeville 376 kms COUHE Edith FRA 52h59m 1989 Epernay – Colmar 368 kms COUHE Edith FRA 55h29m 1990 Chalons – Colmar 340 kms COUHE Edith FRA 50h30m 1991 Chalons – Colmar 340 kms COUHE Edith FRA 50h15m 1992 Chalons – Colmar 334 kms COUHE Edith FRA 47h38m 1993 Chalons – Colmar 334 kms DUCHENE Isabelle FRA 42h59m 1994 Chalons – Colmar 335,5 kms LEFILLEUL Joelle FRA 47h41m 1995 Chalons – Colmar 335 kms BOUFFLERT Kora FRA 45h02m 1996 Chalons – Colmar 331,5 kms DUCHENE Isabelle FRA 41h58m 1997 Chalons – Colmar 344,5 kms RADDER-WILLEMS Marlen HOL 46h14m 1998 Chalons – Colmar 343,5 kms PAJOUL Delcina FRA 45h24m 1999 Chalons – Colmar 343,5 kms PAJOUL Delcina FRA 45h53m 2000 Chalons – Colmar 360 kms POUTINSEVA Irina RUS 47h35m 2001 Chalons – Colmar 360 kms RADDER-WILLEMS Marlen HOL 49h24m 2002 Chalons – Colmar 360 kms RADDER-WILLEMS Marlen HOL 50h23m 2003 Chalons – Colmar 366.5 kms POUTINSEVA Irina RUS 48h56m 2004 No Event Contested 2005 Chalons – Colmar 291.5 kms MESMOUDI, Ann-Marie FRA 35h20m 2006 “ 293.3 kms MESMOUDI Anne Marie FRA 37h09m 2007 Paris – Colmar 305.7 kms MESMOUDI Anne Marie FRA 38h09m 2008 “ 305.7 km VARIN Sylviane FRA 41h52m 2009 “ 316.8 km VARIN Sylviane FRA 41h38m 2010 No Event Contested 2011 " 297 km ALVERNHE, Dominique FRA 38h43m50s 2012 " 289 km ALVERNHE, Dominique FRA 36h33m18s 2013 " 308 km POUTINSEVA, Irina RUS 40h35m27s 2014 " 292 km BORISOVA, Olga RUS 39h11m48s 2015 Paris-Ribeauville 309 km MASLOVA, Tatiana RUS 43h20m39s 2016 311 km POUTINSEVA, Irina RUS 42h57m06s The full results from every staging is shown in the following pages. Further information is available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris-Colmar. 1ST EDITION PARIS-STRASBOURG 28 JULY – 1 AUGUST 1926 504 KM PARIS (PLACE DE LA REPUBLIQUE) - VAUJOURS - MEAUX - LA FERTE SOUS JOUARRE - CHARLY - CHATEAU THIERRY - DORMANS - EPERNAY - CHALONS SUR MARNE - VITRY LE FRANCOIS - SAINT DIZIER - STAINVILLE - LIGNY EN BARROIS - VOID - TOUL - NANCY - LUNEVILLE - BLAMONT SARREBOURG - COL DE SAVERNE - SAVERNE - WASSELONNE - STRASBOURG (PLACE KLEBER) CLASSEMENT 1.