Villafranche sur Saone, 17^th November 2012 13:30 Half Marathon (21.098 km)

Time: 1h 33 m 21 s Position: 176/2800 Category: 55

This is more than a race, this is a unique event, which you might consider a great celebration of the new wine which is one of the most famous in the world. The route leads through the Beaujolais region and it winds through ups and downs, along paved roads and in the midst of vineyards and the country except for the last part where it goes into the town of Villafranche sur Saone, where the finish is situated. Fortunately, the start of the half marathon was in the afternoon, because of the low temperatures in this time of the year. The place where everybody could prepare, refresh and change for the race was in Arnas, a tiny village provided with an excellent and brand new sports facilities (it was incredible as you could drink even a few glasses of wine offered by the organizers). There was also a shuttle bus every 5 minutes that took the runners  from Villafranche to the start. Frankly speaking, at the start there were many runners who had put themselves forward despite their low results, and this fact hindered the runners, also because the street was not very wide. However, after a few kilometers of going up and down in total silence, it got worse as the route went always up for about 3 km, luckily I managed to recover a bit of time later with about 3 km descent that led to the town, where the organizers had prepared  the route a bit extravagant, with passages even in a historic building, and through the municipal market with its stairs to climb and descend. I would say that this race comes out a bit 'out of the scheme of the usual marathons because of the type of route and the refreshments of your choice (water or wine) at the finish.  The medal was also accompanied by the bottle of Beaujolais wine, and above all, not even a glass of water to recover from fatigue. T-shirt for all participants.