Fabienne Thompson arrived home late last night from the Marathon du Médoc, a true and very popular French classic (the organisers had to turn down 30,000 entries!) which takes place in the famous wine growing area of the Bordeaux region. In lightweight fancy dress and after consuming local specialities along the course (ham, oyster, wine and ice cream for the sprint finish)

Fabienne finished in 3:29:20 (141st overall, 15th lady). The undulating course takes you off road quite a lot as you run accross vineyards and visit 52 private Châteaux, about half of which offer wine tasting as you run past. This is a truly spectacular event, with a non stop Friday to Sunday party atmosphere,  and extremely well organised. It attracts runners and journalists from all over the world.

Most runners run in fancy dress, some taking it to an extreme. In front of around 8,700 runners, the winner ran in 2:25:31 and the first lady, who won it for the 9th consecutive time, finished in 2:49:50. Both are from France.

Further information on this event can be found at; http://www.marathondumedoc.com/pages/en/accueil.php