Starters for the marathon, I was absolutely amazed at how many people were about so early in the day, what a spectacle. The weather was a little damp with a few spots of rain but it held off and was probably good for the runners as leading up to this the weather had been quite warm. The ages of the competitors was also an eye opener as I saw many in their late 50s and 60s running and also a fair number even older. The other thing that surprised me was all the nationalities that turned up, there were lots of Germans, Dutch, Russians, English and I even chatted to a couple of Aussies, one living in Switzerland and the other on holiday who had targeted the run so sport is certainly alive and well in France.