The Boulogne-Billancourt Half Marathon (french: Semi-marathon de Boulogne-Billancourt) is an annual

road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance ...

event over the

half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcut ...

distance which takes place in November in

Boulogne-Billancourt Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious commune in the Parisian area, located from its centre. It is a subprefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department and t ...

, France. The event was first organised in 1997 by the

Athletic Club de Boulogne-Billancourt Athletic Club de Boulogne-Billancourt or A.C.B.B. is a French sports club based in the suburbs of Paris in the commune of Boulogne-Billancourt. The club offers a variety of sports, but is primarily known for cycling, rugby union, judo, figure s ...

. The race steadily increased in size in its first years, attaining 1000 entrants by 2000 and doubling this number three years later. The

Fédération française d'athlétisme The French Athletics Federation (french: Fédération française d'athlétisme - ''FFA''), is the governing body for the sport of athletics in France. History FFA is the heir to the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA) ...

classed it as a national level race in 2006 and following the participation of 4000 runners from 26 countries, it was raised to international race status the following year.Boulogne-Billancourt Half-Marathon Historyarchived
. Semi-marathon de Boulogne-Billancourt. Retrieved on 2011-11-22. At the 2008 edition, Kenyan Nicholas Manza ran a race record time of 1:00:12 hours. A year later, Ethiopia's

Firehiwot Dado Firehiwot Tufa Dado (born January 9, 1984 in Assela, Arsi) is a female long-distance runner from Ethiopia, who won the New York City Marathon in 2011 with a personal best time of 2:23:15 hours. She also took three consecutive victories in the Ro ...

became the first woman to complete the distance in under one hour and ten minutes, setting the women's course record of 1:09:26 hours. The 2011 race was the first run with

IAAF Bronze Label Road Race World Athletics Label Road Races are races that the World Athletics (until 2019: ''IAAF'') designates as one of the "leading road races around the world." The classification was first introduced for the 2008 running season, upon the suggestion of ...

status, marking it as one of the foremost races of its kind. The course for the race is a looped circuit that starts and finishes at the town hall. It follows a clockwise route along the river

Seine ) , mouth_location = Le Havre/ Honfleur , mouth_coordinates = , mouth_elevation = , progression = , river_system = Seine basin , basin_size = , tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle , tributa ...

, passing the Sèvres - Cité de la céramique,

Pont de Saint-Cloud The pont de Saint-Cloud (''Saint-Cloud Bridge'') is a French bridge constructed of metal which crosses the Seine between the communes of Boulogne-Billancourt and Saint-Cloud in the French department of Hauts-de-Seine. The first pont de Saint-Cloud ...

. It heads north towards the

Longchamp Racecourse The Longchamp Racecourse (french: Hippodrome de Longchamp) is a 57 hectare horse-racing facility located on the Route des Tribunes at the Bois de Boulogne in Paris, France. It is used for flat racing and is noted for its variety of interlaced ...

and has a short loop through the

Bois de Boulogne The Bois de Boulogne (, "Boulogne woodland") is a large public park located along the western edge of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine. The land was ceded to the city of Paris by t ...

, where it reaches the halfway mark. At this point the course loops back on itself and follows the Seine in a southerly direction until it finally ends up at the town hall finish point.Course
. Semi-marathon de Boulogne-Billancourt. Retrieved on 2011-11-22.

Past winners

Key:

References

External links

Official website
{{IAAF Bronze Label Half marathons in France Recurring sporting events established in 1997 Sport in Hauts-de-Seine Annual sporting events in France 1997 establishments in France Autumn events in France