The Marseille-Cassis Classique Internationale is an annual

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 ...

which follows a course from

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

Cassis Cassis (; Occitan: ''Cassís'') is a commune situated east of Marseille in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, whose coastline is known in English as the French Riviera, in Southern France. In 201 ...

in France during the last weekend in October. It has the silver label of the

IAAF Road Race Label Events 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 ...

and is thus among the ten more prestigious half marathon races in the world. First organised by the SCO Sainte-Marguerite

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

in 1979, the event has grown into a large international competition, with around 20,000 runners competing every year.Vazel, P-J (2008-10-24)
Can Disi, fastest in the field, wrest title from Kenyans in Marseille?

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

. Retrieved on 2009-10-22. The course distance of 20,308 metres falls slightly short of the true half marathon distance (21,097.5 m). Since 2012, the course has been shortened by 308 metres so the total distance of the course became exactly 20 kilometres. Still, the race is made more difficult by a long 327 m rise up a hill—the Col de la Gineste—at the midpoint of the course, which eventually follows back down into the port of

. The annual race is usually held in the month of October. The course records are held by

Atsedu Tsegay Atsedu Tsegay Tesfay (born 17 December 1991) is an Ethiopian professional long-distance runner. In 2012, he won Prague Half Marathon in a time of 58:47 — the best half marathon performance of the year and an Ethiopian record. His first major ...

, who has the men's race record with 58:11 minutes, and Edith Chelimo, who has the women's record with 1:05:58.Vazel, Pierre-Jean (2011-10-30)
Tsegay and Cheromei crush course records in Marseille-Cassis Classic
IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-10-30. Calanques de Marseille

There are also two other races which complement the main competition: first organised in 1990, the "L'Autre Marseille-Cassis" (''The Other Marseille-Cassis'' in English) is a mountain hike which negotiates the

Massif des Calanques The Massif des Calanques () is a wild and rugged terrain stretching from the ninth arrondissement of Marseille to the east towards Cassis, spanning 20 km in length and 4 km in width along the coast. Its highest peak is Mont Puget at 56 ...

area. The second complementary competition is a

racewalk Racewalking, or race walking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully asses ...

, launched in 2006, which seeks to celebrate the sports festival through an alternative sporting means.Historique Il était une fois …
. Marseille-Cassis. Retrieved on 2009-10-22.

List of winners

Key: *All winners information taken from official website *(*)Course records not valid due to race shortened by about 400 metres in the days before the race.

References

External links

Official website
{{IAAF Silver Label Half marathons in France Sport in Marseille Recurring sporting events established in 1979 1979 establishments in France Annual sporting events in France Autumn events in France 20K runs