The Main Event

The Geneva Half Marathon runs smoothly, finds Sam Murphy

Geneva Half Marathon

I AM RUNNING THROUGH countryside where yellow flowers bloom and cows graze, swinging their big heads slowly to watch us as we pass. It’s a rural idyll and yet the road’s surface is so smooth it could have been tarmacked yesterday. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. After all, this is Switzerland, where the very air gives off a quietly professional air.

Perhaps it’s in this spirit of determined efficiency that the Swiss, famed for their mountains, have managed to create a half-marathon course so fast and flat (you descend 50 metres more than you climb) that over half the participants in 2015 bagged a PB. And the organisers have achieved this without depriving us runners of the requisite views of cloud-capped peaks and alpine meadows that remind us we are in Switzerland.

The speedy, scenic course and national reputation for orderliness are likely reasons behind the remarkable number of runners from overseas drawn to this long-standing race – participants from 110 nations ran in the 2017 event, in spite of the relatively expensive price tag (65F Swiss – around £50). Then there’s the organisers’ cunning ploy to ensure you bring the family; as well as the half marathon (the biggest event), there’s a 10K and a women-only 6.5km on the Saturday evening, junior races and a full marathon. Add to that the fact that travelling to – and within – Geneva is so easy that you can comfortably fit this race into a weekend without taking a day off. I flew from London Gatwick on Saturday morning, catching the free train from the airport to the city centre and managing to fit in a visit to the expo at the city’s Jardin Anglais, a stroll