Marvejols-Mende, a look back at a legendary race
Marvejols-Mende is 22.4 km long, with an elevation gain of 700 m, two passes including the famous Goudard at 1,100 meters, tough climbs, two beautiful descents, and a magnificent natural setting. A true physical and athletic challenge. But Marvejols-Mende is not just a race.
It's a story.
When it was created by Jean-Claude Moulin on July 22, 1973, with the friendly support of Spiridon, Marvejols-Mende was one of the first open races in France. At a time when running was still very much regulated, it paved the way for those who were not always seen at the starting lines: non-licensed runners, women, young people, seniors, champions, and novices alike.
The same ideal then animated the pioneers of Spiridon: to run all together.
At that time, women were not allowed to run more than 5 km in cross-country. The French Athletics Federation even tried to ban the event. Marvejols-Mende therefore already carried something greater than a simple sporting challenge: an idea of freedom, openness, and fraternity.
It was there, in the 1970s, that the Spiridon spirit and its slogan, which became doctrine, were affirmed: "Performance is good, but the celebration comes first."
This phrase said it all. Achieving a time was no longer an end in itself. The important thing was the shared experience, the joy of running together, the atmosphere, the encounters, and the celebration after the effort.
Marvejols-Mende is also this: a race where people gather after the event, all generations combined, to dine, chat, laugh, and dance, without fuss. A race where the budget goes more into the production of the event than into communication. Hundreds of volunteers, runners who come for the effort as much as for the spirit, an award ceremony in a packed theater, an aperitif with an orchestra, and then the evening.
In a world where races sometimes become increasingly identical, XXL, and impersonal, Marvejols-Mende remains a breath of fresh air. Here, people talk to each other, encourage each other, and have fun. You run, but you never truly run alone.
The rallying sign of that era was long the Spiridon t-shirt, worn by thousands of runners, in Marvejols-Mende, throughout Europe, and even in the United States. It symbolized another way of experiencing running: freer, more popular, and more joyful.
Run with us!
Today, through its Archive and Anthology collections, Spiridon continues to uphold the values of these pioneers of open running. To the humanist commitments of the Spiridonians of the 1970s, we have added a strong focus on the environment, a concern already present in the Spiridon spirit, which saw running as a way to reconnect with nature.
All our clothes are produced in Europe – in France, Italy, Portugal, and Poland – in small series, to combat waste, and using recycled or natural materials.
Fifty years later, let's continue to run all together, to celebrate Marvejols-Mende, Spiridon, and this sporting and cultural revolution that opened up running to everyone.
Photo: Jean-Claude Moulin and Jean-Claude Reffray — Marvejols-Mende