For a while now, I’m going to be writing in a diary style in my so-called blog posts.
We will be setting up a separate fixed page (as in WordPress) to develop detailed summary information about the Medoc Marathon. Please wait a little longer.
メドックマラソン 2014 – Marathon du Médoc 2014 | my lifelog yuu-koma.jp http://www.yuu-koma.jp/?page_id=9260
Date: September 12, 2014
Finally, the day before the race. On the day of the race, the four members who met up the day before moved to Pauillac, a town in the Medoc region, by rental car. Three of us were able to apply for the race through the official website, so we had to go to Pauillac by ourselves to register and receive our bib numbers.
As usual, the road to the outskirts of Bordeaux was difficult to find, but thanks to Google Navigation, we escaped Bordeaux without any particular difficulty and drove northward with the Gironde River on our right.
In about 40 minutes, we will go to Margaux area and then to Medoc area. All the members were impressed by the sight of the vast vineyards as you can see, and cheers went up in the car.
The drive was smooth, and we arrived at the venue, Poiliac, in about 1 hour and 10 minutes without any particular congestion on the road.
The EXPO site where the reception is located is in the south area of the center of Poiliac. We parked properly on the street (although it was a little difficult to find, but it wasn’t that crowded) and headed for the reception area.
Immediately, a huge wine bottle welcomes the runners.
The venue is a bit crowded, but this is about it.
It doesn’t look so crowded compared to Japanese conventions.
The building that looks like a gymnasium in the back of the reception hall was the reception hall.
Reception desk in the building. There is a separate desk for each number. This is the same in Japan.
But there was no detailed check at the entrance like in Japan, so anyone could enter. Well, people were like this.
What I received was a number, a T-shirt, and a pamphlet with nothing but advertisements.
I’m still glad you got the t-shirt!
Now, as I commented at the top of this page, and will write in the summary page about the Medoc Marathon private arrangements which will be released later, there are some important things about the reception, and I will list them below.
- ゼッケン番号を通知するメールは印刷しておくこと
- 身分証明書としてのパスポートを持参すること
- ゼッケンを止めるクリップは必ず受付時にリクエストしてもらっておくこと
- 大会公式バスの受付も同会場なのでゼッタイに忘れないこと（これもメールの印刷大事）
You can save the email separately on your phone, but it’s easier to print it out, and even if you don’t print it out, you should be able to show it right off-line from your phone.
ちなみにどのようなメールかというと、こちらのエントリーをご参照。
一応メールの提示でも大丈夫そうなのですが、身分証明用にパスポートを持っておいたほうが無難かもしれません。僕は観光中（※超都会を除く）でも、パスポートはホテルのセーフティーボックスに置かずに持っておく派だったので、事なきを得ました。
そしてクリップのリクエスト、これとっても大事！なにも言わないとくれません。日本から用意していくのも手かもしれません。最初私気が付かなかったんです。ほんと一緒に行かれた方に指摘されて助かりました。
If you have arranged an official premium bus for the convention, there will be a window next to the registration desk where you can get a bracelet, which is your bus ticket, so don’t forget to do this as well.
Probably, if you have arranged privately, you must arrange this premium bus. It’s easy to get carried away when you receive your number and T-shirt and forget about it, so be careful.
This is the kind of bracelet that becomes a bus ticket.
The color is said to vary from bus to bus, but apparently the 2014 privates are pink.
ちなみにこれ、勝手に付けられて外せなくなります…。外すには壊さないと無理、ということで、我慢して当日までつけておきましょう。
I’ll have to mention this properly on the summary site too.
Now, there are various booths in the expo.
First of all, it is a shop of the masquerade goods.
I see, is it because of this that you said it was okay even if you couldn’t prepare a costume? But the impression of all the thick costumes, I think it’s a little hot.
Then, there was a booth with information about marathon events in France or in Europe. I was surprised to see that there are quite a few of the same kind of events in different parts of the world where you can run while drinking.
For example, the « Beaujolais Marathon » (laughs).
Beaujolais area seems to have a lot of ups and downs, but the scenery is nice, so you might enjoy it. I tasted a little bit of wine (just a sip) and it was delicious.
There were also booths for the Cognac Marathon and the Loire Marathon (which apparently also has wine).
Speaking of alcoholic beverages, beer, wine by the glass, and soft drinks were sold at the concession stand in the expo hall.
They give you 1 euro back when you return the glass, so a draft beer (BIERE PRESSION) is actually 1.5 euros. If I wasn’t driving, I’d have had a couple of drinks…
It’s not just alcohol. There were also booths introducing local specialties and sweets. I wonder if this was a pastry from the Champagne region.
And the standard? Some panels like this one.
Of course we took a photo!
The excitement is not only in the expo hall. The whole town of Pauillac is also getting excited. There were a lot of food stalls along the Gironde River.
And after all, there are many wine degustations. Quite a lot. I think it was mainly the Chateau of Cru Bourgeois of the new classification.
It’s hard being a driver in these situations (tears)
And then there’s the stalls that bake cannulas and
There was also a stall selling escargot, which was very French.
Escargot was purchased by one of our members and shared with everyone.
Some of the members went to the Degustation again, saying that they wanted to drink wine when they were buying and eating like this (laughs).
Other products on sale included foie gras, a specialty of the Aquitaine region.
We walked around the city in this way, returned to the car again, and continued to preview the course we would run the next day.
長くなったので「2日目その2」に続きます。
