This Saturday, April 15, Montluçon will host the start of the Olympic Games Centenary Relay. 80 athletes will take the road towards the capital. The goal? Commemorating and celebrating 100 years of the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. The course will also honor Chamonix and Albertville, host cities of the Winter Olympics in 1924 and 1992. It is also an opportunity to prepare and promote the 2024 Olympics, taking place in France.
This relay is intended to be based on the Olympic values, resting on sport, education and culture. In this sense, the organization has oriented the choice of participants by favoring young people from priority neighborhoods of the city of Montluçon, origin of the association “Voyage au Coeur de l’Olympisme” (AVCO). The relay will not be timed and there will be no ranking to allow everyone to participate.
An Olympic program
Participants will be able to take part in this relay on foot or by bike, to connect the 566 km traveled between Montluçon and Paris with stages via Albertville and Chamonix, but also Lausanne, Dijon, Auxerre and Paris.
In Albertville, the runners will visit the exhibition in the Olympic hall on the last Winter Olympic Games. During their visit to Chamonix, participants will have the right to a conference on the history of the 1924 Olympic Games and a meeting with mountain guides. Lausanne will then welcome the delegation for two days with a visit to the center of world cycling and a meeting of riders preparing for the Games. The IOC will also open its doors.
The 80 Montluçonnais will return to France on Wednesday 19 and head towards Dijon. They will also meet Bernard Thévenet, twice winner of the Tour de France. The next day, April 20, during the Auxerre stage, they will be able to meet Guy Roux, the former coach of AJA. Finally, during the last stage, they will be welcomed by the organizers of the 2024 Olympics.
Volunteer support
Many volunteers from the association will also participate in the trip to supervise the 80 runners but also to ensure the logistical aspect and the medical side. Sports educators will surround the groups to manage the different distances.
The creation of this event was made possible thanks in particular to the sponsorship of the Ministry of Sports, the CNOSF and the COJOP Paris 2024. The Centenary relay was even able to benefit from the “Terre de Jeux” label, promoting the recognition of a territory as host of the Olympic Games to allow a more inclusive practice of sport for all.