Paris Marathon: plastic‑free
Paris Marathon 2026 will run 42.195 km through the city on April 12 — passing the Champs‑Élysées, Place de la Concorde and the Eiffel Tower — with elites starting at 8 a.m. and staggered mass departures for the rest of the field (42.195 km; April 12). The race expects about 60,000 participants and will be a world‑first at this scale as a plastic‑free marathon, using sustainable water stations instead of single‑use bottles. (olympics.com) (paris.fr)
Participants will be required to carry a personal hydration container (soft flask, collapsible cup or hydration pack) and will find volunteers and specially designed refill ramps along the course to top up those containers. (schneiderelectricparismarathon.com) Organizers have laid out 13 refreshment points on the route — nine full refreshment stations, four dedicated water points, plus two Ta Energy electrolyte stations and a full station at the finish — with full stations stretching about 160 metres to avoid crowding. (schneiderelectricparismarathon.com) An elite-style system is in place for sub‑2:50 runners: pre-filled bottles will be provided to qualifying waves, must be collected after use and will be reused by the organisation, and any bottle discarded outside designated bins 150 metres after stations risks disqualification. (schneiderelectricparismarathon.com) High-flow, push-button hydration points will be used to refill a 350–400 ml soft flask in under two seconds, with hydration availability increased to roughly every 2–2.5 kilometres from the halfway mark to reduce queuing; the setup was trialled at the Lyon Marathon on October 5 as a large‑scale test. (marathonhandbook.com) Paris officials and ASO cite a shift begun in 2024 after organisers calculated that previous editions had required roughly 700,000 single‑use bottles per race, triggering multi-year testing in 2025 of reusable cups and volunteer-operated refill ramps and the mobilisation of about 700 volunteers across the 13 aid stations. (paris.fr) Culligan International has been named the event’s Official Water Solutions Supplier and will supply filtration and distribution expertise, offer filtered potable water drawn from Paris’s public system, and distribute co‑branded reusable aluminium bottles at the finish and during race week activations. (culliganinternational.com)
