Montreal Marathon | “It was a dad’s dream”

Shouts, applause, smiles, a few tears. The atmosphere was festive at the Montreal Marathon this Sunday, where runners set off at dawn under a radiant sun.

From the early hours of the morning, members of the runners’ families crowded near the finish line. All were looking for the best location to not miss any of the action. Among them, Caroline Beauchamp and Dominic Gélinas, bouquet in hand, waiting for their daughter Lydia.

“This is her first half marathon, after running the 10 kilometres last year. She is making really good progress,” comments Caroline. “It’s like her grand finale,” adds her father, proudly.

Encouragement along the way

Around 9:30 a.m., near kilometer 11, at the intersection of Berri Street and Sainte-Catherine Street, Rachel Lussier checks once again on her cell phone where her two friends, Ève and Érika, are.

“They’ve been preparing for this for a year!” she says, a hint of admiration in her voice. The two runners pass under the applause of their friend, as well as the father and partner of one of them.

Along the course, bells, shouts and applause greet the runners. Signs of all colours, often tinged with humour (“Stop reading this poster and RUN!”), are held up by friends and family of marathoners and half-marathoners.

Strategically placed at the top of the Berri hill is the Club Café stand. Laurent St-Cyr, its co-owner, holds up a sign near the track indicating that they are handing out free lemonade and coffee – which were initially intended for spectators. And it works: sweaty but all smiles, several runners stop for a short moment to cool off.

“We’ve been here since 6 a.m. this morning, we’ve already sold more than 120 liters,” he says.

Tears of joy and hugs

At the finish line at Maisonneuve Park, the crowd grew rapidly, climbing to tens of thousands of spectators.

The men’s half marathon concludes. Ontario’s Phil Parrot-Migas is the first to cross the finish line of the day. “I’m going to have some Quebec beers to celebrate. I love the IPAs here, I’m going to enjoy them,” he says, to the applause of the crowd.

In the staging areas, the day’s athletes limp to embrace their families and friends. Tears flow, whether of joy or pain.

Just after crossing the finish line, a father and daughter embrace. For Cléa Fournier, this is her very first marathon; her father, Mathieu Fournier, has run about twenty marathons.

“It was a dream of my dad,” the latter emphasizes, moved. He came specially from France to visit his daughter and run the marathon with her.

A few meters further, we come across Nicolas, a pair of sandals in his hand.

“I’ve done the marathon a few times, so I wanted to add a little bit of difficulty to it, to make it interesting. So I did it in flip flop,” he explains. “It was a little hard on the feet, but I enjoyed it. I beat my personal best by 8 minutes!”

Another runner shouts at him: “Are you the one who ran in flip-flops? You’re a real machine!”

Whether it’s for fun, to stay fit or even to support a cause, all runners have their own motivation. After crossing the finish line, Christian Omictin proudly holds up a poster, highlighting his mother’s triumph over cancer.

“It’s for her that I woke up at 5 a.m. every day to run, that I practiced all this time,” he says, breathless with emotion.