MAIF Ekiden de Paris 2026 puts FFA’s environmental transition into high gear

Six runners teaming up to cover a marathon, passing the baton and sharing the effort against an exceptional Parisian backdrop. For more than a decade, the MAIF Ekiden de Paris has built its success around that winning formula, with the Eiffel Tower and the capital’s landmarks in the background. But behind this celebration of running, another challenge has gradually come to the fore: reducing the event’s environmental impact without sacrificing its ability to bring people together.

For its 13th edition, the event organized by the French Athletics Federation, with longstanding support from the MAIF Group, is taking another step forward. With 1,630 teams registered and 9,780 runners expected on November 1, the race is sold out and confirms its status as Europe’s largest ekiden. Its popularity gives even greater weight to the organizers’ choices: at this scale, every measure rethought can help change established habits.

Practical steps towards a more responsible event

Environmental responsibility is not limited to a few symbolic gestures on race day. The FFA has gradually reworked several aspects of its organization to limit waste, encourage more responsible behavior and promote a more resource-conscious approach to sport.

Among the measures now firmly established at the MAIF Ekiden de Paris, the decision to stop handing out finisher T-shirts marks a significant shift. Long seen as a must-have at road races, these textile souvenirs are not essential to the sporting experience. Removing them challenges the sector’s habits and encourages a more considered approach to the equipment handed out to participants.

The same thinking applies to hydration. Water stations help reduce reliance on individual bottles, while bulk refreshments cut down on packaging. Collective waste sorting completes the system, with a simple goal: manage what cannot be avoided more effectively and reduce what is produced as much as possible.

The organizers are also addressing one of the biggest contributors to the environmental footprint of sporting events: travel. A free bicycle parking area encourages participants to choose active and low-impact ways of getting to the race venue.

At the event village, stands dedicated to recovering and reusing sports equipment extend the initiative. Giving kit a second life, keeping it in circulation and limiting what goes to waste: these are all ways of bringing running into a circular-economy model. It is a particularly relevant approach in a sport where shoes, technical apparel and accessories play such a major role.

Taken individually, these measures may seem modest. Together, they point to another way of staging a major running event, one where success is not measured solely by participant numbers, course quality or the atmosphere at the finish line.

Measure to improve: carbon at the heart of the approach

To move from commitment to concrete evaluation, the FFA has partnered with Climeet, a solution designed for event organizers who want to measure and manage their carbon footprint. The stakes are high. Reducing impact starts with understanding it, identifying the main sources of emissions and tracking results over time. Measuring makes it possible to move beyond good intentions and prioritize the actions that need to be taken.

The work is based in part on data collected at the MAIF Ekiden de Paris, as well as during the Paris Diamond League meeting, another major event on the federation’s calendar. Bringing these experiences together places the discussion in a broader context than that of a single race.

The initiative also aligns with the City of Paris’s priorities. Its Charter for Eco-Responsible Events sets out commitments designed to reduce the environmental impact of events held within the city. In 2026, the city is also testing Climeet to measure and manage the environmental impact of events.

The change in method matters: it is no longer enough to state intentions or showcase initiatives. The aim is to use data to assess progress and identify room for improvement. « This approach marks a major shift: moving from a declarative model to one based on measuring and managing impacts », says the City of Paris’s Department of Environmental Transition and Climate.

For running, the ultimate mass-participation sport, this level of rigor opens up practical possibilities. Participant travel, aid-station logistics, distributed equipment and the resources required to stage an event are all areas worth examining. Measurement is not an end in itself, but a tool for guiding future decisions.

Fair Play For Planet: an ambition that goes beyond the start line

The MAIF Ekiden de Paris’s environmental commitment is part of a broader policy led by the French Athletics Federation. Social and environmental performance is now one of the institution’s development priorities, with the aim of changing practices throughout the year and at every level of the sport.

This direction is reflected in the Fair Play For Planet certification, a scheme that encourages sports organizations to build environmental and social issues into their operations. For the FFA, the challenge therefore extends beyond staging its major events: it also means driving change across its wider ecosystem, from clubs and members to local communities.

« Social and environmental performance is now one of the key pillars of the Federation’s development plan, across every setting and throughout the year », says Emmanuelle Jaeger, FFA Deputy President. She also stresses the importance of objectively measuring the consequences of the measures introduced in order to keep making progress.

Julien Pierre, president of Fair Play For Planet, sees it as a powerful signal for French sport. « This commitment at the level of a national federation is a powerful signal for French sport », he says, emphasizing the need to measure impact, highlight existing initiatives and identify new ways to improve.

For athletics, the goal is to turn an institutional commitment into grassroots momentum. Major events offer significant visibility, but lasting change is also built in clubs, in everyday practices and in the most routine organizational choices.

MAIF and FFA: evolving the model without losing the spirit of sport

The MAIF Group, a longstanding partner of the event, is supporting this evolution. For its president, Yves Pellicier, the MAIF Ekiden de Paris shows that another model is possible: « more responsible, more resource-conscious and just as unifying ». In his view, the Fair Play For Planet certification recognizes work that began long ago and the will to mobilize the entire sports ecosystem. The ambition rests less on a dramatic transformation than on accumulating practical actions and continuously improving them.

This vision resonates particularly strongly with the ekiden format itself. Unlike an individual marathon, a relay is built on shared responsibility: every runner contributes to the team’s performance, and success depends on everyone’s commitment. That collective dynamic naturally echoes the need to coordinate efforts in response to environmental challenges.

« The principle of a marathon relay embodies essential values: cooperation, sharing and a collective challenge », says Elouan Lannuzel, president of Climatosportifs. This community of committed athletes will be involved before the race, with a preparation run and a discussion focused on more responsible sporting practices, and then on race day with two participating teams.

The meeting is set for Tuesday, October 27, at Climate House Paris, a venue dedicated to accelerating the ecological and social transformation of the economy. After a group run open to several dozen runners, participants will discuss ways to change sporting practices. Four days before race day, the gathering will give the event an added dimension: a space for raising awareness and sharing experience.

Running faces a challenge of its own

Running’s popularity is a formidable collective strength. It also invites us to examine the resources required to stage ever more attractive events. Travel, equipment, packaging, hydration and waste: there are many levers to pull, and each event calls for solutions suited to its own circumstances.