What Becomes of Our Race-Day Memories?

Every race is an intense adventure that unfolds over several weeks, sometimes several months, reaching its climax on race day. Many passionate runners experience that build-up as a journey in its own right, much like a marathon. Once the finish line is crossed, the physical traces of the experience take on sentimental value. Some build a small shrine to their sporting memories, like Laurie Maleysson (Velay Athlétisme), the first French woman at the 2024 Paris Marathon, who clocked 2:40:02 in Valence later that year.

“I keep quite a few symbolic things that remind me of my races, such as my bibs. I don’t keep everything because there would be a mountain of them, but I select the most meaningful and the best-looking ones and archive them in a folder. They’re usually from the French Championships, marathons, personal bests and important wins. At first, I wrote the race, my time and my placing on the back,” says the athlete coached by Patrice Ducret.

Introduced to running by her father, the Haute-Loire native enjoys giving him her trophies, including a custom display from the 2024 Paris Marathon featuring her bib and a medal engraved with her time, 2:40:02. He follows all his daughter’s results closely. “He has a room full of my cups and medals from the very start of my athletics career. He’s proud to have them at home. His are on one side, because he was a good runner, and mine are on the other.” Looking at these keepsakes takes her back to “the emotion of the race, the win and sometimes the sheer difficulty of a particular effort.” “You grow attached to these little objects,” says the runner from Le Puy.

Symbolic keepsakes, sometimes unusual and unexpected

Laurie Maleysson shares her life with Pierre Lavernhe, who recently became the masters European marathon champion in Finland. Originally from Le Puy-en-Velay, the runner is never short of ideas when it comes to preserving memories of iconic races.

His masterstroke after one post-race stroll? Saving a piece of the legendary blue finish-line carpet from the Valence Marathon.

“The Valence Marathon organisers were dismantling the infrastructure. There was a one-square-metre piece of carpet left that was going to be thrown away. The security guard gave us a funny look when we asked for permission. In the end, he even helped us cut it up. Pierre then turned it into small squares, 42 mm on each side, printed with our times and the marathon logo. I bought a frame to display them like a trophy. It’s very symbolic for us.”

The marathoner, who has run 34:08 for 10 km, also keeps her more understated mementos, such as French Championship wristbands turned into key rings, along with metro tickets and passes from trade shows or exhibitions connected to her sporting life. “We also like having lucky charms for race days, such as the matching bracelet Pierre, the children and I share. He wore it at the European Marathon Championships. After the race, he took it off and put it away. I’ll do the same after the 2025 Berlin Marathon. It’s a little nod to the passion we share.”

Running shoes, or the memory of the sweat

Pierre Lavernhe is not short of post-marathon ideas. The host of Borne Podcast stores his Nike Alphaflys in a box, writes his time on it and never wears them again. “It’s a kind of legacy for my children. I also like thinking that the shoes might have vintage value in a few years.”

Running shoes can be tied to a personal best, a particular marathon or even a gruelling training block. Julien Rabaca (Athletic Club Secteur Monistrol) explains. “I’ve always wanted to keep my worn-out shoes rather than throw them away.”

© Julien Rabaca (in yellow), 2:15:34 marathoner and 1:03:30 half-marathoner. © Thomas Brachet

The 24-year-old from Monistrol ran 2:15:34 in Valence in 2024, his first marathon, and knows the story behind every pair by heart. “If I ever manage to reach my goals, these shoes will represent all the work I’ve put in, in races and in training.”

 Seeing these shoes motivates me during periods when I’m not feeling great. I can look back at all the work I’ve already done in them. If I achieve my dreams one day, I’ll be able to tell myself that it took an incredible number of pairs to get there.”

His garage houses a shelf filled with his current shoes, trophies and medals from running, as well as those from his days racing motorcycles. Finisher medals mean little to him, apart from those marking victories and personal bests. That includes the medal from his first marathon in Valence in 2024 and the one from his win at the 21 km Run In Lyon. Not forgetting his Valence half-marathon medal, earned when the hard-working runner posted the year’s best French U23 performance in 1:03:30. “This place is a sort of museum,” Julien Rabaca sums up.

© Julien Rabaca’s running “museum” (Athletic Club Monistrol.)

Race-day relics: decoration and motivation

Nélie Clément (Gap Hautes Alpes Athlétisme) collects not only the bibs from the French, World and European Championships and her “big performances”, but also her national titles and France team selections. The Grenoble native has already built an impressive record at just 22. She has four junior and two senior international selections, in mountain running, vertical races and cross country. What she treasures most are the relics of her battles.

“I laminate my bibs and put them up on my bedroom walls. I add the medals on top, along with cross-country wristbands and accreditation passes from major championships.” Every corner of her room is a mosaic of her years in athletics. The multiple French champion takes great care of her race numbers. “I try to keep them clean, without creases or damage, and I write down the details of the race on the back. They mean an enormous amount to me.”

© Nélie Clément (right), 22 years old and already a six-time France team selection. © Alanis Duc

The two-time French mountain-running champion in 2024 and 2025 enjoys immersing herself in this personal display.

 I love looking at my walls, stopping at a bib and remembering those events. In a way, I relive them. I pay attention to the numbers that brought me the most success. That’s also what pushes me to keep raising my level every day, so I can experience those moments again.”

For the athlete coached by Lucas Lecomte, the medals sit alongside photos from competitions shared with friends. Her brother gave her a medal hanger, and her father built a structure to display her awards. “My room is full of all that,” Nélie Clément says with a smile.

What about press clippings? She leaves those to her mother, who keeps them carefully. For Nélie, the pictures matter more.

© Nélie Clément (Gap Hautes Alpes Athlétisme) keeps and displays all her national and international awards.

Memories kept out of sight

For some runners, race memories are deeply personal and private. Jade Rodriguez (Entente Athlétique Grenoble 38), a mountain-running specialist, keeps her awards away from public view. The 2019 junior mountain-running world bronze medallist archives the bibs from her “important” races in a large envelope.

© Jade Rodriguez, 2019 junior mountain-running world bronze medallist. © Alanis Duc

The athlete, who spent her childhood in Font-Romeu, has three international selections to her name, along with various podiums and national titles in mountain running and cross country. Displaying her winning memories gives her food for thought. “I’m thinking about how I can showcase the objects connected to my national and international podiums. I haven’t found the right solution yet. I find it a bit difficult to display them in my home or bedroom. I feel uncomfortable when people stop and look at all of it as they come in; it’s quite personal.” Her medals are stored in a cabinet, out of sight, alongside symbolic gifts from those close to her. It is a choice that reflects her mindset.

Jade Rodriguez also explains this choice as a “kind of detachment from the past”, a mindset focused on the present and the future. Her mantra is not to dwell on what is gone. The nutritionist enjoys remembering the good moments, but does not linger on them. “I’m very happy to come across my medals again and look at them whenever I want, but I find it hard to leave things from the past on display for long. I feel the same need for renewal with my photos. I need to update them with recent images.”

Every race leaves a unique mark, sometimes embodied by a medal, a bib or another symbolic keepsake. These objects become reminders of the hours of hard work and the emotions experienced along the way. The years pass, but the memory of those sporting moments stays alive. In the end, these souvenirs, more than the times on the clock, tell the story of a runner and their passion.