Balexert 20 km de Genève

Alright, for once we’re not going to serve you the local cliché: the famous Swiss chocolate. After praising its sweetness for so long, it gets old, especially when mentioning the “Geneva trash cans,” the “cobblestones,” and the “Escalade cauldron”! While all these chocolate specialties are truly killer, it’s not these talking points that will make you want to come to the southwest shore of the Lake Geneva with a view of the Mont Blanc 🏔️ and the foothills of the Jura! 😉 And if we told you about the merits of the one of the three biggest races in the Swiss city, namely the Balexert 20 km from Geneva that take place in autumn 🍂, in Switzerland ? 🇨🇭

If you’re looking to blow up your PR ⏱️, this might not be the ideal spot because there’s a bit of elevation gain on the 10 km and 20 km routes (respectively 100 mD+ and 170 mD+) 📈. That said, you’ll be able to torch your calves 🔥 on these relatively fast routes that cut through the Geneva countryside, offering stunning views of the roof of Europe and skirting the right bank of Lake Geneva ⛵️. There’s a bit of a sea breeze over the mountains that makes you want to pick up the pace! 🚀

For their 7th edition, the 20 km of Geneva won’t just offer their traditional 10 km and 20 km running races solo and in teams 🤝. They’ll also offer a 10 km solidarity walk to support the fight against breast cancer 🎗️, a 10 km Nordic walk, and no less than 6 junior races 👧 for young people aged 3 to 13 years with distances from 500 m to 2 km and, cherry on top (chocolate, of course 🍒), a “Mascot Run” pitting mascots from companies, associations or towns on a 400 m course 🤺.

You probably know that Geneva is the hub for international organizations 🌏 (it hosts a modest 39 seats of international organizations as prestigious as the United Nations, the World Health Organization or the International Committee of the Red Cross ❌) and NGOs (431 have their offices in the city!) and that its university ranks among the top 150 in the world 👍. You can imagine the historical and architectural heritage you’ll discover while running! 🏃‍♂️ What you may know less is that Geneva has numerous parks, to such an extent that they cover 20% of the municipal area 🌳.

Nature is therefore at the heart of the Balexert 20 km organizers’ concerns, who have imagined a series of actions to reduce their carbon footprint ♻️ : promoting public transport or carpooling, vegetarian menus, local suppliers and service providers, restricting goodies, waste sorting, no bottled water but tap water at aid stations… The efforts by the organizing team are commendable, as it isn’t easy to welcome thousands of participants and deploy concrete actions to respect the environment 💆. It’s up to you to help them in this voluntary approach, for example by coming to Geneva by train or by bus 😉.

Now that you’re convinced, hurry up and fine-tune your training plan for the 20 km of Geneva which will be both your autumn sport challenge, your challenge and your family city break before winter ❄️. And don’t forget to try the famous cardoon when you come by! 😋