"We could hear the band before we saw it: a group of retirement home residents with trumpets and drums waiting to greet us as we approached. Others using wheelchairs waved homemade flags. As we swarmed into the building and up the staircase, a bottleneck formed. I slowed down as a nurse put a stamp on my sweaty arm, then I jogged off down the corridor."
"Running through a retirement home is just one of the many surreal moments that participants signing up for the Nimes Urban Trail (NUT) get to experience on this 24km race around the city, which takes place each February. Not only does the route give you a whistlestop sightseeing tour, taking you past the town's impressive Roman monuments and landmarks, it also grants you access to places that would normally be off limits to outsiders."
The Nîmes Urban Trail is a 24km February race that threads through the city and into normally restricted spaces. Participants pass Roman monuments, a five-star hotel lobby and bar, a Michelin-starred restaurant, the town hall, a barracks, a chapel, school classrooms and an olive grove. Retirement home residents with trumpets and drums and wheelchair users waving homemade flags line parts of the route. Nurses stamp runners' arms during indoor bottlenecks. The race offers moments of unexpected intimacy and community warmth, producing emotional reactions from runners and granting inside access to local landmarks and everyday spaces.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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