Running: “Young people have broken the codes,” analysis by sociologist Olivier Bessy

A sports sociologist and accomplished athlete himself, Olivier Bessy from Pau takes a contrasting look at the recent acceleration in running.

A researcher at the Environmental and Energy Transition laboratory, marathon runner and professor emeritus at the University of Pau, Olivier Bessy has notably published “Courir de 1968 à nos jours” (Running from 1968 to the present day) with Cairn.

On paper, running, with just a pair of shoes, has always been seen as a poor man's sport. However, this social marker is the polar opposite of reality...

For a long time, before the surge in registration fees that we see today, this basic sport cost nothing or almost nothing, in fact. However, from the first popular marathons, forty years ago, the most privileged socio-professional categories were already very much in the majority. A paradox when the icons of the discipline – Mimoun or Zatopek – reflected a popular, hardworking background . Since then, if there are still so few workers, the peloton has nevertheless opened up to intermediate professions, people who come to compete with the executives while enhancing their own social status.

“Running is an avatar of May 1968, of the liberation of society and bodies.”

For a long time, a part of society looked askance at those who ran on weekends, believing that they probably didn't tire themselves out enough at work...

It's obvious that "physical" professions are less inclined to run. In my small village, in the early 1980s, I remember that people mostly thought I was crazy. Today, when I return, the trails are full. Athletics has transformed into running with the explosion of jogging, off-stadium events, popular cross-country races , and the emergence of women. But the first turning point in this metamorphosis dates back to May 1968, like an avatar of the liberation of society and bodies. Another form of pleasure and self-fulfillment.

“On social media, the spectacle of performances and of oneself”

But how can we explain that this sport remains that of an elite, mainly overqualified urban dwellers?

Because we've moved beyond the stage of body liberation, we're now in the process of showcasing it. And the spectacle of oneself, particularly on social media, which amplifies the effect tenfold. This phenomenon is only growing, especially among senior executives, who display it in the same way as their quest for performance at work. At the same time, urbanity has encouraged the emergence of jogging. The trend for sporting leisure is stronger in cities, where runners have taken over parks before doing so with the natural environment, as illustrated today by the explosion of trail running.

In some circles, running seems almost to become a social, moralizing injunction.

Like going for a run between noon and two instead of staying in the office or going out to lunch with colleagues. Previously, this sort of "leisure" interlude was quite frowned upon, but now the values ​​have almost completely reversed.

Studies show that the practice exploded in popularity in the late 2010s. Why?

This is the beginning of the second revolution, with a mass increase and new practices. International marathon runners, for example, but above all the emergence of extreme competitions: hourly races, 100 km and beyond, the first trails and ultra-trails. We are seeing an archipelago of supply that favors demand. Every runner today finds the shoe that fits them, even if we have entered hypermodernity: always longer, further, faster . However, people are beginning to question the illusion of this endless greed.

At a time when everyone is inflicting their own little performances on us on social media, hasn't this individual sport also become narcissistic?

It's paradoxical: by running, some people pursue what I call a "process of accelerating their career," while alternating with moments when they take advantage of this opportunity to escape this social pressure. But social networks have indeed amplified the need to share. Among Generation Z, we are even observing a form of identity construction. While aesthetics are nothing new, there is a lot of work on style and look, on the border between sport and urban cultures. Young people who run marathons no longer look like their elders at all.

"When I see young people competing in five or six ultra-trails in the same year, I tell myself that they won't be able to do that for very long."

Is the good old maintenance run over, long live the race for extreme performance?

No, the sport-health aspect still exists . In Pau, near my home in Franqueville Park, most people do brisk walking and do a few strides. My partner, for example, has no desire to put a bib on her back. But others suffer, it's true, from a form of frenzy. When I see young people line up for five or six ultra-trails in the same year, I tell myself that they won't be able to do that for very long. But this generation has completely broken the codes: when it took at least four years to prepare for your first marathon, these people go without even having completed a 10 km.

Trail running is touted as a way to reconnect with nature. Is this environmentalism leaving you perplexed?

Let's say that this relationship with nature is very ambivalent, since it is first and foremost an adversary against which one must fight without much sensitivity to the surroundings. Like a consumerist logic that can be found in all aspects of society. The same pitfall encountered by surfers or skiers with eco-friendly discourse but who seek the best spots by plane all over the world. However, this also illustrates the paradox of hyperconnected runners who seek disconnection in this epic adventure, a form of hybrid society where ethics happily competes with the sole desire to consume.

Where selection is also based on price, when registration is sometimes sold out for hundreds of euros...

The business is all the more flourishing because the desire to get a bib is contagious. In France, five million runners compete, a significant number never before reached. Places are becoming increasingly expensive, and 2025 is shaping up to be a record-breaking year, with long waiting lists for most races.

Judge and jury, what's still keeping you running?

It started when I was 15, more than half a century ago. At first, I ran to win. Over time, I moved away from stadiums to marathons, then ultra-trail running in search of self-referenced performances. Now I stay away from that, for both philosophical and health reasons... since I'm getting older! Running has become a way of breathing, almost a meditation.