We’ve seen our justifiable share of uncomfortable marathon operating footwear in 2025, however operating 42.2 km within the sneakers this French runner wore on the Zurich Maratón de Sevilla in Spain makes our ft harm simply excited about it. French marathoner Menouar Benfodda completed Sunday’s race in 2:39:53, a ery respectable time by itself, not to mention in a pair of espadrilles he made himself.
Espadrilles are a kind of conventional, informal footwear generally worn within the Pyrenees area between France and Spain. They’re acknowledged by their light-weight development and distinctive rope or jute soles. To make his accomplishment much more spectacular, Benfodda shared a video of him crafting the pair of espadrilles he wore on Sunday, utilizing what seems to be to be a Strobel machine (used to connect the higher of a shoe to the only real).
This wasn’t Benfodda’s first time operating a marathon sporting his beloved espadrilles. On the 2023 Schneider Electrical Paris Marathon, Benfodda completed the race in two hours and 35 minutes. He went out in Seville seeking to enhance his earlier time (in espadrilles), however, after coming via the midway mark on a 2:28-marathon tempo, his tempo dwindled.
When he’s not operating quick, the 45-year-old operates an artisan manufacturing firm within the small French Pyrenees city of Saint-Laurent-de-Cerdans, the reported “capital of the espadrille” over the previous two centuries. Benfodda lives and trains in France’s southernmost metropolis, Perpignan, solely 31 kilometres north of the Spanish border and province of Catalonia.
There’s a lot speak about how a lot time tremendous sneakers can take off your marathon, however Benfodda reveals that each one it is advisable to run quick is a bit grit and creativity. Though, they’re making carbon-plated sandals… Carrying common sneakers, Benfodda holds a private finest of two:22:47, a time he set virtually 15 years in the past on the 2011 Rotterdam Marathon.