This year’s spring half-marathon will be…
SEMI-MARATHON INTERNATIONAL DE NICE
Nice, France
Sunday 24 April 2016
We’ll travel to Nice, the capital of the French Riviera, to join over 10,000 runners in one of the top half marathons in Europe. The course begins in the centre of town and winds past some of the key sites in Nice including Jardins Albert and the Marina. Most of the race follows the famous Promenade des Anglais along the sea. The race receives excellent reviews for its outstanding scenery and for attracting large crowds to support the runners.
Two important points on the half-marathon course. First, it is mostly flat but there are two hills near the start of the race at miles 3 and 5. (On the bright side, two hills early in the race will ensure runners start out slowly and pace their run carefully.) The remainder of the race follows the coast and is primarily flat. Second, the race has a 3-hour time cut-off. Please know that we feel very confident that all our runners can meet this time especially with 7 months of training ahead of us.
Many of you are new to our running group, so here is how the annual trip works. First of all, the half marathon trip is for runners only. No husbands, no partners, no kids, no non-runners. This weekend is all about you and the women in the running group. If you want to talk about this, just let me know. Second, for the most part, the entire trip is planned for you. There are few things you will need to do to make your travel plans but we’ll let you know. Most importantly, keep running and before you know it, it will be race day!
IMPORTANT – after booking, please email Kathy Anderson ([email protected]) and include the following information: room type, roommate name (if applicable), and flight details. We want to make sure that our list matches the hotel list (and we’ve already caught a few inconsistencies so it’s important that you do this).
For example:
Hotel: Classic Double, roommate is Paula Radcliffe
Outbound flight: Friday BA 0346 departs 8:55
Inbound flight: Monday BA 0343 departs 11:50
SCHEDULE FOR THE WEEKEND
Friday
Travel to Nice, France.
7pm – Buffet dinner and breathtaking views over the Mediterranean Sea at the Le Meridien hotel roof-top La Terrasse restaurant. Cost 50 Euros (cash bar).
Saturday
Morning – Pick up race numbers at the race expo.
Afternoon – Free to explore and enjoy Nice. We’ll give you some options/suggestions in the New Year.
Dinner – Group Italian dinner close to the hotel. (Cash payment on the night – more details to follow soon.)
Sunday
THE RACE! (Race time is not yet announced, last year the race started at 9:30 am)
After the race, cheer on the other runners and enjoy Nice. We are working on setting up options for spa appointments in the afternoon as well.
Dinner – Celebration dinner at Le Meridien Hotel. Cost 70 Euros (wine included).
Monday
Return to London.
RACE REGISTRATION – Race registration is now open! Sign up now!
You can now sign up for the race! The system is very easy. Here are a few tips:
Follow the link to the race website: http://www.nicesemimarathon.com/v16/
- Click the English version on the top right corner
- Click “registrations” and then the red bar for 21.1 km and then individual registration
- Fill in your personal details
- For residence, Great Britain is listed as “Royaume-Uni (Grande-Bretagne)”
- For nationality, American is listed as “Etats-Unis”
- Follow directions for payment including ticking both boxes to accept terms and disclaimer
- Pay 19 Euros
- After you register you will receive 3 confirmation emails (written in French)
- The email with the subject that begins “Piece joint…” has two important pieces of information:
- your “numero de transaction” and
- the link to the page to upload your medical form
- When you click on the medical form link, it will display a box where you need to enter the “numero de transaction.” Once you do that and click “OK”, it will show your name and give you a “choose file” button to upload your completed medical form. You can upload the medical form at a later date. Sign up for the race now and then send in your medical form later. (FYI, the medical form is very basic.)
- You can download the blank medical form from the registration page, just above the red box for the 21.1km race option
REGISTER NOW – don’t put it off because even though this is a large race, it will sell out.
TRAVEL LOGISTICS – FLIGHTS
There are many flights to Nice and the hotel is very close to the airport (only 4 miles away) which means we all don’t need to travel on the same flight. Small groups can share taxis from the airport and the taxi trip to the hotel should cost approximately 10 Euros. Most of the group will fly to Nice on Friday. In scheduling flights plan to arrive in time for dinner on Friday night. (If you need to travel on Saturday, plan to arrive early in the day so you have plenty of time to go to the race expo. Note that Friday night is the first night of Passover, sorry for the conflict, we didn’t realise this when we made the plan.) Below is a selection of the flights to Nice. As our group starts buying tickets, the prices may increase or flights may sell out. So we recommend that you consider buying or reserving your airline tickets now.
Nice Flights – Outbound
Friday April 22 – Heathrow- British Airways
BA 0342 depart 7:50 arrive 10:50
BA 0346 depart 8:55 arrive 12:00
BA 0344 depart 11:40 arrive 14:40
BA 0354 depart 14:40 arrive 17:40
Friday April 22 – Gatwick
British Airways BA 2622 depart 7:35 arrive 10:40
EasyJet EZY 8351 depart 9:15 arrive 12:15
EasyJet EZY 8353 depart 11:35 arrive 14:35
EasyJet EZY 8355 depart 14:05 arrive 17:05
British Airways BA 2624 depart 13:35 arrive 16:25
Friday April 22 – London City
British Airways BA 8475 depart 7:55 arrive 10:55
Saturday April 23 – Heathrow – British Airways
BA 0342 depart 7:50 arrive 10:50
BA 0346 depart 8:55 arrive 12:00
BA 0344 depart 11:40 arrive 14:40
Saturday April 23 – Gatwick
EasyJet EZY8349 depart 6:00 arrive 9:00
EasyJet EZY 8351 depart 9:15 arrive 12:15
BA 2622 depart 9:20 arrive 12:25
EasyJet EZY 8353 depart 11:50 arrive 14:50
BA 2624 depart 13:05 arrive 16:00
Saturday April 23 – London City
BA 8475 depart 7:35 arrive 10:35
There are also EasyJet flights to Nice from Luton and Stansted airports.
Nice Flights – Inbound
Monday April 25 – Heathrow – British Airways
BA 0341 depart 7:35 arrive 8:35
BA 0343 depart 11:50 arrive 13:00
BA 0347 depart 13:20 arrive 14:30
BA 0345 depart 15:25 arrive 16:25
BA 0355 depart 18:35 arrive 19:35
Monday April 25 – Gatwick
EasyJet EZY 8350 depart 9:40 arrive 10:40
British Airways BA 2623 depart 11:25 arrive 12:20
EasyJet EZY 8352 depart 12:45 arrive 13:45
EasyJet EZY 8354 depart 15:05 arrive 16:05
EasyJet EZY 8356 depart 17:35 arrive 18:35
British Airways BA 2625 depart 17:50 arrive 18:46
Monday April 25 – London City
BA 8476 depart 17:05 arrive 18:00
HOTEL
We are holding a block of rooms at the spectacular Le Meridien Hotel right on the La Promenade des Anglais. The hotel is very close to the race start and finish and boasts a magnificent rooftop pool and beach front access. (There is also a casino for the late-night crowd!) BOOK THROUGH THE LINK BELOW TO GET THE GROUP RATE, YOU CAN NOT BOOK BY TELEPHONE OR A TRAVEL COMPANY WEBSITE. NOTE THERE ARE TWO STEPS TO BOOKING.
As we are a large group, we need to be at a large hotel. At our last two races, we had lots of trouble getting enough rooms for our group at smaller, mid-priced hotels. The hotel rates for this year are higher than they have been for the previous two races, but we feel we are getting excellent value given the quality of the hotel, the location close to the race start/finish, and all the hotel amenities including restaurants, pool and spa.
The hotel is holding our block of rooms until November 30 so please book now if you think you’d like to join the trip. If we have record numbers of people joining this trip, we may need to add rooms to our block. If go to the website and there are no rooms left, just let us know.
Rates and Booking
All rates include breakfast and VAT but exclude city tax.
Classic Bedroom – Patio View
Single- 165 Euros
Double – 180 Euros
(increase in rate for the double covers breakfast for the 2nd person.)
http://www.lemeridiennice.com/en/rooms/classic-room
Deluxe Bedroom – City View
Single – 200 Euros
Double – 215 Euros
(increase in rate for the double covers breakfast for the 2nd person.)
http://www.lemeridiennice.com/en/rooms/deluxe-room-city-view
There are two parts to the booking process:
1. Book your room at the dedicated web page for our group: https://www.starwoodmeeting.com/StarGroupsWeb/res?id=1510078024&key=132BA124
2. Email Scan or fax the “Individual Payment Authorization Form” (within 48 hours of making your room reservation) to the hotel. The form is required so that they can charge you directly for the Friday and Sunday dinners since they are not part of the normal hotel booking process. You can download this form from the room reservation link above. It is listed under the “Downloads” section on the WRW booking page. Note that they only need the last four digits of your card so they can cross reference the room reservation. (If you are arriving on Saturday, mark on the form that you will only attend Sunday dinner.) The email address and fax number are listed on the front of the form. You will also need to complete the services grid on the form.
For example, If you wish to book everything with 1 person in the room, the grid on the payment form should look like this:
Booking a room for two people
1. Make sure you mark that the room is for 2 adults.
2. One person will need to reserve the room and complete the Individual Payment Authorization Form.
*REMEMBER only 1 roommate needs to register and her credit card will be charged for the room,dinners,city taxes and any additional charges(room service,casino). Second roommate needs to reimburse the payee individually
For example, if you wish to book with 2 people in a room, the grid on the payment form would look like this:
Cancellation Policy
Before January 15, 2016 – No fee
January 15 – February 15, 2016 – Cancellation fee 1 night
After February 15, 2016 – Charged in full
Roommates?
If you would like to share a room and need help finding a roommate, email Jane at [email protected].
Please let us know if you have any questions. We are looking forward to a great weekend together!