An official's armband used for the first Paris Marathon ran on 19th July 1896 three months after the historic marathon race at the 1896 Olympic Games

An official's armband used for the first Paris Marathon ran on 19th July 1896 three months after the historic marathon race at the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens, silkwork in the blue & white of the Greek flag with silver thread borders, inscribed LE PETIT JOURNAL, CONTROLE, MARATHON, the reverse with printed maker's stamp for Chambroux & Cie., and retailer's stamp for Maison De La Belle Jardiniere, both with Paris addresses, 10.5 by 38cm., 4 1/4 by 15in. This armband has remained in the same Parisian family until its consignment to this auction. It has always been the belief in the family that the original owner was involved in the organisation of the first marathon at the Olympic Games in Athens in 1896, which had been the idea of a fellow Frenchman Michel Breal, a close friend of Pierre de Coubertin. After its outstanding success in Athens a marathon was organised in Paris 100 days later. The organiser of the Paris Marathon was Pierre Giffard, owner of Le Petit Journal and an early master in the art of public relations who evidently understood fully the power of sporting events as a means of boosting newspaper circulation. Giffard had previously organised the Paris-Brest-Paris cycle race in 1891, the 380k Paris-Belfort running race of 1892 and the world's first car race, Concours du 'Petit Journal' Les Voitures sans Chevaux, from Paris to Rouen in 1894. The expertise gained through organising these signature sporting events in France would have been of enormous benefit to those organising the first modern Olympic Gamed in Athens. The following contemporary report of the Paris Marathon was republished in Le Parisien 7th April 2010, and broadly translates as follows: 'On Sunday, July 19, 1896, a large crowd assembled at Porte Maillot to attend the first French marathon. The overcast weather which is very conducive to running, delighted the 191 starters (of 282 engaged). They all wear blue and white armbands with the colours of Greece in keeping with the Olympic context and the scene of the first competitive marathon of modern times [10th April 1896, Athens Olympic Games]. The Greek Spiridon Louys, his conqueror, no one knows, but the resurrection of this symbolic event is due to the initiative of our [French] compatriot Michel Breal. Near the starting line, a few competitors hop around with gaudy trappings, belts with bells, while others are armed with canes, some have opted to run without shoes! For this first French marathon, contested over the 40 km separating Paris from Conflans, the organiser, Le Petit Journal, plans to award a medal to any competitor who will finish the course in four hours or less. It is 6:10, when Pierre Giffard releases the pack. Mathlin starts running and imposes a fast pace to Versailles where he will receive the stamp control without stopping. He covered the 17.2 kilometres in 1hr 0mins 37secs. Britain's Len Hurst, better than his brother Joe, advanced in second place 200m behind with Mege in third. Coming out of Versailles, Hurst takes the lead, well supported by the impressive company of some 150 cyclists. At St Germain (29.5 km 1hr 49mins 5secs), he drinks a freshly squeezed orange juice, then just before the Cross de Noailles, a glass of champagne. The Englishman crossed the finish line drawn at the bridge of Conflans in a time of 2hrs 31mins 30secs to the cheers of 2,000 spectators. After a brief period of recovery in the arms of his coach Boon, he collects the 200 francs cash from the organisers Le Petit Journal. The French Bagré finished six minutes later, in front of Chauvelot who was hampered by blisters. Joe Hurst moved up to sixth place, French Ocrey Albert [a future medallist at the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis] was sixteenth, ahead of the noble Pottemain and Mr. Laroque, ranked twenty-first. Denis Terrier in eighty-eighth position, and the last of the finishers, closes this historic event.'