Champs-Elysees , Mount Road and Chennai Marathon

Champs-Elysees , as all us know, is one of the most beautiful and prestigious avenues in the world. This avenue ends at Arc de Triumph. Along with Champs-Elysees, 11 other avenues meet at Arc de Triumph . Vehicle insurance companies insure all vehicles for travel in all roads/places in France except Arc de Triomphe. That gives an idea about the vehicle traffic around Arc de Triomphe. ( Yes, thats me standing in the middle of the avenue Champs - Elysees, with Arc de Triomphe in the background )

( A section of traffic around Arc de Triomphe).The Arc de Triomphe roundabout and the avenue Champs-Elysees are closed 3 times a year and twice for an interesting reason - Tour de France finish and Paris Marathon, big sporting events. The third is for Bastille day.

One of the busiest , prestigious and beautiful avenues in the world is closed for 2 sporting events - Is anyone organising the Chennai Marathon listening to this ?

We all know the number of times the Mount Road ( easily, the busiest road in Chennai ) is closed every year - Lets say some 10 times. All the 10 times for an interesting reason - A politician is travelling across that stretch or a major political party is organising a function to glorify the party/its chief man.

Runners who ran the Chennai Marathon (42.2 km) and who were still running after 3 hours were asked to stop and the roads were open to vehicular traffic. Runners like me who take close to 6 hours to finish the marathon will never want to run on the home turf. If Paris can close Champs-Elysees for the entire day during the 2 sports events, if Mount Road can be closed for 5-6 hours for a political party's internal function - then the roads between Marina and Elliots beach in Chennai can easily be closed for atleast 6-7 hours for a marathon!