[1] The competition was the idea of Michel Jazy, a French runner who was an Olympic medallist and two-time European Champion.

The first edition was held through a joint effort by the Council of Paris and ASCAIR (the French Airforce's body for sport).

The start point of the race is in the Trocadéro near the Eiffel Tower and runners then cross the River Seine over the Pont d'Iéna.

As a result of poor race organisation at the starting point, athlete's times from 1981 to 1992 are not accepted for record purposes; unusually quick times were recorded as some runners began the race a whole minute before the official starter's gun had been fired.

[4] The men's and women's course records for the 20 km race are held by Kenyan athletes: Evans Cheruiyot completed the distance in 57:19 minutes in 2005 and Sarah Chepchirchir's time of 1:05:03 hours was set in 2013.