L’Ultra D-Day Trail : entre défi sportif, commémoration et valorisation patrimoniale des plages du Débarquement de Normandie

Abstract

This article focuses on a sporting event, the Ultra D-Day Trail, an atypical and innovative race, designed and organized in June 2014 for the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Normandy Landings. In the stream of festivities and events organized for this occasion, the Ultra D-Day Trail transformed the Normandy coastline, from Utah Beach to Sword Beach, into both a sporting area and a memorial space. The valorization of the sites of the 1944 D-Day landings is a significant challenge. The organization of the race plays on symbols, the staging of the athletes/actors, and explicit messages of peace and exchange between nations. The analysis uses press articles, website and social media content, and accounts from actors, organizers, runners, and spectators. By means of effective communication and media coverage, the sports event contributes to an original process of patrimonialization of the spaces and major memorial sites linked to the D-Day landing beaches.