We’ve seen our fair share of uncomfortable marathon running footwear in 2025, but running 42.2 km in the shoes this French runner wore at the Zurich Maratón de Sevilla in Spain makes our feet hurt just thinking about it. French marathoner Menouar Benfodda finished Sunday’s race in 2:39:53, a ery respectable time on its own, let alone in a pair of espadrilles he made himself.
Espadrilles are a type of traditional, casual footwear commonly worn in the Pyrenees region between France and Spain. They are recognized by their lightweight construction and distinctive rope or jute soles. To make his accomplishment even more impressive, Benfodda shared a video of him crafting the pair of espadrilles he wore on Sunday, using what looks to be a Strobel machine (used to attach the upper of a shoe to the sole).
This wasn’t Benfodda’s first time running a marathon wearing his beloved espadrilles. At the 2023 Schneider Electric Paris Marathon, Benfodda finished the race in two hours and 35 minutes. He went out in Seville looking to improve his previous time (in espadrilles), but, after coming through the halfway mark on a 2:28-marathon pace, his pace dwindled.
When he’s not running fast, the 45-year-old operates an artisan manufacturing company in the small French Pyrenees town of Saint-Laurent-de-Cerdans, the reported “capital of the espadrille” over the past two centuries. Benfodda lives and trains in France’s southernmost city, Perpignan, only 31 kilometres north of the Spanish border and province of Catalonia.
There’s so much talk about how much time super shoes can take off your marathon, but Benfodda shows that all you need to run fast is a little grit and creativity. Although, they are making carbon-plated sandals… Wearing regular shoes, Benfodda holds a personal best of 2:22:47, a time he set almost 15 years ago at the 2011 Rotterdam Marathon.
