Louis Pautex

Louis Pautex (sometimes wrongly written Pauteix) first attracted attention winning the 1903 Marseille marathon as an unknown 20-year-old runner. During his career, he was to win this race a total of five times. In 1910 he was third in the French cross-country championship and in the following year second in the 10,000 metres, both races won by Jean Bouin. In 1912, Pautex became the first ever French champion in the marathon over a distance of 30 kilometres, an event which served as the Olympic trial. At the Olympic Games in Stockholm in the same year, he did not finish the race.

In 1913, Pautex won silver in the team event in the Cross of Nations race, where he ranked 19th as an individual, as the race was won by Jean Bouin for the third time in a row. At the 1913 Milano marathon he is said to have set a world best time of 2-36:10 in the marathon. However, this performance does not appear in the world best lists, maybe because the distances still varied at that time. He wore the French national team jersey six times.

In his hometown Uzès, Pautex had a shop selling eggs and poultry. In Uzès, a stadium was later named after him.

Personal Best: Mar – 2-36:10 (1913).