The first small-scale underwater marathon, combining sporting challenge and awareness of the ocean’s fragility.
To mark World Ocean Day, Pure Ocean organized an underwater marathon on June 8, 2020, with scuba divers working in relays to complete an underwater course at a depth of around 10 meters , around the Frioul archipelago in Marseille. In the 18th centurye century, Ratonneau Island, one of the archipelago’s four islands, was used as a quarantine site during the plague.
On June 8, this emblematic site served as a playground and natural backdrop for an ode to nature – an appeal for the preservation of the ocean, a space of freedom and the lungs of the planet. Organized in partnership with Dune, a world leader in diving, snorkeling and freediving trips, the world-first Pure Ocean Underwater Marathon combined sporting challenge, commitment and innovation in the service of the ocean.
This special edition, carried out in compliance with post-Covid sanitary measures and not open to the public, was relayed in a Facebook live underwater and on the water thanks to Notilo Plus technology and underwater drones.
Thank you DUNE Marseille for the technical direction of this world premiere.
Thank you Notilo Plus for this technological feat and these incredible live underwater images thanks to iBubble camera.
Thanks to Olivier Oudon and PLONGÉE TV, for their faultless hosting of this first edition.
Thanks to Septentrion Environnement for this superb floating plateau.
Thanks to our sponsors CBRE, Fondation d’Entreprise Crédit Agricole Provence Côte d’Azur & Seafoodia.Here’s hoping this Underwater Marathon in Friuli is just the 1st of many. The ocean is our life insurance policy, so let’s continue to mobilize, raise awareness and raise funds for ocean research!
A program showcasing local players and initiatives
This Underwater Marathon is also an opportunity for Pure Ocean to promote partners who contribute to the preservation of our environment. Le Cromagnon, Henri Cosquer’s former boat, inventor of the eponymous prehistoric cave, is now in the hands of the Septentrion Environnement association.. This historic boat, emblematic of Marseille’s harbour, will serve as the HQ for a number of meetings. around four themes, each with a specific regional approach:
– Social innovation: diving, environmental monitoring and participatory science
Meet Laura Barth from the Septentrion Environnement association, creator of the Polaris platform and mobile application
– Technological innovation: underwater drones & artificial intelligence
Meeting with Benjamin Valtin and Notilo Plus which develops autonomous underwater systems optimized by Artificial Intelligence.
– Responsible aquaculture, short circuits and food
Meet Fanny and Aurélien, partners at the head of Provence Aquaculture, an organic, sustainable aquaculture farm on the island of Pomègues.
– Corporate citizenship: a freediver committed to the ocean
Interview with Arnaud Jerald, freediver and two-fin world record holder at a depth of 108 meters & newly appointed Pure Ocean ambassador.
Contact us :
communication@pure-ocean.org
Race for Pure Ocean – Underwater Marathon on World Ocean Day
World Ocean Day, a UN initiative, takes place every year on June 8 to raise awareness of the importance of saving the ocean. 
The ocean, the lungs of the planet, represents 70% of the Earth’s surface, but we only have 10% of scientific knowledge about it – we need to know more about it to better protect it. It’s a veritable treasure trove, home to an unrivalled diversity of living beings, and a precious source of solutions, particularly in ocean research in the service of health. Indispensable to life and the guarantor of a certain balance, it is now threatened by human activity.
This year’s theme is “innovation for a sustainable ocean”, very much in line with Pure Ocean’s DNA, which puts “innovation at the service of the ocean”.
Organizing the Underwater Marathon on this day will obviously multiply its impact.
