The 2025 Marathon Against Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, France
Marathon # 534
Date: December 05, 2025
My Time: 4:40:52
By Dr. Barefoot Sidy Diallo
I did my 534th marathon by participating in the 24-hour running challenge organized by the French city of Montigny-le-Bretonneux on the athletics track of the main local stadium. Every runner was free to choose his or her distance or number of laps. The challenge was to have at least one runner on the 400-meter track all the time during the 24 hours. I did 106 laps to complete the marathon.
The 24-hour running challenge was one of the many events of the 2025 Téléthon promoted by the French Association for Myopathy (AFM) to support scientific research on the Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and other rare genetic diseases.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a genetic disease that causes progressive degeneration of all the body’s muscles. It is linked to a mutation in the DMD gene, which is responsible for producing a protein involved in supporting muscle fibers. Because this gene is located on the sexual X chromosome and it’s inherited as a recessive trait, almost all those affected are boys. Males’ sexual chromosomes are X and Y, while women have two X chromosomes. Therefore, women can carry a mutation affecting this gene. However, since have two copies of the DMD gene – one on each X chromosome - they very rarely develop the disease.
In other words, women have a backup copy of the DMD gene which can produce enough of the required protein to prevent the disease, if the other DMD gene fails, while males don’t. Sadly, those affected have no chance to survive, as the US National Institutes of Health (NIH)—the nation’s medical research agency—explains:
“Unfortunately, Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is not only one of the most severe forms of inherited muscular dystrophies but also the most common hereditary neuromuscular disease. Sadly, there is no known treatment modality that halts the progression of the disease; available treatment options are palliative. Affected patients usually die in their twenties due to respiratory muscle weakness or cardiomyopathy.”
That’s what motivated Yolaine de Kepper, a French mother of seven children, four of whom had Duchenne muscular dystrophy, to launch the French Association for Myopathy (AFM) in 1958. “Teaching four boys how to die. Assisting them until their last day. Getting up five or six times during the night to rub their muscles because they had cramps,” recalled later her husband, Jean de Kepper.
It was a great honor to run a marathon for all the victims of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and other rare genetic diseases, and for their families. I wish to thank Gisèle Diallo, Sandrine Desorbaix, Boubou Ly, Louis, Rémi and all the other participants who did some or many laps with me.
My book Running Barefoot for Human Survival is available on Amazon in paperback and e-book format (French edition: Courir pieds nus pour sauver les humains).
Date: December 05, 2025
My Time: 4:40:52
By Dr. Barefoot Sidy Diallo
I did my 534th marathon by participating in the 24-hour running challenge organized by the French city of Montigny-le-Bretonneux on the athletics track of the main local stadium. Every runner was free to choose his or her distance or number of laps. The challenge was to have at least one runner on the 400-meter track all the time during the 24 hours. I did 106 laps to complete the marathon.
The 24-hour running challenge was one of the many events of the 2025 Téléthon promoted by the French Association for Myopathy (AFM) to support scientific research on the Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and other rare genetic diseases.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a genetic disease that causes progressive degeneration of all the body’s muscles. It is linked to a mutation in the DMD gene, which is responsible for producing a protein involved in supporting muscle fibers. Because this gene is located on the sexual X chromosome and it’s inherited as a recessive trait, almost all those affected are boys. Males’ sexual chromosomes are X and Y, while women have two X chromosomes. Therefore, women can carry a mutation affecting this gene. However, since have two copies of the DMD gene – one on each X chromosome - they very rarely develop the disease.
In other words, women have a backup copy of the DMD gene which can produce enough of the required protein to prevent the disease, if the other DMD gene fails, while males don’t. Sadly, those affected have no chance to survive, as the US National Institutes of Health (NIH)—the nation’s medical research agency—explains:
“Unfortunately, Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is not only one of the most severe forms of inherited muscular dystrophies but also the most common hereditary neuromuscular disease. Sadly, there is no known treatment modality that halts the progression of the disease; available treatment options are palliative. Affected patients usually die in their twenties due to respiratory muscle weakness or cardiomyopathy.”
That’s what motivated Yolaine de Kepper, a French mother of seven children, four of whom had Duchenne muscular dystrophy, to launch the French Association for Myopathy (AFM) in 1958. “Teaching four boys how to die. Assisting them until their last day. Getting up five or six times during the night to rub their muscles because they had cramps,” recalled later her husband, Jean de Kepper.
It was a great honor to run a marathon for all the victims of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and other rare genetic diseases, and for their families. I wish to thank Gisèle Diallo, Sandrine Desorbaix, Boubou Ly, Louis, Rémi and all the other participants who did some or many laps with me.
My book Running Barefoot for Human Survival is available on Amazon in paperback and e-book format (French edition: Courir pieds nus pour sauver les humains).
Dr. Barefoot Sidy Diallo did 106 laps in a French stadium to complete his 534th marathon.
Dr. Sidy Diallo’s 2025 Marathon Against Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Garmin Data
Dr. Sidy Diallo did barefoot the 2025 Playa del Inglés Beach Marathon.
From left to right: Sidy Diallo, Rémi, Gisèle Diallo, Louis and Sandrine Desorbaix participated in the 24-hour Téléthon 2025 organized by the French city of Montigny-le-Bretonneux.
From left to right: Sidy Diallo, Sandrine Desorbaix, Boubou Ly and Gisèle Diallo participated in the 24-hour Téléthon 2025 organized by the French city of Montigny-le-Bretonneux.